Hans Hinkel
Encyclopedia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and ministerial official 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...
.
Hinkel, who joined the NSDAP in 1921, and had served in the Freikorps
Freikorps
Freikorps are German volunteer military or paramilitary units. The term was originally applied to voluntary armies formed in German lands from the middle of the 18th century onwards. Between World War I and World War II the term was also used for the paramilitary organizations that arose during...
, was from 1930 to 1932 the editor of the Völkischer Beobachter
Völkischer Beobachter
The Völkischer Beobachter was the newspaper of the National Socialist German Workers' Party from 1920. It first appeared weekly, then daily from February 8, 1923...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. After the Nazis seized power
Machtergreifung
Machtergreifung is a German word meaning "seizure of power". It is normally used specifically to refer to the Nazi takeover of power in the democratic Weimar Republic on 30 January 1933, the day Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany, turning it into the Nazi German dictatorship.-Term:The...
in 1933, he became Reich Organization Leader of the Militant League for German Culture (Kampfbund für Deutsche Kultur
Militant League for German Culture
The Militant League for German Culture [German: Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur ], was a nationalist-minded anti-Semtic political society during the Weimar Republic and the Nazi era...
or KfdK) and manager of the Reich Culture Chamber (Reichskulturkammer
Reichskulturkammer
The Reichskulturkammer was an institution of Nazi Germany. It was established by law on 22 September 1933 in the course of the Gleichschaltung process at the instigation of Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels as a professional organization of all German creative artists...
).
From 1935, Hinkel was responsible as a special commissioner for "cultural particulars" at the Reich Ministry for the People's Enlightenment and Propaganda. In this function, Hinkel, an SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
officer and member of the Blood Order
Blood Order
The Blood Order , officially known as the Decoration of 9 November 1923 , was one of the most prestigious decorations in the Nazi Party...
, was responsible for Anti-Semitic
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
issues and particularly for the removal of Jews ("Entjudung") from cultural undertakings. Hans Hinkel was, for instance, the driving force behind the pressure brought to bear on the popular actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
Joachim Gottschalk
Joachim Gottschalk
Joachim Gottschalk was a European movie star during the 1930s, a romantic lead in the style of Leslie Howard...
to get him to separate from his Jewish wife. In late 1942, Hans Hinkel took over the leadership of the film department at the Reich Ministry for the People's Enlightenment and Propaganda.
Hinkel also organized test screenings of films before propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
experts, institutions, and authorities. Testing propaganda films for their effectiveness was an ongoing business. Since Anti-Semitic film propaganda touched on one of National Socialism's core issues, these test screenings served at the same time as a way to commit the whole propaganda apparatus to a common, radical line.
As Reich Culture Governor, Hinkel's work consisted of, among other things, approving events staged by the Cultural Federation of German Jews (Kulturbund Deutscher Juden) on a case-by-case basis. Hinkel thereby saw to it that this Federation was sealed off from non-Jewish artists' contributions. The Federation was dissolved in 1942.
In March 1944 Hans Hinkel was appointed National Film Superintendent (Reichsfilmintendant). In this capacity he took steps to ensure that during the final phase of the war more half of the members of the German feature industry fulfilled their duty to serve in the German army and the militia (Volkssturm)
Volkssturm
The Volkssturm was a German national militia of the last months of World War II. It was founded on Adolf Hitler's orders on October 18, 1944 and conscripted males between the ages of 16 to 60 years who were not already serving in some military unit as part of a German Home Guard.-Origins and...
. In 1945 he was interned by the Allies and in 1947 he was handed over to Poland to face charges for his involvement in theft of Polish cultural properties.
After the deportation from Poland into the Federal Republic of Germany 1952 Hinkel was never held responsible for his acts. Hinkel's works, published under the titles Manual of the National Cultural Chamber and Jew Quarter of Europe were placed in the Soviet zone of occupation on the list of prohibited literature.