Rudolf Diels
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| Rudolf Diels | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Rudolf Diels in 1933 | |
| Director of the Gestapo | |
| In office 26 April 1933 – 1934 |
|
| President | Paul von Hindenburg |
| Chancellor | Heinrich Brüning Franz von Papen Kurt von Schleicher Adolf Hitler |
| Preceded by | none |
| Succeeded by | Reinhard Heydrich |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 16, 1900 Prussia, German Empire |
| Died | November 18, 1957 (aged 56) Germany (hunting accident) |
| Political party | National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) |
| Spouse(s) | Hilde[1] |
Rudolf Diels (December 16, 1900 - November 18, 1957)[2] was a German politician and head of the Gestapo in 1933-34.[3] [4] He is also referred to as SS Oberfurer.[2][3] He was a protégé of Hermann Göring.[3]
He was born in Berghaus in Taunus[2], the son of a farmer[3]. He served in the army during World War I[citation needed] and afterwards went to study law[citation needed] at the University of Marburg[citation needed] from 1919. When Adolf Hitler came to power, Diels was head of the Prussian political police in Berlin.[citation needed] He joined the Prussian interior ministry in 1930[citation needed] and was promoted to an advisory position in the Prussian police in 1932[citation needed], targeting political radicals, both Communists[citation needed] and Nazis[citation needed]. He was head of the Prussian Political Police in early 1933 when the Reichstag fire occurred.[5]
When Göring was made minister for Prussia in 1933,[citation needed] replacing Karl Severing,[citation needed] he was impressed with Diels' work and new commitment to the Nazi party.[citation needed] In April 1933 Göring appointed him as chief of the new Prussian state police department 1A, concerned with political crimes.[3] Department 1A was soon renamed the Geheime Staatspolizei, or Gestapo.[citation needed] Diels was the main interrogator of Marinus van der Lubbe following the Reichstag fire of February 27, 1933.[2]
Diels soon attracted the attention of political rivals including Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich.[3] Himmler was head of the SS at the time.[1] Effectively smeared, but with Goring's aid, he narrowly avoided execution during the Night of the Long Knives[3], fleeing his post for five weeks.[citation needed] When control of the Gestapo was given to Himmler, Diels was dismissed on April 1, 1934.[citation needed] He was briefly Deputy Police President of Berlin[citation needed] before being appointed to the local government of Cologne as a Regierungspräsident[3].
He maintained his association with Göring, marrying a cousin of his protector.[2] Göring saved him from prison on a number of occasions, notably once in 1940 when he declined to order the arrest of Jews and more vitally after the July 20 Plot to assassinate Hitler.[2]
He presented an affidavit for the prosecution at the Nuremberg trials[3] but was also summoned to testify by Göring's defense lawyer[2]. He later served in the post-war government of Lower Saxony from 1950[2] and then in the Ministry of the Interior[citation needed] until his retirement in 1953[3]. He died when his rifle accidentally discharged while he was hunting.[3][6]
Diels' memoirs, Lucifer Ante Portas: Von Severing bis Heydrich, were published in 1950.[3] A less cautious work was published after his retirement, Der Fall Otto Johns (1954).[citation needed]
[edit] Sources
- Larson, Erik (2011). In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin (First ed.). New York: Crown. p. 162. ISBN 978-0-307-40884-6.
- Diels, Rudolf. "Affidavits of Rudolf Diels". Axis History: Holocaust and 20th Century War Crimes. Axis History Forum. http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=65277. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Larson, Erik (2011). In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin. New York: Crown. p. 138. ISBN 9780307408846.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hopmans, Rob. "Rudolf Diels". World War II Graves. http://ww2gravestone.com/general/diels-rudolf. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simkin, John. "Rudolf Diels". Spartacus Educational. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERdiels.htm. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
- ^ Larson, Erik (2011). In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin. New York: Crown. pp. 117-118, 138-140. ISBN 9780307408846.
- ^ Diels, Rudolf. "Rudolf Diels, Head of the Prussian Political Police, on the Reichstag Fire of February 27, 1933 (Retrospective Account, 1949)". German History in Documents and Images (GHDI). http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1494. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
- ^ Larson, Erik (2011). In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin. New York: Crown. p. 362. ISBN 9780307408846.
