Richard Markert
Richard Markert | |
|---|---|
| Reichskommissar Bremen | |
| In office 6 March 1933 – 18 March 1933 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Bürgermeister and Senate President Bremen | |
| In office 18 March 1933 – 23 October 1934 | |
| Preceded by | Martin Donandt |
| Succeeded by | Otto Heider |
| Trustee of Labour Lower Saxony | |
| In office 16 June 1933 – 1935 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 7 November 1891 University of Leipzig |
| Occupation | Labor specialist |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  German Empire |
| Branch/service | Imperial German Army |
| Years of service | 1914–1918 |
| Battles/wars | World War I |
| Awards | Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class, Albert Order Order of Merit Wound Badge |
Ernst Otto Richard Markert (7 November 1891 – 13 April 1957) was a
Second World War, he settled in East Germany (GDR), joined the pro-GDR National Democratic Party of Germany and became a magistrate. He escaped to West Germany, worked as an in-house counsel to an employers' association and died in Cologne
in 1957.
Early life
Markert was born in
I.G. Farben factory in Wolfen as head of the human resources office. In 1929, he left the chemical company and became head of the employment office in Sagan (today, Żagań).[1]
Nazi Party career in Bremen
Markert joined the Nazi Party in 1931 and, on 12 October of that year, he was promoted to Deputy Director of the employment office in
Martin Donandt. Markert was appointed as the Senate President and, thereby, the acting Bürgermeister. On 16 June, Markert also secured a position in the Reich Ministry of Labor as the Trustee of Labour for the Lower Saxony economic region.[5]
On 1 October, his position as Bürgermeister was made permanent.
The
Second Law on the Coordination of the States with the Reich of 7 April 1933 provided for even more direct central government control of all the Lander through the appointment of a Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor). Due to its small size, there was no prospect of Bremen having its own governorship, so Markert spoke out on 12 April 1933 in favor of Bremen's close ties to Oldenburg. He saw this as important for the Bremen economy to retain its independence, by avoiding a joint governorship with the much larger seaport of Hamburg, which its Bürgermeister Carl Vincent Krogmann was advocating. Markert instead promoted a joint governorship of Bremen with Oldenburg. On 5 May 1933, Gauleiter Carl Röver of Oldenburg was appointed Reichsstatthalter for Bremen and Oldenburg, and the subordination of Bremen's economic interests to the dominance of Hamburg was averted.[6]
During Markert's tenure as Bürgermeister, the democratic institutions of Bremen were dismantled. On 28 March 1933, Markert dismissed
exclave of Bremerhaven and a member of the German State Party, and replaced him with that city's Nazi Party Kreisleiter, Julius Lorenzen. Additionally, the Bürgerschaft of Bremen, the state's legislative body, was reconstituted on 5 April 1933 on the basis of the recent Reichstag election, giving the Nazis and their conservative ally the German National People's Party a working majority of the seats. It met only once on 28 April 1933, was dissolved on 14 October and no new elections were held. Following passage of the 31 January 1934 Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich, which mandated the assumption of state sovereignty by the Reich and the abolition of all state parliaments, the Bürgerschaft, which had existed since 1849, was abolished.[7]
From March 1934 onward, there were increasing conflicts between Markert and Röver, especially when the latter sought to have Bremen become a Regierungsbezirk (government district) of Oldenburg. Markert, on the other hand, advocated for Bremen to be separated from the joint governorship with Oldenburg, which earned Röver's enmity. This eventually brought about the end of Markert's political career, as he was removed from his executive offices in Bremen on 23 October 1934 and was replaced by Otto Heider.[8][9] In 1935, Markert was also released from his post as a Trustee of Labour. He then returned to work in the private sector and, from 1938 to 1945, as a self-employed export merchant in Berlin.
Post-war life
After the end of the
Second World War, Markert was interned for a time, but was ultimately released and returned to work as an export merchant. He became a member of the National Democratic Party of Germany and an executive magistrate in East Berlin, attaining the position of Magistrate Director for Public Education in 1950. In that year, he joined twenty-two other prominent former-Nazis in signing an open letter to "all former members of the Nazi Party, officers and professional soldiers" residing in West Germany, asking that they join in a Communist-sponsored manifesto against the atomic bomb.[10] The following year, Markert was convicted of illicit trading in securities and sentenced to three years in prison. However, he managed to escape to West Berlin and, from 1954, he worked as a consultant for an employers' association in Cologne
. Markert died on 13 April 1957 in Cologne at the age of 65.
See also
References
- ^ Richard Markert entry, p. 299 in Das Deutsche Führerlexicon
- ^ Childers 2017, p. 248.
- ^ "Reich Seizes Four States: Action in Hamburg Is Followed in Hesse, Bremen and Luebeck". The New York Times. 7 March 1933. p. 16.
- ^ Broszat 1981, p. 100.
- ^ "Ernennung der Treuhänder der Arbeit, Hamburger Tageblatt #138, 16 June 1933". Archived from the original on 4 February 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ Pfliegensdörfer, Dieter: (1986) Vom Handelszentrum zur Rüstungsschmiede. Wirtschaft, Staat und Arbeiterklasse in Bremen von 1929 bis 1945. Universität Bremen Forschungsschwerpunkt Arbeit und Bildung, Bremen, S. 109f.
- ^ "Die Freie Hansestadt Bremen Ereignisse 1918–1933". Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ "News in Brief". No. 46897. The Times (London). 29 October 1934. p. 13.
- ^ Pfliegensdörfer, Dieter: (1986) Vom Handelszentrum zur Rüstungsschmiede. Wirtschaft, Staat und Arbeiterklasse in Bremen von 1929 bis 1945. Universität Bremen Forschungsschwerpunkt Arbeit und Bildung, Bremen, S. 112f/432, S. 115f.
- ^ Newman, Joseph (10 July 1950). "Prominent Ex-Nazis Urge Germans to Join Red Front". No. 20980. New York Herald Tribune (European Edition). p. 3.
Sources
- Broszat, Martin (1981). The Hitler State: The Foundation and Development of the Internal Structure of the Third Reich. New York: Longman Inc. ISBN 978-0-582-48997-4.
- ISBN 978-1-45165-113-3.
- Das Deutsche Führerlexikon 1934-1935. Berlin: Verlagsanftalt Otto Stollberg G. m. b. H. 1934.
- Dvorak, Helge: (2000) Biographisches Lexikon der Deutschen Burschenschaft. Band I: Politiker. Teilband 4: M–Q.. Heidelberg: Winter, S. 29–30. ISBN 978-3-825-31118-6.
- Pfliegensdörfer, Dieter: (1986) Vom Handelszentrum zur Rüstungsschmiede. Wirtschaft, Staat und Arbeiterklasse in Bremen von 1929 bis 1945. Bremen: Universität Bremen Forschungsschwerpunkt Arbeit und Bildung.
- Schwarzwälder, Herbert: (2003) ISBN 3-86108-693-X.
External links
- Literature by and about Richard Markert in the German National Library catalogue
- Markert, Ernst Otto Richard in the Deutsche Biographie