Franz Oppenhoff
Encyclopedia
Franz Oppenhoff was a German lawyer who was appointed Mayor of the city of Aachen
by Allied forces and subsequently murdered on the order of Heinrich Himmler
.
. Oppenhoff was an expert on Nazi law, had been legal representative for the Bishop of Aachen
, Johann van der Velte, and had defended some cases for Jewish companies. Knowing that the Gestapo
was interested in him, he had taken refuge in Eupen
, across the border in Belgium
, in September 1944, taking his wife and three daughters with him.
Following the occupation of Aachen after the Battle of Aachen
, in October 1944, Allied officials wanted to appoint a non-Nazi to take over administration of the city. Assisted by the Bishop of Aachen, officials managed to make contact with a group of local business people, one of whom was willing to become the first German mayor under American rule. This was Franz Oppenhoff, who was then 42 years old.
When Oppenhoff was sworn into office on October 31, 1944 no press photos were permitted and his name was not divulged, the reason being that he still had relatives in Nazi Germany
who might be liable to reprisals from the Nazi regime. Also, earlier in October the SS newspaper, Das Schwarze Korps
, had written that there would be no German administration under the occupation because any official who collaborated with the enemy could count on being dead within a month.
In December 1944 a group of officers belonging to the US Army's Psychological Warfare Division
, coordinated by historian Saul Padover, arrived in Aachen to assess the German population's political views and their attitude to the Nazis and the local situation. In January 1945 Padover realized that he had discovered a "wholesale political conspiracy" in the city, centering around Oppenhoff, whose purpose was to keep the Left out. Padover reported to his superiors that the Aachen city administration "...is shrewd, strongwilled, and aggressive... Its leader is Oberbürgermeister Oppenhoff...behind Oppenhoff is the bishop of Aachen, a powerful figure with a subtlety of his own... All of these men managed to stay out of the Nazi party, most of them were directly connected with the town's leading war industries, [Veltrup and Talbot ]..These men are not democratically minded... They are planning the future in terms of an authoritarian highly bureaucratic state...Politically it is conceived as small-state Clericalism...". To make matters worse, Oppenhoff and his associates had displayed what was seen as leniency in accepting ex-Nazis for jobs in the city administration.
Padover saw to it that his story was leaked to the press so as to create sufficient uproar in the American public, and a purge of the city administration resulted, to expel former Nazis.
, planned by SS Obergruppenführer Hans-Adolf Prützmann
, and carried out by an assassination unit composed of four SS men and two members of the Hitler Youth
.
The unit was commanded by SS Untersturmführer
Herbert Wenzel, who was a training officer at Prützmann's Werwolf
training facility at Hülchrath Castle; Wenzel arranged the necessary equipment and decided on methods. Unterscharführer
(Junior Squad Leader) Josef Leitgeb, also a training officer at Hülchrath, was second-in-command. Ilse Hirsch, a Hauptgruppenführerin
(Sergeant) in the BDM
(League of German Girls) was supposed to provide supplies but turned out to play an important part in the operation. Wenzel also picked a Werwolf trainee from Hülchrath to accompany them, 16-year old Erich Morgenschweiss . Two former members of the Border Patrol completed the team, to act as guides in the area around Aachen.
The unit parachuted from a captured B-17 bomber into a Belgian forest on March 20, 1945. They killed a Belgian border guard at the frontier, then moved on to set up camp near the target. Ilse Hirsch became separated from the rest and made her own way to Aachen, where she contacted a friend in the BDM and discovered Oppenhoff's whereabouts.
The rest of the unit arrived in Aachen on March 25. Wenzel, Leitgeb, and one other confronted Oppenhoff on his own doorstep after he had been fetched from a party at his neighbours' house. They pretended to be German pilots who were looking for the German lines. Oppenhoff tried to persuade them to surrender. Wenzel hesitated, and Leitgeib shouted "Heil Hitler
" and shot Oppenhoff in the head. Just before a US patrol arrived to check the telephone line which Wenzel had previously cut, the three assassins scattered.
While making their escape from the city, Hirsch activated a landmine which injured her and killed Leitgeib.
Following the war, the surviving members of the assassination squad, with the exception of Wenzel, were tracked down and arrested. At their trial in Aachen in October 1949, all were found guilty and sentenced to between one and four years in prison, and Ilse Hirsch and one other member were set free.
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
by Allied forces and subsequently murdered on the order of Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
.
Biography
Born in 1902, Franz Oppenhoff received a law degree from Cologne University, and worked as a lawyer until World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Oppenhoff was an expert on Nazi law, had been legal representative for the Bishop of Aachen
Roman Catholic Diocese of Aachen
The Diocese of Aachen is one of 22 dioceses in Germany. It is also one of 7 dioceses that has a population that is in majority Catholic, in this case 57.6 %...
, Johann van der Velte, and had defended some cases for Jewish companies. Knowing that the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
was interested in him, he had taken refuge in Eupen
Eupen
Eupen is a municipality in the Belgian province of Liège, from the German border , from the Dutch border and from the "High Fens" nature reserve...
, across the border in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, in September 1944, taking his wife and three daughters with him.
Following the occupation of Aachen after the Battle of Aachen
Battle of Aachen
The Battle of Aachen was a battle in Aachen, Germany, which occurred between 2–21 October 1944. By September 1944, the Wehrmacht had been pushed into Germany proper, after being defeated in France by the Western Allies...
, in October 1944, Allied officials wanted to appoint a non-Nazi to take over administration of the city. Assisted by the Bishop of Aachen, officials managed to make contact with a group of local business people, one of whom was willing to become the first German mayor under American rule. This was Franz Oppenhoff, who was then 42 years old.
