Walther Hewel's NSDAP Number?

[Br. James]

Dear friends,

Here's a quick question at the end of a long year: Does anyone happen to know what Walther Hewel's NSDAP Membership Number was? Hewel was a shadowy figure through much of the NSDAP's history, from the earliest days till the end. He wound up as the Adjutant of the Foreign Office to the Führerbunker and was long a part of Hitler's inner circle of servants and sycophants. If anyone knows what Hewel's NSDAP Number was, I'll be most grateful if you'd share it with me...either here or via a PM.

Many thanks, dear friends, and may the new year bring you many additions to your collections!

Br. James

[der-hase-fee]

freddiefro posted this on Axis forum:

My understanding is that Hewel first joined the NSDAP in the 1920's and re-joined in June 1933 with NSDAP Nr. 3 280 789.

There is a great picture on Axis forum, supposedly taken at his wedding on July 12th, 1944 in Salzburg:



Since he is wearing the GPB, I checked Patzwall's book, but he is not listed as an awardee.

[Br. James]

Hi Andreas,

Thanks for your participation and input, as always! You and I think alike in this matter, though I was not able to establish that Hewel held "NSDAP Nr. 3 280 789" -- though if he was assigned that number it would have been in mid-1933.

The mysterious situation regarding Walther Hewel's NSDAP membership and GPB strikes similar chords to that of Sister Pia, who had originally joined the DAP in January of 1920. She participated in the Beer Hall Putsch and was accorded the Blood Order, and she apparently assumed that as a BO recipient, she didn't have to pay her Party dues any longer!? So she didn't, and her membership lapsed. Pia didn't find out about her negative situation within the accounting and membership records of the NSDAP until she applied for a GPB, at which time she was informed that her membership had lapsed due to non-payment of dues and that she was not entitled to receive the GPB. This scenario seems familiar when looking into the membership circumstances of Walther Hewel: we are told that he was an early associate of the DAP/NSDAP in the very early 1920s and that he participated in the Putsch, where he won the BO...and apparently a jail sentence in Landsberg with the other Putsch defendants. Upon release from prison, Hewel apparently left the country to obtain work, and though he didn't return to Germany to live until 1936, he did maintain connections with the NSDAP through the AO. With this scenario in front of us, it seems reasonable to surmise that Hewel had probably joined the DAP or the very early NSDAP and he definitely also joined the Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler, with whom he participated in the Putsch. Since the Party was defunct and banned when Hewel was released from Landsberg, there was no further membership connection to maintain, and though he apparently did express his wish that he be awarded the BO -- which I believe was required in order to be considered for the award -- he did nothing to establish his membership with the new NSDAP, which was re-founded at the end of February 1925. So, like Sister Pia, Hewel's original Party membership lapsed and he apparently did nothing to re-apply for it for the next several years.

Here's where Hewel's story varies from that of Sister Pia: we do have evidence that Hewel was accorded the privilege of wearing the GPB, which we clearly see in the photo included in this thread -- along with the BO ribbon through his uniform jacket button hole, but we are unable to find Hewel in Patzwall's list of Honorary GPB Recipients. (Sister Pia isn't there, either, and she apparently continued to act loudly, publicly and aggressively in an attempt to secure her receipt of that badge, but she was never successful in even receiving the Honorary GPB.) Hewel, on the other hand, did receive the GPB and yet it is not recorded in Patzwall's list of recipients.

What are we to think of this situation? Well, if it is true that Hewel did finally apply for membership in the NSDAP and eventually held "NSDAP Nr. 3 280 789," then he, like Sister Pia, was obviously not entitled to receive the GPB based upon an early membership dating back to the refounding of the Party in early 1925. But unlike Sister Pia, he somehow DID receive the GPB. To my understanding, the only way that could have happened would have been for Hitler to personally present him with the Honorary GPB, and that this would have been done outside of the normal process for receiving that high award. We have heard that Hitler occasionally did present people with the GPB as a personal gift and that those gifts were not recorded on any list. We also know that Walther Hewel enjoyed a personal relationship with Hitler unlike even some other members of the inner circle, and that Hewel had access to Hitler that was simply impossible for others to obtain. So, from this line of thinking, it leads me to believe that the GPB which Walther Hewel proudly wore was an unrecorded example of the Honorary GPB which Hitler personally presented to individuals outside of any written process.

