Viktor Lutze
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Viktor Lutze | |
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German Order (Posthumous) |
Viktor Lutze (28 December 1890 – 2 May 1943) was a German Nazi Party functionary and the commander of the Sturmabteilung ("SA") who succeeded Ernst Röhm as Stabschef and Reichsleiter. After he died from injuries received in a car accident, Lutze was given an elaborate state funeral in Berlin on 7 May 1943.
Early life
Lutze was born in Bevergern,
Nazi Party and SA
Lutze joined the
He also worked with
Purge of Röhm
Lutze played an important part in the Night of the Long Knives (June–July 1934). He informed Hitler about Ernst Röhm's anti-régime activities. In preparation for the purge, both Heinrich Himmler and his deputy, Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the SS Security Service (SD), assembled dossiers of manufactured evidence to suggest that Röhm had planned to overthrow Hitler.[8] Meanwhile, Göring, Himmler, Heydrich and Lutze, at Hitler's direction, drew up lists of those who should be liquidated that started with seven top SA officials and including many more. The names of 85 victims are known, but estimates place the total number killed at up to 200 people.[9]
After the purge, Lutze succeeded Röhm as
At the
Foreign organisation
After the Anschluss, Lutze traveled to Austria to help reorganise the SA there.
In September 1938, SA Stabschef Lutze travelled to Passau to welcome Nazis who had returned from the Reichsparteitag in Nuremberg. Lutze stayed at "Veste Oberhaus" and seized the opportunity to meet Johann Nepomuk Kühberger, who had once helped to save Hitler from drowning in the
The reintroduction of military conscription in 1935 reduced the size of the SA significantly. Its most visible role after the purge was in assisting the SS in perpetrating the
Death and funeral
In January 1939, the role of the SA was officially mandated as a training school for the armed forces with the establishment of the SA Wehrmannschaften (SA Military Units).[13] Then, in September 1939, with the start of World War II in Europe, the SA lost most of its remaining members to military service in the Wehrmacht (armed forces).[14] Lutze maintained his position in the weakened SA until his death.
On 1 May 1943 he was driving a car near Potsdam with his entire family. Lutze was driving too fast on a curve, causing an accident that badly injured Lutze, killed his older daughter Inge and badly injured his younger daughter.
Lutze died during an operation in a hospital in Potsdam the next evening. News reports stated that the accident involved another vehicle and kept the news of reckless driving from the public. Hitler ordered Joseph Goebbels to convey his condolences to Viktor's wife, Paula, and son, Viktor. Goebbels, in his diaries, had described Lutze as a man of "unlimited stupidity" but upon his death decided that he was a decent fellow. At the time of the accident, Lutze was 52 years old.
Hitler ordered a lavish state funeral on 7 May 1943 to take place in the
Decorations and awards
- 1914 Iron Cross 2nd Class[17]
- 1914 Iron Cross 1st Class[17]
- 1918 Wound Badge in Silver[17]
- Commander's Cross of the Order of Military Merit (Bulgaria) with War Decoration, 16.7.1918[18]
- 1929 Nuremberg Party Day Badge, 1929[18]
- The Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 with Swords, 1934[17]
- Anschluss Medal, 1938[17]
- Sudetenland Medal, 1939[17]
See also
References
Citations
- ^ a b Zentner & Bedürftig 1991, p. 562.
- ^ a b c d Snyder 1994, p. 218.
- ^ Miller & Schulz 2015, p. 194.
- ^ Herzstein 2004, p. 1.
- ^ Angolia 1989, p. 201.
- ^ a b Hamilton 1984, p. 312.
- ^ Miller & Schulz 2017, pp. 266–268.
- ^ Kershaw 2008, p. 308.
- ^ Kershaw 2008, p. 313.
- ^ Miller & Schulz 2015, p. 204.
- ISBN 978-1-4668-2164-4.
- ^ Anna Rosmus Hitlers Nibelungen, Samples Grafenau 2015, p. 174ff
- ^ McNab 2013, pp. 20, 21.
- ^ McNab 2009, p. 22.
- ^ Angolia 1989, pp. 223, 224.
- ^ McNab 2013, p. 21.
- ^ a b c d e f Miller & Schulz 2015, p. 213.
- ^ a b Miller & Schulz 2015, p. 214.
Bibliography
- Angolia, John (1989). For Führer and Fatherland: Political & Civil Awards of the Third Reich. R. James Bender Publishing. ISBN 0912138165.
- Hamilton, Charles (1984). Leaders & Personalities of the Third Reich, Vol. 1. R. James Bender Publishing. ISBN 0912138270.
- Herzstein, Robert Edwin (2004) [1980]. The Nazis. Time-Life Books, Inc. ISBN 978-1844471935.
- ISBN 978-0-393-06757-6.
- McNab, Chris (2009). The SS: 1923–1945. Amber Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-906626-49-5.
- McNab, Chris (2013). Hitler's Elite: The SS 1939–45. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78200-088-4.
- Miller, Michael D.; Schulz, Andreas (2015). Leaders of the Storm Troops. Vol. 1. Solihull, England: Helion & Company. ISBN 978-1-909982-87-1.
- Miller, Michael; Schulz, Andreas (2017). Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925-1945. Vol. II (Georg Joel - Dr. Bernhard Rust. R. James Bender Publishing. ISBN 978-1-932970-32-6.
- Rosmus, Anna (2015). Hitlers Nibelungen, Samples Grafenau.
- ISBN 978-1-56924-917-8.
- Zentner, Christian; Bedürftig, Friedemann (1991). ISBN 0-02-897500-6.
Further reading
- Campbell, Bruce B. "The SA after the Röhm Purge", Journal of Contemporary History, 1993.
- Hinton, David B. "Triumph of the Will: Document or Artifice?", Cinema Journal, Autumn 1975, pp. 49–50.
- ”Lutze, Nazi Leader, "Dies of His Injuries", New York Times, May 4, 1943, p. 3.
- "Nazi Storm Troop Chief Badly Hurt in Accident", New York Times, May 3, 1943, p. 8 (It conveys the early story that Lutze's car collided with another).
- Read, Anthony. The Devil's Disciples: Hitler's Inner Circle. W. W. Norton, 2005.
- Shirer, William L. Berlin Diary, New York: Popular Library, 1940.