Erich Hilgenfeldt

Georg Paul Erich Hilgenfeldt (born 2 July 1897 in Heinitz/Ottweiler; likely died in May 1945 in Berlin) was a German official and a high NSDAP (or Nazi Party) government official.

Infobox Person
name = Erich Hilgenfeldt


image_size =
caption =
birth_date = July 2, 1897
birth_place = Heinitz/Ottweiler
death_date = prob. May 1945
death_place = prob. Berlin
occupation = Nazi Welfare official
spouse =
parents =
children =

Life

Education

Georg Hilgenfeldt went to the "Oberrealschule" in Saarbrücken, whereafter he went to Halle until "Obersekunda" (roughly Grade or Year 11) on the "Frankesch" endowment.

World War I Service and Employment

He served in the First World War as an officer and pilot. [Evans "The Third Reich in Power" p. 488] Burleigh "The Third Reich" p. 219-223] After school, he was first an office staffer in the timber industry and head of sales for a building business. From 1928, Hilgenfeldt was a staffer at the "Reich Statistical Office".

Nazi Party Service

On 1 August 1929, he became an NSDAP member (no. 143642), and by 1932 he had become NSDAP "Kreisleiter" (District Leader) and by 1933 NSDAP "Gauinspektor" for "Inspektion I Groß-Berlin".Fact|date=July 2008 By 1931 he was a municipal councillor for Berlin-Welmersdorf.Burleigh "Racial State" p. 68]

He worked as office head at the NSDAP Office for People's Welfare and in close association with the "Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt" (NSV), or the National Socialist People's Welfare. By organizing a charity drive to celebrate Hitler's Birthday on April 20, 1931, Joseph Goebbels named him the head of the NSV. The NSV was named the single Nazi Party welfare organ in May 1933. On 21 September, 1933 he was appointed as Reich Commissioner for the Nazi Winter Support Programme ("Winterhilfswerk"). Under Hilgenfeldt the programme was massively expanded, so that the régime deemed it worthy to be called the "greatest social institution in the world." One method of expansion was to absorb, or in NSDAP parlance coordinate, already existing but non-Nazi charity organizations. NSV was the second largest Nazi group organization by 1939, second only to the German Labor Front.

From November of the same year, Hilgenfeldt was a member of the Reich Work Chamber ("Reichsarbeitskammer"), as well as the Academy for German Law and Honorary Judge at the Supreme Honour and Disciplinary Court. As NSV leader, he was also Reich Women's Leader ("Reichsfrauenführerin") Gertrud Scholtz-Klink's superior. [Koonz "Mothers in the Fatherland" p. 167]

He spoke at the Nuremberg Party Rally in 1936, during the Third Session of the Party Conference. [ [http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/pt36.htm The Nuremberg Party Rally of Honor 1936] accessed on July 16, 2007]

On 9 September 1937, Hilgenfeldt became SS member no. 289225, and then in 1939 a Brigadeführer in the Waffen-SS, and moreover a Main Office Leader.

In the course of his career, he was not only made an honorary judge, but also appointed Chairman of the Reich Association for Offender Support ("Reichsverband für Straffälligenbetreuung"). Furthermore, he was also awarded the "Danziger Kreuz", First Class.

Death

Since May 1945, Hilgenfeldt has been missing. He is thought to have committed suicide in Berlin.

Notes

Literature

*
* Burleigh, Michael "The Third Reich: A New History" New York: Hill and Wang 2000 ISBN 0-8090-9326-X
* Evans, Richard J. "The Third Reich in Power" New York:Penguin 2005 ISBN 1-59420-374-2
* Hermann Weiß (Herausgeber): "Personenlexikon 1933-1945", Tosa, Wien 2003, S. 209 ISBN 3-85492-756-8
* Koonz, Claudia "Mothers in the Fatherland: Women, the Family and Nazi Politics" New York:St. Martin's Press 1987 ISBN 0-312-02256-5
* [http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/pt36.htm "The Party Roll of Honor 1936"] accessed on 27 June 2007

External links

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* [http://www.bioskop-forum.de/newsletter_behindertenpolitik/nr_15-mrz2004-alles.htm Newsletter Behindertenpolitik (in German)]