When Oppenhoff was sworn into office on October 31, 1944 no press photos were permitted and his name was not divulged, the reason being that he still had relatives in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
who might be liable to reprisals from the Nazi regime. Also, earlier in October the SS newspaper, Das Schwarze Korps
Das Schwarze Korps
Das Schwarze Korps was the official newspaper of the Schutzstaffel . This newspaper was published on Wednesdays and distributed free of charge. Each SS member was supposed to read the publication and urge others to do so as well...
, had written that there would be no German administration under the occupation because any official who collaborated with the enemy could count on being dead within a month.
In December 1944 a group of officers belonging to the US Army's Psychological Warfare Division
Psychological Warfare Division
The Psychological Warfare Division of SHAEF was a joint Anglo-American organisation set-up in World War II tasked with conducting principally 'white' tactical psychological warfare against German troops in North-west Europe during and after D-Day. It was headed by US Brigadier-General Robert A...
, coordinated by historian Saul Padover, arrived in Aachen to assess the German population's political views and their attitude to the Nazis and the local situation. In January 1945 Padover realized that he had discovered a "wholesale political conspiracy" in the city, centering around Oppenhoff, whose purpose was to keep the Left out. Padover reported to his superiors that the Aachen city administration "...is shrewd, strongwilled, and aggressive... Its leader is Oberbürgermeister Oppenhoff...behind Oppenhoff is the bishop of Aachen, a powerful figure with a subtlety of his own... All of these men managed to stay out of the Nazi party, most of them were directly connected with the town's leading war industries, [Veltrup and Talbot ]..These men are not democratically minded... They are planning the future in terms of an authoritarian highly bureaucratic state...Politically it is conceived as small-state Clericalism...". To make matters worse, Oppenhoff and his associates had displayed what was seen as leniency in accepting ex-Nazis for jobs in the city administration.
Padover saw to it that his story was leaked to the press so as to create sufficient uproar in the American public, and a purge of the city administration resulted, to expel former Nazis.
Operation Carnival
Oppenhoff was considered a traitor and a collaborationist by the Nazi regime, and his assassination, codenamed Unternehmen Karneval ("Operation Carnival"), was ordered by Heinrich HimmlerHeinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
, planned by SS Obergruppenführer Hans-Adolf Prützmann
Hans-Adolf Prützmann
Hans-Adolf Prützmann was a Superior SS and Police Leader, as well as an SS Obergruppenführer...
, and carried out by an assassination unit composed of four SS men and two members of the Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
.
The unit was commanded by SS Untersturmführer
Untersturmführer
Untersturmführer was a paramilitary rank of the German Schutzstaffel first created in July 1934. The rank can trace its origins to the older SA rank of Sturmführer which had existed since the founding of the SA in 1921...
Herbert Wenzel, who was a training officer at Prützmann's Werwolf
Werwolf
Werwolf was the name given to a Nazi plan, which began development in 1944, to create a commando force which would operate behind enemy lines as the Allies advanced through Germany itself. Werwolf remained entirely ineffectual as a combat force, however, and in practical terms, its value as...
training facility at Hülchrath Castle; Wenzel arranged the necessary equipment and decided on methods. Unterscharführer
Unterscharführer
Unterscharführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party used by the Schutzstaffel between 1934 and 1945. The SS rank was created after the Night of the Long Knives...
(Junior Squad Leader) Josef Leitgeb, also a training officer at Hülchrath, was second-in-command. Ilse Hirsch, a Hauptgruppenführerin
Haupttruppführer
Haupttruppführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that existed between the years of 1930 and 1945. Haupttruppführer was mainly used as a rank of the Sturmabteilung , but was also used by the Schutzstaffel in the early days of that group’s existence.As an SA rank, Haupttruppführer was created...
(Sergeant) in the BDM
League of German Girls
The League of German Girls or League of German Maidens , was the girl's wing of the overall Nazi party youth movement, the Hitler Youth. It was the only female youth organization in Nazi Germany....
(League of German Girls) was supposed to provide supplies but turned out to play an important part in the operation. Wenzel also picked a Werwolf trainee from Hülchrath to accompany them, 16-year old Erich Morgenschweiss . Two former members of the Border Patrol completed the team, to act as guides in the area around Aachen.
The unit parachuted from a captured B-17 bomber into a Belgian forest on March 20, 1945. They killed a Belgian border guard at the frontier, then moved on to set up camp near the target. Ilse Hirsch became separated from the rest and made her own way to Aachen, where she contacted a friend in the BDM and discovered Oppenhoff's whereabouts.
The rest of the unit arrived in Aachen on March 25. Wenzel, Leitgeb, and one other confronted Oppenhoff on his own doorstep after he had been fetched from a party at his neighbours' house. They pretended to be German pilots who were looking for the German lines. Oppenhoff tried to persuade them to surrender. Wenzel hesitated, and Leitgeib shouted "Heil Hitler
Nazi salute
The Nazi salute, or Hitler salute , was a gesture of greeting in Nazi Germany usually accompanied by saying, Heil Hitler! ["Hail Hitler!"], Heil, mein Führer ["Hail, my leader!"], or Sieg Heil! ["Hail victory!"]...
" and shot Oppenhoff in the head. Just before a US patrol arrived to check the telephone line which Wenzel had previously cut, the three assassins scattered.
While making their escape from the city, Hirsch activated a landmine which injured her and killed Leitgeib.
Following the war, the surviving members of the assassination squad, with the exception of Wenzel, were tracked down and arrested. At their trial in Aachen in October 1949, all were found guilty and sentenced to between one and four years in prison, and Ilse Hirsch and one other member were set free.