I'd love to be proved wrong in this line of thinking and I welcome any other comments! But it does make sense to me to understand the presence of this shadowy figure at the Berghof, in the Führerbunker and at intimate gatherings of Hitler's inner circle of sycophants and servants as the result of such a scenario.

Br. James

[ErichS]

Interesting stuff here regarding Hewel. Are there not a few GPBs that were issued with numbers in the millions? Could he have received one of these high numbered badges?

[Br. James]

Yes, we've seen a few of those high-numbered GPBs you mention, Erich, and they surely look odd, to say the least! When the highest possible number is 100,000 and you find a GPB badge bearing a number of several hundred thousand or even over a million, that certainly derails your train of thought! Since these badges were exceptions to the rule, no wonder that they don't meet any particular standards! IMO it would have been far easier for Hitler to simply issue an order that a person would receive the GPB and let the Schwarz Office handle the details, rather than having an entirely separate process for awarding the "AH Honor GPBs." That way, someone like Dr. Hans Heinrich Lammers, who received the dated AH Honor Badge, would simply have received a set of GPBs bearing Lammers' own NSDAP Membership Number of 1,010,355. We know that other recipients did receive these high-numbered badges, but no, Lammers received the AH dated badges! Go figure...!

Br. James

[chrischa]

Very interesting read BR James, thanks.

Your conclusion seems the most plausible that he received an honorary badge.

If I'm honest, I knew very little about Hewel until this thread.

[der-hase-fee]

Agree, Hewel was not anyone I have paid much - if any - attention to so far. Thanks for opening this thread, Br. James.

Here is a very interesting biographical write-up: http://www.zukunft-braucht-erinnerung.de/walther-hewel/

Just for the record: His BO# was 90.

[Br. James]

Thanks for this piece, Andreas -- I'll have to run it through the translator! Hewel was certainly a strange figure, historically, but when you think about the members of Hitler's inner circle, all of them were pretty odd, weren't they?

Cheers,

Br. James

[Wim Vangossum]

This kind of information is always interesting. A few days ago I was reading a book about the children of important nazi's. In the book was mentioned for instance that Dr. Hjalmar Schacht received a GPB, and later on, when he become a pain in the ass, received a letter from Bormann to return the badge. The daugter of Schacht claimed that he never joined the NSDAP but isn't it if you received the GPB award you automatically became a member? (sorry to cross your thread with this dear James )

Regards, Wim

[squidney86]

but when you think about the members of Hitler's inner circle, all of them were pretty odd, weren't they?

Cheers,

Br. James

Absolutely. From what I have read, they were all just a bit off their rockers....

Sydney

[Br. James]

Hi Wim,

No worries, mate! Always good to get your input! And indeed it is interesting who received the AH Honorary GPB, as well as when they received it. Your anecdote about Dr. Schacht spurred me to spend some time with Patzwall's book on the Honorary GPB and I came up with some further interesting facts! Apparently it was decided that all the old-timers in civil service would receive their Honorary GPBs at the same time, and that time was 30.1.37. That's when Dr. Schacht received his, as well as a number of other colleagues, though there were a few others who also received their badges that day, so it wasn't only the day for the Junker elite.

As for the thought that the presentation of the AH Honorary GPB included membership in the NSDAP, that is not borne out by the Patzwall book, where many of the approximately 1000 recipients of that badge have no Party Membership Number listed by their names. That said, what is interesting is that Party Membership was apparently provided for each of the senior recipients who were awarded their GPBs that day. Here's a list in the order of the NSDAP Membership Number they received:

General Baron von Fritsch -- 3805227
Baron von Neurath -- 3805229
Dr. Schacht -- 3805230
Lutz Schwerin Graf von Krosigk -- 3805231
Dr. Franz Gürtner -- 3805232
Franz Seldte -- 3805234
Dr. Otto Meissner -- 3805235

To my mind, those numbers were certainly assigned to each man at the reception of the AH Honorary GPBs in January of 1937. But there were other people who received their Honorary GPBs on that day, and they were already Party Members. Here are a few examples:

Dr. Hans Lammers -- 1010355
Walther Funk -- 551712
State Secretary Paul Körner -- 714328
GFM Erhard Milch -- 123885
Joachim von Ribbentrop -- 1199927
Elisabeth Sauckel, wife of the Gauleiter -- 393826

