Blomberg–Fritsch Affair

The Blomberg–Fritsch Affair (also known as Blomberg–Fritsch–Krise or Blomberg–Fritsch crisis) were two related scandals in early 1938 that resulted in the subjugation of the German Armed Forces (Wehrmacht) to dictator Adolf Hitler. As documented in the Hossbach Memorandum, Hitler had been dissatisfied with these two highest ranking military officials and regarded them as too hesitant towards the war preparations he demanded.

Left to right; Gerd von Rundstedt, Werner von Fritsch and Werner von Blomberg in 1934.

Blomberg marriage

The affair started after the 12 January 1938 marriage of War Minister Werner von Blomberg when a policeman reported that the young bride had previously posed for pornographic photos. According to testimony given at the Nuremberg trials, information received by the Police Commissioner also indicated that "Marshal Von Blomberg's wife had been a previously convicted prostitute who had been registered as a prostitute in the files of seven large German cities; she was in the Berlin criminal files... She had also been sentenced by the Berlin courts for distributing indecent pictures." Marriage to a person with such a criminal record violated the standard of conduct for officers as defined by Blomberg himself and was a shock to Hitler—Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring had been Blomberg's best man and Hitler himself a witness. However, Hitler and Göring also saw this event as an opportunity to dispose of von Blomberg. Hitler ordered Blomberg to annul the marriage in order to avoid a scandal and to preserve the integrity of the army. Blomberg refused to annul the marriage and, when Göring threatened to make his wife's past public knowledge, consequently resigned all of his posts on 27 January 1938.

Fritsch

The events surrounding Blomberg's marriage inspired Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler to arrange a similar affair for Commander-in-Chief Werner von Fritsch. Göring did not want Fritsch to become the successor to Blomberg and thus his superior. Himmler wanted to weaken the Wehrmacht and its mainly aristocratic leaders in order to strengthen his Schutzstaffel as a competitor to the regular German Army (Heer). In 1936, Reinhard Heydrich had prepared a file on von Fritsch with allegations of homosexuality. Heydrich had passed the information on to Hitler. Hitler had rejected it and ordered Heydrich to destroy the file. However, he did not do so. Now in 1938, Heydrich resurrected the old file on Fritsch who again was accused of being a homosexual by Himmler and his SS. It was reported that Fritsch was encouraged by General Ludwig Beck to carry out a military putsch against the State, but that he declined and resigned on 4 February 1938, to be replaced by Walther von Brauchitsch, whom Fritsch had recommended for the post.

Re-organization

Hitler used the situation to transfer the duties of the Ministry of War (Reichskriegsministerium) to a new organization—the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, or OKW)—and Wilhelm Keitel, who became the new head of the OKW on 4 February 1938. This weakened the traditional Army High Command (Oberkommando des Heeres, or OKH) which was now subordinated to the OKW.

Hitler took advantage of the situation by replacing several generals and ministers with people even more loyal to him, taking more effective de facto control of the Wehrmacht which he de jure commanded. These changes were protested by some senior members in the Wehrmacht, most notably Colonel General Ludwig Beck who circulated a petition that was signed by Colonel General Gerd von Rundstedt and others.^{[citation needed]}

Follow-up

Soon it became known that the charges were false—the file was about a Rittmeister von Frisch. Himmler and Heydrich conveniently presented Otto Schmidt as a witness in support of the charge. The Wehrmacht demanded that an honour court of officers examine the Blomberg–Fritsch Affair as it had come to be known. The proceedings were presided over by Hermann Göring. Schmidt claimed to recognise von Fritsch as an officer whom he had witnessed in a homosexual act in a public lavatory with a man known (in translation) as "Bavarian Joe". However, Schmidt was a notorious criminal whose Berlin gang had specialized in the blackmail of homosexuals.

Members of the German officer corps were appalled at Fritsch's maltreatment and, in the next meeting, Himmler, Göring, and even Hitler might have come under pressure from them as the case against Frisch was seen as weak. The successful annexation (Anschluss) of Austria shortly thereafter silenced those critics. Colonel General Beck resigned on 18 August 1938 and Colonel General von Rundstedt obtained permission to retire in October 1938.

Acquittal

Schmidt later withdrew his accusation against Fritsch, but was murdered. Fritsch was acquitted on 18 March, but the damage to his name was done; he was never reinstated as Commander-in-Chief. Despite the army demanding his rehabilitation, Hitler would only go as far as naming him honorary colonel of an artillery regiment. He was inspecting the front lines just after the invasion of Poland when he was shot in the leg and died. Some believed that he'd been seeking his own death.

Bound by their personal oath to Hitler (the Reichswehreid of 1934, ironically ordered by Blomberg), many members of the Wehrmacht never acted on their feelings of displeasure regarding this event. Thereafter, the army was more or less a reliable instrument for Hitler, ultimately leading to the destruction of both.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Hossbach Memorandum

External links

• http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/nazi/innenpolitik/fritschblom/

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/04-25-46.asp