Hans Lammers

2024-03-29T21:08:05Z

Kashkat9922: Changed Predecessor from "Himself" to "Position Established"

{{Short description|German jurist and Nazi politician (1879–1962)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Hans Lammers
| image = Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2008-0276, Hans Heinrich Lammers.jpg
| image_upright =
| alt =
| caption = ''Reichsminister'' Hans Lammers in SS-''[[Gruppenführer]]'' uniform
| order =
| office = ''[[Reichsminister]]'' and [[Chief of the Reich Chancellery]]{{efn|''Reichsminister und Chef der Reichskanzlei''.}}
| term_start = 26 November 1937
| term_end = 24 April 1945
| leader = [[Adolf Hitler]] {{small|(''[[Führer]]'')}}
| deputy = [[Friedrich Wilhelm Kritzinger]] {{small|(1942–45)}}
| predecessor = ''Position established''
| successor = ''Position abolished''
| office2 = ''[[State Secretary|Staatssekretär]]'' and Chief of the Reich Chancellery{{efn|''Staatssekretär und Chef der Reichskanzlei''. The post was elevated to the rank of ministry on 26 November 1937, becoming ''Reichsminister und Chef der Reichskanzlei''.}}
| term_start2 = 30 January 1933
| term_end2 = 26 November 1937
| leader2 = [[Adolf Hitler]] {{small|(''[[Führer]]'')}}
| predecessor2 = [[Erwin Planck]]
| successor2 = Himself (as ''Reichsminister'' and Chief of the Reich Chancellery)
| office3 = [[Cabinet Hitler|President of the Reich Cabinet (Presiding Officer in Hitler's Absence)]]
| term_start3 = January 1943
| term_end3 = 24 April 1945
| pronunciation =
| birth_name = Hans Heinrich Lammers
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1879|5|27}}
| birth_place = [[Lubliniec|Lublinitz]], [[Province of Silesia|Silesia]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], [[German Empire]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1962|1|4|1879|5|27}}
| death_place = [[Düsseldorf]], [[West Germany]]
| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| party = [[Nazi Party]]
| otherparty = [[German National People's Party]] (until 1932)
| spouse = {{marriage|Elfriede Tepel|1913|1945|end=d.}}
| relations =
| children = 3
| education = Law
| alma_mater = [[University of Wrocław|German University of Breslau]] [[Heidelberg University]]
| occupation =
| profession = Judge
| cabinet = [[Hitler Cabinet]]
| allegiance = {{flag|German Empire}} {{flag|Nazi Germany}}
| branch = [[Imperial German Army]] [[Schutzstaffel]]
| serviceyears = 1914–1918 1933–1945
| rank = ''[[Hauptmann]]'' SS-''[[Obergruppenführer]]''
| unit =
| commands =
| battles = [[World War I]]
| mawards = [[Iron Cross]], 1st class Iron Cross, 2nd class
| footnotes =
| signature =
}}

'''Hans Heinrich Lammers''' (27 May 1879 – 4 January 1962) was a German jurist and prominent [[Nazi Party]] politician. From 1933 until 1945 he served as Chief of the [[Reich Chancellery]] under [[Adolf Hitler]]. In 1937, he additionally was given the post of ''Reichsminister'' in the cabinet. During the 1948–1949 [[Ministries Trial]], Lammers was found guilty of crimes against peace, [[war crimes]], [[crimes against humanity]], and membership in a criminal organization. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in April 1949 but this was later reduced to 10 years and he was released early.

== Early life ==
Born in Lublinitz (now [[Lubliniec]], Poland) in [[Upper Silesia]], the son of a veterinarian, Lammers completed law school at the universities of [[University of Wrocław|Breslau]] (today, Wrocław) and [[University of Heidelberg|Heidelberg]], obtained his doctorate in 1904, and was appointed judge at the ''[[Amtsgericht]]'' (district court) of [[Bytom|Beuthen]] (Bytom) in 1912. During [[World War I]], he entered the [[Imperial German Army]] as an officer. He was severely wounded in 1917, losing his left eye, and was awarded the [[Iron Cross]], first and second Class.{{sfn|Williams|2017|p=182}} Discharged from the military after the war with the rank of ''[[Hauptmann]]'', he joined the national conservative [[German National People's Party]] (DNVP) and resumed his career as a lawyer reaching by 1922 the position of undersecretary at the [[Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany)#History|Reich Ministry of the Interior]].{{sfn|Wistrich|2001|p=149}}

