Martin Mutschmann

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Martin Mutschmann
Minister-President of Saxony
In office
28 February 1935 – 8 May 1945
Preceded byManfred Freiherr von Killinger
Succeeded byRudolf Friedrichs
Personal details
Born(1879-03-09)9 March 1879
Deutschvölkischer Schutz und Trutzbund
National Socialist Freedom Movement
OccupationFactory owner
Military service
Allegiance German Empire
Branch/service Imperial German Army
Years of service1914–1916
RankGefreiter
UnitReserve Infantry Regiment 133
Battles/warsWorld War I
AwardsIron Cross, 2nd class

Martin Mutschmann (9 March 1879 – 14 February 1947) was the

Third Reich
.

Early years

Born in

Köln.[1] That was followed by military service from 1901-1903, after which he returned to employment in the Plauen Lace Factory (Plauener Spitzenfabriken).[1] He established his own lace factory, Mutschmann & Eisentraut, in Plauen in October 1907.[1] During World War I, he volunteered for service with Reserve Infantry Regiment 133 and served on the Western Front until he was severely wounded in April 1916. He was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd class, was discharged from the Army as unfit for field service on 24 December 1916 and resumed the direction of his factory in Plauen.[1]

After the war, he was an early participant in the

Landsberg prison. During the period when the Nazi Party was banned in the wake of the failed Beer Hall Putsch, Mutschmann succeeded Fritz Tittmann as the leader in Saxony of the National Socialist Freedom Movement (NSFB), a Nazi front organization, taking over at the NSFB party congress, 16–17 August 1924.[1]

Nazi Party career

After the Party was re-established in 1925, Mutschmann was appointed Landesleiter (later Gauleiter) of Saxony on 27 March 1925, maintaining that position until the fall of the Nazi regime. He formally re-enrolled in the Party on 2 June 1925 (Party membership number 35).[2] Generally his political activity concentrated on Saxony rather than on Germany as a whole. Mutschmann was passionately interested in the preservation of Saxon arts and crafts. In September 1930, he was elected to the Reichstag for electoral constituency 30, Chemnitz-Zwickau. Around 1930 he also became the editor of a Nazi daily newspaper, Der Freiheitskampf (The Freedom Struggle).[3] On 15 July 1932 came his appointment as Landesinspekteur. In this position, he had oversight responsibility for his Gau and that of Thuringia. This was a short-lived initiative by Gregor Strasser to centralize control over the Gaue. However, it was unpopular with the Gauleiters and was repealed on Strasser's fall from power in December 1932.[4] Mutschmann then returned to his Gauleiter position in Saxony.

After the

Karl Frank's Academy for German Law.[6] On 9 November 1937, he was promoted to SA-Obergruppenführer.[7]

Second World War and death

When the war began on 1 September 1939, Mutschmann was appointed the

bombing of Dresden
which occurred from 13–15 February 1945.

On 14 April 1945 he declared Dresden a "fortress" city. On 1 May in Dresden, he insisted that the city go into public mourning after the suicide of German dictator Adolf Hitler on 30 April 1945. On 5 May, Mutschmann falsely announced that a large-scale German offensive on the Eastern Front was about to be launched. On 8 May as Dresden was occupied by the Red Army, Mutschmann fled the city. Moving to Oberwiesenthal and then to Tellerhäuser, he hid out until arrested by police on 17 May. He was displayed in the town square and subjected to public ridicule. Handed over to the NKVD, he was imprisoned in the Lubyanka prison in Moscow, tried by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union and sentenced to death on 30 January 1947.[9] He was shot on 14 February 1947.[10]

Awards and decorations

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Miller & Schulz 2017, p. 327.
  2. ^ Miller & Schulz 2017, pp. 327–328.
  3. ^ Miller & Schulz 2017, p. 328.
  4. ^ Orlow 1969, pp. 273, 295.
  5. ^ Miller & Schulz 2017, p. 330.
  6. ^ Miller & Schulz 2017, p. 332.
  7. ^ Miller & Schulz 2017, p. 326.
  8. ^ Miller & Schulz 2017, pp. 333, 336–337.
  9. ^ Miller & Schulz 2017, p. 340.
  10. ^ Klee 2007, p. 427.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Miller & Schulz 2017, p. 341.

References

  • Klee, Ernst (2007). Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945. Frankfurt-am-Main: Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag. .
  • Miller, Michael D.; Schulz, Andreas (2017). Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925-1945, Volume 2 (Georg Joel - Dr. Bernhard Rust). California: R James Bender Publishing. .
  • Orlow, Dietrich (1969). The History of the Nazi Party: 1919-1933. University of Pittsburgh Press. .

External links