Fritz Bracht: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Bundesarchiv R 49 Bild-1731, Kattowitz, Fritz Bracht vor Dorfmodell.jpg|thumb|Fritz Bracht (on right, in lighter colored uniform), in 1941, in Katowice, Poland, planning a village, presumably for Germans to take the place of Polish population of the area.]] |
[[Image:Bundesarchiv R 49 Bild-1731, Kattowitz, Fritz Bracht vor Dorfmodell.jpg|thumb|Fritz Bracht (on right, in lighter colored uniform), in 1941, in Katowice, Poland, planning a village, presumably for Germans to take the place of Polish population of the area.]] |
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'''Fritz Bracht''' (18 January 1899 in Heiden, part of [[Lage]] near [[Detmold]] – 9 May 1945 in [[Bad Kudowa]], now [[Kudowa Zdrój]], [[Poland]]) was Nazi [[Gauleiter]] of [[Upper Silesia]]. |
'''Fritz Bracht''' (18 January 1899 in Heiden, part of [[Lage]] near [[Detmold]] – 9 May 1945 in [[Bad Kudowa]], now [[Kudowa Zdrój]], [[Poland]]) was Nazi [[Gauleiter]] of [[Upper Silesia]]. He was directly involved in the mass murder of Jews and Poles. |
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After training as a [[Gardening|gardener]], Bracht performed [[Armed forces|military service]] beginning in 1917, and was deployed at the front until the end of the [[First World War]]. Thereafter, he found himself a [[Prisoner of war|prisoner]] of the [[United Kingdom|British]], until 1919. |
After training as a [[Gardening|gardener]], Bracht performed [[Armed forces|military service]] beginning in 1917, and was deployed at the front until the end of the [[First World War]]. Thereafter, he found himself a [[Prisoner of war|prisoner]] of the [[United Kingdom|British]], until 1919. |
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Elected to the [[Prussian Landtag]] for the Nazis in 1932, he took on the post of acting Gauleiter of [[Province of Silesia|Silesia]] on 1 May 1935. |
Elected to the [[Prussian Landtag]] for the Nazis in 1932, he took on the post of acting Gauleiter of [[Province of Silesia|Silesia]] on 1 May 1935. |
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After Gauleiter [[Josef Wagner (Gauleiter)|Josef Wagner]], in whose shadow Bracht had been standing for quite a while, fell out of favour with [[Adolf Hitler]] on 9 November 1941 and was removed from office and kicked out of the Party, Silesia was split into two [[Gau (country subdivision)|Gau]]e, [[Province of Upper Silesia|Upper]] and [[Province of Lower Silesia|Lower Silesia]], with Bracht taking an appointment as the new Gauleiter of the former. From February 1941, he was moreover given the function of High President (''Oberpräsident'') of the Province of Upper Silesia, and in November 1942 the office of Reich Defence Commissar in his Gau. In 1944, he was also promoted to [[Sturmabteilung|SA]] [[Obergruppenführer]]. |
After Gauleiter [[Josef Wagner (Gauleiter)|Josef Wagner]], in whose shadow Bracht had been standing for quite a while, fell out of favour with [[Adolf Hitler]] on 9 November 1941 and was removed from office and kicked out of the Party, Silesia was split into two [[Gau (country subdivision)|Gau]]e, [[Province of Upper Silesia|Upper]] and [[Province of Lower Silesia|Lower Silesia]], with Bracht taking an appointment as the new Gauleiter of the former. From February 1941, he was moreover given the function of High President (''Oberpräsident'') of the Province of Upper Silesia, and in November 1942 the office of Reich Defence Commissar in his Gau. In 1944, he was also promoted to [[Sturmabteilung|SA]] [[Obergruppenführer]]. Within Bracht's jurisdiction was the extermination camp Auschwitz. |
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Right before the [[Red Army]] marched into [[Germany]], with capture and internment at [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] hands looming, Bracht and his wife both committed suicide by [[poison]]ing themselves. |
Right before the [[Red Army]] marched into [[Germany]], with capture and internment at [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] hands looming, Bracht and his wife both committed suicide by [[poison]]ing themselves. |
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Revision as of 21:32, 30 September 2011
Fritz Bracht (18 January 1899 in Heiden, part of Lage near Detmold – 9 May 1945 in Bad Kudowa, now Kudowa Zdrój, Poland) was Nazi Gauleiter of Upper Silesia. He was directly involved in the mass murder of Jews and Poles.
After training as a gardener, Bracht performed military service beginning in 1917, and was deployed at the front until the end of the First World War. Thereafter, he found himself a prisoner of the British, until 1919.
On 1 April 1927, Bracht joined the Nazi Party and was appointed leader of the NSDAP district of Sauerland in November 1928. He held the same function as of 1 March 1931 in Altena.
Elected to the Prussian Landtag for the Nazis in 1932, he took on the post of acting Gauleiter of Silesia on 1 May 1935.
After Gauleiter Josef Wagner, in whose shadow Bracht had been standing for quite a while, fell out of favour with Adolf Hitler on 9 November 1941 and was removed from office and kicked out of the Party, Silesia was split into two Gaue, Upper and Lower Silesia, with Bracht taking an appointment as the new Gauleiter of the former. From February 1941, he was moreover given the function of High President (Oberpräsident) of the Province of Upper Silesia, and in November 1942 the office of Reich Defence Commissar in his Gau. In 1944, he was also promoted to SA Obergruppenführer. Within Bracht's jurisdiction was the extermination camp Auschwitz.
Right before the Red Army marched into Germany, with capture and internment at Soviet hands looming, Bracht and his wife both committed suicide by poisoning themselves.
Bracht had long been pushed into the background and dominated by his predecessor Josef Wagner, who in the years leading up to the war had been much esteemed and very influential. In 1944, when with war threatening, Bracht ordered that air defence facilities in his Gau be upgraded and made stronger, he could not prevail upon the Armament Ministry to do so.
Literature
- Joachim Lilla (Bearbeiter): Statisten in Uniform. Die Mitglieder des Reichstags 1933–1945. Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 2004, ISBN 3-7700-5254-4.
- Joachim Lilla (Bearbeiter): Die stellvertretenden Gauleiter und die Vertretung der Gauleiter der NSDAP im „Dritten Reich“. Wirtschaftsverlag NW, Bremerhaven 2003, ISBN 3-86509-020-6 (= Materialien aus dem Bundesarchiv, Heft 13).
- Michael Rademacher: Handbuch der NSDAP-Gaue 1928–1945. Die Amtsträger der NSDAP und ihrer Organisationen auf Gau- und Kreisebene in Deutschland und Österreich sowie in den Reichsgauen Danzig-Westpreußen, Sudetenland und Wartheland. Lingenbrink, Vechta 2000, ISBN 3-8311-0216-3.
- Wolfgang Stelbrink: Die Kreisleiter der NSDAP in Westfalen und Lippe. Versuch einer Kollektivbiographie mit biographischem Anhang. Nordrhein-Westfälisches Staatsarchiv, Münster 2003, ISBN 3-932892-14-3 (= Veröffentlichungen der staatlichen Archive des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, Reihe C, Band 48).
References
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External links
