Konstantin Hierl

Konstantin Hierl (24 February 1875 – 23 September 1955) was a major figure in the administration of Nazi Germany. He was the head of the Reich Labour Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst; RAD) a Reichsleiter of the Nazi Party and an associate of Adolf Hitler before he came to national power.

Life

Hierl was born in

Upon the German defeat and the November Revolution of 1918, Hierl became head of a paramilitary Freikorps unit. Hierl played a role in organizing the Black Reichswehr paramilitary forces in the early years of the Weimar Republic. He was discharged from the service with the rank of Oberst in September 1924, in part due to his support of General Erich Ludendorff's participation in the Beer Hall Putsch. In 1925, he joined Ludendorff's far-right Tannenbergbund political society, which Hierl left two years later.^{[citation needed]}

Nazi Party

In April 1929 he joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and became head of Organization Department II that same year, serving as Deputy to Gregor Strasser.^[1] In the federal election of 1930, he became a member of the Reichstag parliament. On 5 June 1931, two years before the Nazi Party ascended to national power, Hierl became head of the FAD (Freiwilliger Arbeitsdienst), a state sponsored voluntary labour organization that provided services to civic and agricultural construction projects. There were many such organizations in Europe at the time, founded to provide much-needed employment during the Great Depression.

Hierl was already a high-ranking member of the NSDAP when the Party took power in January 1933. He remained the head of the labour organization - now called the Nationalsozialistischer Arbeitsdienst, or NSAD.

During

• German Order with Oak Leaves and Swords: February 24, 1945
• Prussian House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross (WWI)
• Prussian Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class (WWI)
• Bavarian Military Merit Order, 3rd Class with Swords (WWI)
• Bavarian Prince Regent Luitpold Medal (pre-WWI)
• Bavarian Service Cross (pre-WWI)
• Austrian-Hungarian Military Merit Cross, 3rd Class with War Decoration (WWI)
• The Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 (pre-WWII)
• War Merit Cross 1st and 2nd Class with Swords (WWII)
• Golden Party Badge (pre-WWII)

Notes

References

• Angolia, John (1989). For Führer and Fatherland: Political & Civil Awards of the Third Reich. R. James Bender Publishing.
  ISBN 978-0912138169
  .
• Hamilton, Charles (1984). Leaders & Personalities of the Third Reich, Vol. 1. San Jose, CA: R. James Bender Publishing.
  ISBN 0-912138-27-0
  .
• Klee, Ernst (2007). Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945. Frankfurt-am-Main: Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag.
  ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8
  .
• McNab, Chris (2009). The Third Reich. Amber Books Ltd.
  ISBN 978-1-906626-51-8
  .
• Studt, Christoph (2002). Das Dritte Reich in Daten. C.H.Beck.
  ISBN 978-3406476358
  .

• Konstantin Hierl in Deutsche Biographie
• Newspaper clippings about Konstantin Hierl in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW