Historical Question: NSDAP "Pows"

[panzerzacker]

Hi folks,

I have a general history question about political organizations at war's end. If this is the wrong area to post, please let me know and I'll move it elsewhere.

I've been doing a lot of reading about the POW process; namely what was considered intelligence material and who/how individuals were detained. What I can't seem to nail down is what happened to NSDAP members at war's end? Say for instance during the occupation of a German city; surely there were acting NSDAP officials in regional offices who may or may not have taken up arms. Were they treated as combatants or were they subject to a sort of catch-and-release policy? Maybe they just didn't show up for work the day the Allies came to town and dressed in their civilian clothes?

I know that members of the party would have been subject to the varying levels of the denazification process. I guess my main question is--were they detained at all?

Any insight would be helpful. The bottom line is that I can't find any images of NSDAP POWs. In your extensive collections, does anyone have such an image?

[Br. James]

An interesting question. In my opinion, the NSDAP was considered to be "a criminal organization," just as the SS, the SA and most other political organizations were, post-war. As we know, most NSDAP Members who served at one of the four national Party levels were also members of one or more of the other uniformed organizations such as the SS, the SA, etc., and were probably also elected members of one of the levels of the German Government. Most Political Leaders were well-informed as to the advance of the enemy in their area or region toward war's end and were probably not sitting at their desks in uniform when the Soviets or the Allies captured their town; most were probably either long-gone from hostile areas and wearing civilian clothes, while the comparatively few PLs who wanted to be seen as 'fighting to the last' in uniform were probably wearing some other uniform, either military or political. This would account for the absence of men wearing NSDAP Political Leader uniforms in POW camps or standing in the docks for trial.

Hope these thoughts are helpful to you!

Br. James

[panzerzacker]

Most Political Leaders were well-informed as to the advance of the enemy in their area or region toward war's end and were probably not sitting at their desks in uniform when the Soviets or the Allies captured their town; most were probably either long-gone from hostile areas and wearing civilian clothes, while the comparatively few PLs who wanted to be seen as 'fighting to the last' in uniform were probably wearing some other uniform, either military or political. This would account for the absence of men wearing NSDAP Political Leader uniforms in POW camps or standing in the docks for trial.

Hope these thoughts are helpful to you!

Br. James

Helpful indeed, and your "long gone" scenario is about what I imagined was the case. What spurred the question was seeing a photo of a group of POWs in a city setting including Luftwaffe personnel in "walking out" uniforms--shirt and tie, etc. They looked dressed up considering the circumstances. Thank you for the input.

If anybody does ever come across a photo of party members at lower levels around the time of allied occupation I would be very interested in seeing them. Thanks all!

[stonemint]

Here is what they did with their uniforms at wars end (I call this foto "flight of the Goldfasanen"):

[Br. James]

Absolutely right, stonemint! This was the photo I was thinking of when I wrote my response below; many thanks for adding it as a reference.

Cheers, my friend,

Br. James

[RonR]

Forms required (May 15, 1945) to be filled out by prisoners from a US Intelligence Officer....


http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...t=intelligence


............

[crowback]

Simply put Party Members were not POW's because they were non-combatants. They were either politicians or political hacks. They were civilians. They were "detained" and "denazified" because they lost. Patton used some of them to run post war Germany until he was called out by Eisenhower.

[stonemint]

Goebbels' brother, Hans, was one of few politicals to be captured in uniform (here as an SA Oberfuehrer):

[yesthatsme]

Great thread ...thanks for all who contribute!

[JoeW]

SHAEF issued an "Arrest Categories Handbook" of thirty-one pages with accompanying charts that detailed the officials of those non-military organizations that were subject to arrest by Allied Counter-Intelligence personnel. As outlined in the introduction, "The object of this handbook is to enlarge on the categories laid down in the Mandatory Arrest Directive, and to assist Counter-Intelligence staffs in carrying out the arrest policy."

Concerning "Nazi Party Officials",included are Administrative officials of the Party down to and including the post of Amtsleiter at Ortsgruppe level. All members of the Party down to and including the rank of Gemeinschaftsleiter.

[stonemint]

Pic of Reinefarth and Greiser shortly after their capture by the Americans--Greiser had long since ditched his Gaulteiter's uniform:

[jmcm]

Now this is a thread, great info, Thanks

[stonemint]

Quite a difference in demeanor:

[Br. James]

A wonderful comparison of two NSDAP personalities!! Arthur Greiser -- Gauleiter of Reichsgau Wartheland in Poland and SS-Obergruppenführer -- was tried, convicted and executed in Poland in 1946. Heinz Reinefarth -- SS-Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant of the Waffen-SS and Police -- also served in Poland and was a leader during the Warsaw Uprising and it's aftermath, but his life took quite a different journey than did his colleague, Arthur Greiser. Reinefarth was a lawyer by trade. As Wikipedia reports it:

"After World War II, the Polish authorities demanded his extradition. However, the British and American authorities of occupied Germany decided that Reinefarth could be useful as a witness at the Nuremberg Trial. After the trials, he was arrested for war crimes, but the local court in Hamburg released him shortly afterwards on the grounds of lack of evidence. West Germany ruled that depositions were not sufficient to secure his conviction, and also, that genocide was not in the criminal code of Nazi Germany and therefore, would not be applied retroactively.

"Reinefarth went on to live a normal life similar to other war criminals and Holocaust perpetrators living in West Germany... In December 1951, he was elected mayor of the town of Westerland, the main town on the island of Sylt. In 1962, he was elected to the parliament (Landtag) of Schleswig-Holstein. After his term ended in 1967, he worked [again] as a lawyer. Despite numerous demands by Poland, he was not extradited. Since the German courts had ruled that there was no evidence of him committing any crimes, he was considered not guilty in the eyes of the law and the federal government. He received a general's pension upon retirement. He died on 7 May 1979 in his mansion on Sylt."

Quite a difference in the way those two lives ended up!!

Br. James

[paulj]

Goebbels' brother, Hans, was one of few politicals to be captured in uniform (here as an SA Oberfuehrer):

A fellow collector has Hans Goebbels' SA-Oberfuehrer uniform and displayed it at the 2016 SOS. A book about H. Goebbels' fate, Im Schatten "Grandgoschiers", has also been published. According to the uniform's current owner (and it may be confirmed in the book), Hans Goebbels was captured in civilian clothes by the Americans who made him put on the uniform for press photos that included interrogation scenes. Hans Goebbels was then handed over to the French and died in captivity of an untreated infection (according to accounts in the book).