== Nazi career ==
Lammers joined the [[Nazi Party]] with an effective date of 1 March 1932 (membership number 1,010,355) and achieved rapid advancement. He was appointed head of the police office in the Interior Ministry and, after the [[Nazi seizure of power]] on 30 January 1933, was appointed [[Chief of the Reich Chancellery]] with the rank of ''[[State Secretary|Staatssekretär]]''.{{sfn|Zentner|Bedürftig|1991|p=523}} At the recommendation of Interior ''[[Reichsminister]]'' [[Wilhelm Frick]], he became the centre of communications and chief legal adviser for all government departments. In October 1933, he was made a member of [[Hans Frank]]'s [[Academy for German Law]]. On 26 November 1937, his rank in the [[Hitler cabinet]] was elevated to ''Reichsminister'' and he retained his post as Chief of the Reich Chancellery.{{sfn|Williams|2017|p=182}}

On 30 August 1939, immediately prior to the outbreak of the [[Second World War]], Lammers was appointed by Hitler to the six-person [[Council of Ministers for Defense of the Reich]], which was set up to operate as a "war cabinet".{{sfn| Broszat| 1981| pp=308–309}} In that position, he was able to review all pertinent documents regarding national security and domestic policy even before they were forwarded to Hitler in person. The historian Martin Kitchen explains that the centralization of power accorded to the Reich Chancellery and therefore to its head made Lammers become "one of the most important men in Nazi Germany".{{sfn|Kitchen|1995|p=11}} From the vantage point of most government officers, Lammers seemed to speak on behalf of Hitler, the ultimate authority within the Reich. Lammers was also one of the first officials to sign government correspondence with "Heil Hitler", which became a requisite greeting for civil servants and eventually so ubiquitous that failure to use it was considered an "overt sign of dissidence", which could trigger attention from the [[Gestapo]].{{sfn|Evans|2006|p=45}} Lammers had joined the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] in September 1933 (SS number 118,401) and attained the rank of SS-''[[Obergruppenführer]]'' on 20 April 1940.{{sfn|Williams|2017|p=182}}

From January 1943, Lammers served as president of the cabinet when Hitler was absent from their meetings. Along with [[Martin Bormann]], he increasingly controlled access to Hitler. By early 1943, the war produced a labour crisis for the regime. Hitler agreed to the creation of a three-man committee with representatives of the state, the army and the party in an attempt to centralise control of the war economy and over the home front. The committee members were Lammers (Chief of the Reich Chancellery), [[Field marshal|Field Marshal]] [[Wilhelm Keitel]], chief of the ''[[Oberkommando der Wehrmacht]]'' (Armed Forces High Command; OKW), and Bormann, who controlled the Party.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|pp=749–753}} Hitler seemed to be in agreement with that proposal since none of them posed a threat to his leadership or would disagree with him.{{sfn|Read|2005|p=779}} The committee was intended to independently propose measures regardless of the wishes of various ministries, with Hitler reserving most final decisions to himself. The committee, soon known as the ''Dreierausschuß'' (Committee of Three), met eleven times between January and August 1943. However, it ran up against resistance from Hitler's cabinet ministers, who headed deeply-entrenched spheres of influence and were excluded from the committee. Seeing it as a threat to their power, [[Joseph Goebbels]], [[Albert Speer]], [[Hermann Göring]] and [[Heinrich Himmler]] worked together to bring it down. The result was that nothing changed, and the Committee of Three declined into irrelevance.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|pp=749–753}}

Over time, Lammers lost power and influence because of the increasing irrelevancy of his position due to the war and as a consequence of Martin Bormann's growing influence with Hitler.{{sfn|Fischer|1995|p=312}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1987-128-10, Rede Heinrich Himmler vor Volkssturm.jpg|thumb|Himmler (at podium) with [[Heinz Guderian]] and Hans Lammers in October 1944]]