Almost all of the AH Honorary GPBs were presented and dated on an anniversary of Hitler's ascending to the Chancellorship of Germany -- January 30th. But a few were dated and apparently presented on other dates, and one of those was Dr. Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, owner of the Krupp Works, who received his Honorary GPB on August 7, 1940. Dr. Krupp's NSDAP Membership Number was 7773548. I find it interesting that the premier industrialist and military munitions supplier in Germany was accorded the privilege of wearing the Golden Party Badge as WWII was nearing it's first anniversary! I wonder whether Krupp had to leave his office in Essen and go to Berlin to receive the badge, or whether it was sent to him?!

Always interesting things to know!

Br. James

[Bob Clark]

There is a short piece of film showing Hitler, Bormann, Schaub (et. al) visiting the Krupp Werke in 1940....with the motorcade arriving, the group entering the main buidling and then the motorcade leaving again. Everyone was all smiles upon the departure...wonder if this was the auspicious occasion of the award?

[Br. James]

Thanks for this anecdote, Bob -- and it sounds like it just might have been the occasion of Krupp's reception of the AH Honorary GPB...along with a tour of the plant and all other such high-end events such occasions are a perfect back-drop for!

Cheers and a very Happy New Year to you,

Br. James

[JoeW]

Br. James, concerning the award to Krupp there is a bit more interesting information in the archival documentation that Patzwall used for his book. I would think Patzwall simply did not have the time or resources to include all documentation.

For instance, Krupp's award was noted on a letter to the Reichsschatzmeister der NSDAP from the Kanzlei des Führers the following May 1941 along with four other Ehrenhalber presentations in February, July and December 1940. The letter was an advisory to Schwarz's office that the Führer had made the awards and that Schwarz's office was to accept them into the party if they were ot already party members. The Treasurer's office was to follow up with notification of the Kanzlei of the respective membership numbers. The follow up letter was included in the archives and it noted Krupp's new party number (admitted 1.11.40), as well as others in the group: Dorpmüller-7883826, Bodenchatz-7991985, Prof. Breker-5379909 and Ahlemann-15999. We can of course note the last two were party members at the time of the award.

Whether the award was personally made by Hitler is not completely clear from the documentation. But examining it all, there are many pieces of communication to senior civil department or party departments (usually Gau) advising of the shipment of sets of awarded honor badges in cases to be presented to recipients. Sometimes the Urkunde was included, sometimes it followed. And there usually was always the caveat of no public notice. Of particular interest in the listing of Krupp and others was very small hand written notations below their names noting a following date for the shipment of the Urkunde. Krupp's went out 13.12.40. So with this circumstantial documentation, I feel the AH GPBs were made and the presentation done by the most senior local party official. It seems to me that it would take an inordinate amount of time for the Boss to hand them out to everyone. Though I can imagine him personally awarding those to his private secretaries.

[JoeW]

Two points regarding the questions about Hewel's GPB in the photo.

According to the SS DALs, Hewel received his GPB some time between the April 20, 1942 DAL and the May 15, 1943 DAL, of course taking into account the delay of publication. So that gives a general time frame.

As to the absence of his name in the Patzwall list, I would not take that as conclusive proof that he did not receive an ehrenhalber AH GPB set. Viewing the documentation Patzwall used for his book, I can say that there is repetitive information and obvious lapses and reorganization of dated material. One must remember that the material was brought to the US and filmed as received. I don't believe an historian retrieved the material in Germany and was concerned about the preservation of order. There is an obvious shortage of awards to foreign office members and I don't recall seeing any directive to Ribbentrop's office requesting worthy individuals to receive the AH badge as was the usual case in these awards. As a matter of fact, that is how they were usually awarded. A directive went out the Gauleiters, Reichsleiters and senior department officials requesting a short list of worthy individuals to receive the annual award of the ehrenhalber GPBs. The responses came back the the Kanzlei and bingo, the awards were made.

I would accept the possibility that Hewel received the AH badges, but that proper documentation was lost in the gathering of the captured German records. It makes more sense than having a man of his diplomatic stature sending in letters and arguing with Schwarz's office to be allowed a regular GPB.