Siegfried Uiberreither

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Sigfried Uberreither
Reichsgau Styria
In office
24 May 1938 – 8 May 1945
Appointed byAdolf Hitler
DeputyTobias Portschy [de]
Preceded byPosition created
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Reichsstatthalter of Reichsgau Styria
In office
1 April 1940 – 8 May 1945
Appointed byAdolf Hitler
Preceded byPosition created
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Landeshauptmann of Styria
In office
9 June 1938 – 1 April 1940
Preceded bySepp Helfrich
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Personal details
Born
Sigfried Josef Überreither

(1908-03-29)29 March 1908
Deutsche Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei
Spouse
Käte Wegener
(m. 1939)
RelationsAlfred Wegener (father-in-law)
Children4
Alma materUniversity of Graz
OccupationHealth Insurance Executive
ProfessionLawyer
Civilian awardsGolden Party Badge
Military service
Allegiance Nazi Germany
Branch/serviceGerman Army (1935–1945)
Years of service1939–1940
RankLeutnant
Unit3rd Mountain Division
Battles/warsInvasion of Norway
Military awardsIron Cross, 2nd class
War Merit Cross, 1st and 2nd class

Siegfried Uiberreither (29 March 1908 – 29 December 1984) was an Austrian

Third Reich
.

Early life

Born in

Engelbert Dollfuß, Überreither graduated from his studies with a Doctor of Law degee. He remained active in the underground Party as an ideological officer (1935-1937) and, from October 1937, leader (Führer) of the illegal SA-Brigade 5, "Mittel-Steiermark", based in Graz.[2]

Career after the Anschluss

Following Austria's Anschluss with Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938, Uiberreither was promoted to SA-Brigadeführer and was named Acting Police President for Graz. On 10 April he was elected to the Reichstag. On 24 May 1938, Adolf Hitler appointed him Gauleiter of Gau Styria. Additionally, on 9 June he was named Landeshauptmann of Styria, thus uniting under his control the highest party and governmental offices in his jurisdiction. On 1 October 1938, Uiberreither officially joined the Nazi Party with membership number 6,102,560. On 9 November of the same year, he was advanced to the rank of SA-Gruppenführer.[3]

In May 1939 Uiberreither married Käte Wegener (1918–2012), the daughter of Alfred and Else Wegener. They had four sons. In October 1939 he entered military service as a mountain trooper (Gebirgsjäger) with the 3rd Mountain Division and participated in the German landings in Norway. He was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd class and the War Merit Cross, 1st and 2nd class. In July 1940, he was discharged from the Wehrmacht with the rank of Leutnant in the reserves.[4]

On 1 April 1940, a new more centralized administrative structure went into effect in Austria. The federal States were abolished and the country was divided into seven

Germanization. He convened a meeting on 6 May 1941 at Maribor to plan measures that resulted in the expulsion to Serbia of tens of thousands of Slovenes in three waves beginning in July 1941. The Slovene language was banned and place names were Germanized. These repressive actions led to increased partisan attacks upon German occupation authorities and their local collaborators.[6]

In addition, the

Hartheim Euthanasia Center near Linz. Also, 62 children and teenagers were killed at the Fendhof hospital in Graz.[7]

On 30 January 1939, Uiberreither was awarded the

Second World War and associated with the Nazi "Werwolf" organization. This consisted of conscripted males between the ages of 16 and 60 who were not already in the military. Uiberreither was also charged with construction of defensive positions against the anticipated assault by the Red Army, which involved the procurement of forced civilian labor.[10]

Postwar life

In May 1945, after the

Nuremberg Trials. He was held at the former Dachau concentration camp but he fled in 1947 when he learned of plans to hand him over to Yugoslavia for prosecution. There were unconfirmed reports that he escaped to Argentina, though this is disputed. It is known that he eventually lived with his family in Sindelfingen under an assumed name, Friedrich Schönharting. He died there in 1984, reportedly of Alzheimer's disease.[11]

References

  1. ^ Höffkes 1986, p. 351.
  2. ^ Miller & Schulz 2021, p. 482.
  3. ^ Höffkes 1986, pp. 351–352.
  4. ^ Miller & Schulz 2021, pp. 484, 493.
  5. ^ Broszat 1981, p. 124.
  6. ^ Miller & Schulz 2021, pp. 484–486.
  7. ^ Miller & Schulz 2021, p. 486.
  8. ^ Miller & Schulz 2021, p. 493.
  9. ^ Höffkes 1986, p. 352.
  10. ^ Miller & Schulz 2021, pp. 487–488.
  11. ^ Miller & Schulz 2021, pp. 490–493.

Sources

  • Broszat, Martin (1981). The Hitler State: The Foundation and Development of the Internal Structure of the Third Reich. New York: Longman Inc. .
  • Höffkes, Karl (1986). Hitlers Politische Generale. Die Gauleiter des Dritten Reiches: ein biographisches Nachschlagewerk. Tübingen: Grabert-Verlag. .
  • Miller, Michael D.; Schulz, Andreas (2021). Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925–1945. Vol. 3 (Fritz Sauckel - Hans Zimmermann). Fonthill Media. .

External links