===1945===
In April 1945, Lammers was arrested by SS troops during the final days of the Nazi regime, in connection with the upheaval surrounding Hermann Göring. On 23 April, as the Soviets tightened the encirclement of Berlin, Göring consulted [[Luftwaffe]] General [[Karl Koller (general)|Karl Koller]] and Lammers. All agreed that Göring was Hitler's designated successor and was to act as his deputy if Hitler ever became incapacitated.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|p=1,115}} Göring concluded that by remaining in Berlin to face certain death, Hitler had incapacitated himself from governing.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|p=1,116}} Acting on the matter, Göring sent a [[Göring Telegram|telegram]] from [[Berchtesgaden]], [[Bavaria]], arguing that since Hitler was cut off in Berlin, Göring should assume leadership of Germany. Göring set a time limit of 22:00 that night (23 April), when he would consider Hitler incapacitated. The telegram was intercepted by Bormann, who convinced Hitler that Göring was a traitor and that the telegram was a demand to resign or be overthrown. Hitler responded angrily and ordered SS troops to arrest Göring. Soon afterwards, Hitler removed Göring from all of his offices and ordered Göring, his staff and Lammers to be placed under [[house arrest]] at Obersalzberg.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|p=1,118}}{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=724}} Lammers was taken prisoner by American forces,{{sfn|Zentner|Bedürftig|1991|p=524}} but in the meantime, his wife, Elfriede (née Tepel), committed [[suicide]] near [[Obersalzberg]] (the site of Hitler's mountain retreat) in early May 1945, as did his daughter, Ilse, two days later.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://www.nndb.com/people/076/000087812/|title=Hans Heinrich Lammers|website=nndb.com}}</ref>

===Postwar insights===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H28193, Hans Heinrich Lammers.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Lammers in 1947 facing trial for crimes against humanity]]
After the war's conclusion, Lammers provided Allied interrogators with some insights into the nature of the Third Reich's hierarchy. Postwar mythology was such that many were convinced Hitler had completely ostracised the aristocratic officers under his command, but the truth was somewhat different.{{sfn|Hanson|2017|p=456}} Lammers reported to the Allies that Nazi kingpins and high-ranking Wehrmacht officers received lavish gifts, severance packages, expropriated estates and huge cash awards. Recipients of [[Bribery of senior Wehrmacht officers|such benefits]] included Generals [[Heinz Guderian]], [[Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist]], [[Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb]], [[Gerd von Rundstedt]], and one of the Holocaust's chief architects, [[Reinhard Heydrich]].{{sfn|Hanson|2017|p=456}}

==Trial, conviction and death ==
In April 1946, Lammers was a defence witness at the trial before the International Military Tribunal in [[Nuremberg trials|Nuremberg]]. Starting in April 1949, he was in the dock as one of the defendants in the [[Ministries Trial]], one of the [[subsequent Nuremberg trials]], and was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The sentence was later commuted to 10 years by [[United States|US]] [[High commissioner|High Commissioner]] [[John J. McCloy]], and he was released from [[Landsberg Prison]] early.{{Efn|There are conflicting reports about Lammers's release date. According to Zentner and Bedürftig, in ''The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich'' vol. 1 [A-L] (New York: MacMillan Publishing, 1991), p. 254, Lammers received a pardon reducing his sentence in 1951 but he was not released until 16 December 1954; Max Williams in ''SS Elite: The Senior Leaders of Hitler's Praetorian Guard'', vol. 2 (Fonthill Media, 2017), p. 183, also states that his sentence was reduced to 10 years in January 1951 and he was released on 16 December 1954; Robert Wistrich in ''Who's Who in Nazi Germany'' (New York: Routledge, 2001), p.184, notes the reduced sentence and gives the release date as 16 December 1951; Dr. Louis Snyder has him released sometime in 1952 in ''Encyclopedia of the Third Reich'' (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976), p. 204; Gerald Reitlinger reported Lammers free in November 1951 in ''The SS: Alibi of a Nation, 1922–1945'' (New York: Da Capo Press, 1989), p. 470; Tim Kirk claims Lammers was released sometime in 1951 in ''The Longman Companion to Nazi Germany'' (New York: Routledge, 1995), p. 222; Roderick Stackelberg has him amnestied at an unspecified 1951 date in ''The Routledge Companion to Nazi Germany'' (New York: Routledge, 2007), p. 220, as does William Shirer in ''The Rise And Fall of the Third Reich'' (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990), p. 965 fn.}} Lammers died on 4 January 1962 in [[Düsseldorf]] and was buried in [[Berchtesgaden]], in the same plot as his wife and daughter.<ref name=":0" />

