Willi Stöhr
Wilhelm “Willi” Stöhr | |
|---|---|
Joseph Bürckel | |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Deputy Gauleiter of Westmark | |
| In office 29 September 1944 – 31 January 1945 | |
| Preceded by | Ernst Ludwig Leyser |
| Succeeded by | None |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 6 November 1903 Second World War |
| Awards | Iron Cross, 2nd class |
Wilhelm “Willi” Stöhr (6 November 1903 – after 1994) was a Nazi Party official and politician who served as Gauleiter of Gau Westmark in the closing months of the war.
Early life
Born in
Frankfurt. He was a member of the National Socialist German Students' League and became a speaker for this group. In 1932 he left university without completing a degree due to his participation in student riots.[1]
Nazi career
Turning to full-time Party work, Stöhr became the German Army, as a propaganda officer with Propaganda Company 612 in France. He was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd class.[2]
Gauleiter
On 8 September 1944, Stöhr was assigned as the
Lorraine, although the area was already being overrun by the Allied armies. At the same time, he was named both Acting Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor) and Acting Reich Defense Commissioner for Gau Westmark. On 19 December 1944, he succeeded Bürckel as the Reichstag deputy from electoral constituency 27, Rheinpfalz-Saar. On 30 January 1945, his appointments were made permanent.[3]
By 18 March 1945, the elements of the
US 7th Army was threatening to overrun Stöhr's Gau and Hitler ordered that the entire population be immediately evacuated eastward. As no logistical contingency planning had been done and the transportation system was in a state of total collapse, evacuating hundreds of thousands of civilians was considered to be next to impossible to execute. According to the memoirs of Albert Speer, the Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production, he met with Stöhr who categorically stated that he would not implement such an order. Though Speer offered to take the blame by citing miscommunication, Stöhr insisted on taking the responsibility.[4]
Postwar years
Stöhr's capital city,
References
- ^ Höffkes 1986, p. 323.
- ^ Miller & Schulz 2021, pp. 309–311.
- ^ Miller & Schulz 2021, p. 310.
- ^ Speer 1970, pp. 555–560.
- ^ Miller & Schulz 2021, pp. 311–312.
Sources
- 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.
- Höffkes, Karl (1986). Hitlers Politische Generale. Die Gauleiter des Dritten Reiches: ein biographisches Nachschlagewerk. Tübingen: Grabert-Verlag. ISBN 3-87847-163-7.
- 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. ISBN 978-1-781-55826-3.
- Speer, Albert (1970). Inside the Third Reich. New York: Avon Books. ISBN 978-0380000715.
External website
- Information about Willi Stöhr in the Reichstag database
- Willi Stöhr in the Bavarian State Library
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