Gerhard Klopfer

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Gerhard Klopfer
Deputy Führer
In office
18 April 1935 – 12 May 1941
Personal details
Born18 February 1905
University of Breslau
University of Jena
OccupationLawyer
Known forWannsee Conference participant
AwardsGolden Party Badge
Military service
Allegiance Nazi Germany
Branch/serviceSchutzstaffel
Years of service1935-1945
RankSS-Gruppenführer
UnitSD Main Office
Reich Security Main Office

Gerhard Klopfer (18 February 1905 – 29 January 1987) was a lawyer and a

Holocaust
and never was prosecuted.

Early life and education

Klopfer was born the son of a farmer at Schreibersdorf (today,

Breslau. In 1931, he passed his second state legal examination in Berlin and started working as a junior judge at Düsseldorf.[2]

Career in Nazi Germany

Government and Party posts

When the

Party Chancellery, the successor organization to Hess' office.[3]

Along with

Second World War
.

SS membership

In addition to his Party positions, Klopfer was also a member of the Schutzstaffel (SS). He joined the organization in July 1935 (SS number 272,227) where he first was assigned to the SD Main Office and would later join the Reich Security Main Office.[6] Commissioned as an officer on 15 September 1935, he rose rapidly through the ranks and attained his final promotion to SS-Gruppenführer on 9 November 1944.

SS ranks[7]
Date Rank
15 September 1935 SS-Untersturmführer
9 November 1935 SS-Obersturmführer
20 April 1936 SS-Hauptsturmführer
20 January 1937 SS-Sturmbannführer
20 January 1939 SS-Obersturmbannführer
20 April 1939 SS-Standartenführer
20 April 1941 SS-Oberführer
30 January 1942 SS-Brigadeführer
9 November 1944 SS-Gruppenführer

Post-war life

As the

Holocaust. The case against him was dropped for lack of evidence and because it was deemed he did not have enough power to have influenced the Nazi policy on the Holocaust.[8]

After his release, Klopfer underwent a denazification process by a German tribunal in March 1949 and was classified as a "minor offender" (category III), receiving a 2000 Reichsmark fine and three years probation. He found work as a carpenter until becoming a tax advisor in the city of Ulm in 1952 and was readmitted to the practice of law in 1956. Another investigation into Klopfer's participation in the Wannsee Conference that was initiated by the Ulm public prosecutor's office in September 1960 was closed on 29 January 1962 on the basis that "there was no way the accused could have prevented or obstructed the implementation of the mass murder program".[9] When he died in 1987, Klopfer was the last surviving attendee of the Wannsee Conference.[10] When he died, his family published a death notice that celebrated "a fulfilled life that was to the benefit of all those who came under his sphere of influence".[11] This caused a public outcry and was denounced by many as an insult to all victims of the Nazi regime.[12]

Fictional portrayals

Klopfer was portrayed by

HBO film Conspiracy (2001) and by Fabian Busch in the German film Die Wannseekonferenz
(2022).

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8
    .
  2. ISBN 978-1-785-33671-3
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7864-4092-4
    .
  4. ^ Orlow, Dietrich (1969). The History of Nazi Party: 1933-1945 - Volume 2. University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 426.
  5. ^ "Hitler Appoints Two New Secretaries". No. 20596. Evening Telegraph (Dundee, Scotland). 28 November 1942. p. 1.
  6. ISBN 0-7643-1061-5
    .
  7. ISBN 978-1-785-33671-3
    .
  8. ^ "Gerhard Klopfer, General in the SS". The New York Times. 5 February 1987.
  9. ISBN 978-1-785-33671-3
    .
  10. ^ "Gerhard Klopfer, Met for 'Final Solution,' Dies". The Washington Post. 5 February 1987.
  11. ^ Bennhold, Katrin (January 20, 2022). "80 Years Ago the Nazis Planned the 'Final Solution.' It Took 90 Minutes". The New York Times.
  12. ISBN 978-1-785-33671-3
    .

External links
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