==References==
'''Informational notes'''
{{notelist}}

'''Citations'''
{{Reflist}}

'''Bibliography'''
* {{cite book |last= Broszat |first= Martin |title= The Hitler State: The Foundation and Development of the Internal Structure of the Third Reich | location = New York | publisher= Longman Inc.| year= 1981 |isbn= 0-582-49200-9}}
* {{cite book | last = Bullock | first = Alan | author-link = Alan Bullock | title = Hitler: A Study in Tyranny | location = London | publisher = Penguin Books | year = 1962 | orig-year = 1952 | isbn = 978-0-14-013564-0 }}
* {{cite book | last = Evans | first = Richard | title = The Third Reich in Power | location = New York | publisher = Penguin Books | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-0-14-303790-3 }}
* {{cite book | last = Evans | first = Richard J. | year = 2008 | title = The Third Reich at War | url = https://archive.org/details/thirdreichatwar00evan_0 | url-access = registration | publisher = Penguin | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-14-311671-4 }}
* {{cite book | last = Fischer | first = Klaus | year = 1995 | title = Nazi Germany: A New History | location = New York | publisher = Continuum | isbn = 978-0-82640-797-9 }}
* {{cite book| last=Hanson | first=Victor Davis | year=2017 | title=The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won | place= New York | publisher=Basic Books | isbn=978-0-46506-698-8}}
* {{cite book | last = Kershaw | first = Ian | title = Hitler: A Biography | publisher = W. W. Norton & Company | location = New York | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-0-393-06757-6 }}
* {{cite book | last = Kitchen | first = Martin | title = Nazi Germany at War | location = New York | publisher = Longman | year = 1995 | isbn = 978-0582073876 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/nazigermanyatwar0000kitc }}
* {{cite book | last = Read | first = Anthony | title = The Devil's Disciples: Hitler's Inner Circle | place = New York | publisher = Norton | year = 2005 | isbn = 978-039332-697-0 }}
* {{cite book | last = Shirer | first = William L. | author-link = William L. Shirer | title = [[The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich]] | publisher = Simon & Schuster | location = New York | year = 1960 | isbn = 978-0-671-62420-0 }}
*{{cite book |last= Williams |first= Max |title= SS Elite: The Senior Leaders of Hitler's Praetorian Guard |volume=2 |publisher= Fonthill Media LLC |year= 2017 |isbn= 978-1-78155-434-0}}
* {{cite book | last = Wistrich | first = Robert | year = 2001 | title = Who's Who in Nazi Germany | location = New York | publisher = Routledge | isbn = 978-0-41511-888-0}}
* {{cite book | last1=Zentner | first1=Christian | last2=Bedürftig | first2 = Friedemann | year=1991 | title= [[The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich]] | location= New York | publisher= MacMillan Publishing | isbn=0-02-897500-6 }}

==External links==
* {{commons category-inline|Hans Heinrich Lammers}}
* [https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz47573.html#ndbcontent Hans Lammers entry] in the [https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/ ''Deutsche Biographie'']
* [http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/text/x14/xm1404.html from The Simon Wiesenthal Center] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928003931/http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/text/x14/xm1404.html |date=2007-09-28 }}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/010858}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamers, Hans}}
[[Category:1879 births]]
[[Category:1962 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century German civil servants]]
[[Category:German jurists]]
[[Category:German people convicted of the international crime of aggression]]
[[Category:German people convicted of crimes against humanity]]
[[Category:Heidelberg University alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the Academy for German Law]]
[[Category:Lawyers in the Nazi Party]]
[[Category:Nazi Germany ministers]]
[[Category:Nazi Party politicians]]
[[Category:Nazis convicted of war crimes]]
[[Category:People convicted by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals]]
[[Category:People from Lubliniec]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Silesia]]
[[Category:Prussian Army personnel]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 2nd class]]
[[Category:SS-Obergruppenführer]]
[[Category:University of Breslau alumni]]

Wikipedia - User contributions [en]

Hans Lammers