Carl Georg Röver (February 12, 1889May 15, 1942) was a German

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

official. His main posts were as ''

Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a '' Gau'' or '' Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest rank in the Nazi political leadership, subordinate only to '' Reichsleiter'' and to ...

'' of

Gau Weser-Ems The Gau Weser-Ems, formed on 1 October 1928, was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 in the core part of the Free State of Oldenburg, the state of Bremen and the western parts of the Prussian Province of Hanover. Before t ...

and '' Reichsstatthalter'' of both

Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places *Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony *Olde ...

and Bremen.

Early years

Röver was born in

Lemwerder Lemwerder is a municipality in the district of Wesermarsch, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is on the left bank of the Weser, approximately east of Oldenburg, and northwest of the centre of Bremen. Since April 2001, Lemwerder is governed by May ...

and saw service in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, initially with the regular army before joining the Propaganda department of the

Oberste Heeresleitung The ''Oberste Heeresleitung'' (, Supreme Army Command or OHL) was the highest echelon of command of the army (''Heer'') of the German Empire. In the latter part of World War I, the Third OHL assumed dictatorial powers and became the ''de facto'' ...

. He originally became a member of the Nazi Party in 1923, and rejoined in 1925 following its period of outlaw.Ernst Klee: ''Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945''. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Zweite aktualisierte Auflage, Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 504. He also joined the Sturmabteilung (SA) rising to the rank of

Obergruppenführer ' (, "senior group leader") was a paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and adopted by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) one year later. Until April 1942, it was the highest commissio ...

on November 9, 1938. He also attained an Obergruppenführer rank in the

National Socialist Motor Corps The National Socialist Motor Corps (german: Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrkorps, NSKK) was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) that officially existed from May 1931 to 1945. The group was a successor organisation to the old ...

(Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrerkorps or NSKK) on 30 January 1939.

Nazi career

Already before the Nazi seizure of power, Carl Röver had been active in politics. He joined the Oldenburg Stadtsrat (Municipal Council) in 1924. He was an ''

Ortsgruppenleiter ''Ortsgruppenleiter'' (Local Group Leader) was a Nazi Party political rank and title which existed between 1930 and 1945. The term first came into being during the German elections of 1930, and was held by the head Nazi of a town or city, or in ...

'' for the party in April 1925 and a ''

Bezirksleiter ''Bezirksleiter'' (District Leader) was a Nazi Party title which was used in the early years of the Party's existence, beginning around 1926. History The position of ''Bezirksleiter'' was originally established around 1926 as the next higher orga ...

'' (District Leader) in Oldenburg and

East Friesland East Frisia or East Friesland (german: Ostfriesland; ; stq, Aastfräislound) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia ...

in July 1927. On May 20, 1928 he became a member of the Oldenburg ''

Landtag A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non ...

''. Finally,

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

appointed him ''Gauleiter'' when the

was established on 1 October 1928. In September 1930 he was elected to the '' Reichstag'' from electoral constituency 14, Weser-Ems. On 16 June 1932, he became

Minister-president A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. I ...

of Oldenburg, thus uniting under his control the highest party and governmental offices in his jurisdiction. When in September 1932 the Oldenburg superior church council, the executive board of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg, decided to give permission to use the St. Lambert's Church in Oldenburg city for the sermon of the African Pastor Robert Kwami. Röver reacted immediately, directing racist tirades against Kwami, the Norddeutsche Mission and the superior church council demanding to postpone the sermon. The Nazi-party called upon the State Ministry of Oldenburg, the Nazi-dominated state government, to stop the sermon. Despite the public threats by the local Nazis that were later become known as the so-called Kwami Affair, the sermon was carried out as planned September 20, 1932. On May 5, 1933, Röver was appointed to the post of '' Reichsstatthalter'' for the states of both Oldenburg and Bremen after the Nazi regime effectively took centralized control of the state governments in Germany. In this post he played a role in the perpetration of

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

as he personally signed the order for every

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

deported from Bremen during his life. However, in this role Röver also clashed with ''

Reichsmarschall (german: Reichsmarschall des Großdeutschen Reiches; ) was a rank and the highest military office in the ''Wehrmacht'' specially created for Hermann Göring during World War II. It was senior to the rank of , which was previously the highes ...

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

, who as

Minister President of Prussia The office of Minister-President (german: Ministerpräsident), or Prime Minister, of Prussia existed from 1848, when it was formed by King Frederick William IV during the 1848–49 Revolution, until the abolition of Prussia in 1947 by the All ...

, made no secret of his desire to incorporate Bremen into Prussia. Röver, however, opposed the move consistently and managed to convince Hitler to decline Göring's requests. On 4 September 1935, Rover was made a member of

Hans Frank Hans Michael Frank (23 May 1900 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and lawyer who served as head of the General Government in Nazi-occupied Poland during the Second World War. Frank was an early member of the German Workers' Party ...

Academy for German Law The Academy for German Law (german: Akademie für deutsches Recht) was an institute for legal research and reform founded on 26 June 1933 in Nazi Germany. After suspending its operations during the Second World War in August 1944, it was abolished ...

. He was something of a favourite of Martin Bormann, a fact that helped to ensure that when an ''Arbeitsbereich'' ("working sphere" - an external unit of the Nazi Party) was set up in the neighbouring occupied

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

most of its staff were drawn from Weser-Ems.

Death

Röver supposedly suffered a stroke in May 1942 and died in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

soon afterwards,

Paul Wegener Paul Wegener (11 December 1874 – 13 September 1948) was a German actor, writer, and film director known for his pioneering role in German expressionist cinema. Acting career At the age of 20, Wegener decided to end his law studies and conce ...

succeeding him as Gauleiter. His official cause of death is listed in some sources as pneumonia and in others as heart failure. His state funeral at the

Reich Chancellery The Reich Chancellery (german: Reichskanzlei) was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany (then called ''Reichskanzler'') in the period of the German Reich from 1878 to 1945. The Chancellery's seat, selected and prepared ...

in Berlin proved a lavish event, with

himself in attendance and

Alfred Rosenberg Alfred Ernst Rosenberg ( – 16 October 1946) was a Baltic German Nazi theorist and ideologue. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart and he held several important posts in the Nazi government. He was the head o ...

delivering the eulogy. Röver's cause of death is disputed by

David Irving David John Cawdell Irving (born 24 March 1938) is an English author and Holocaust denier who has written on the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany. His works include '' The Destruction of Dresden'' (1 ...

, who claims in his book ''

Hitler's War ''Hitler's War'' is a biographical book by British author David Irving. It describes the Second World War from the point of view of Nazi Germany’s leader Adolf Hitler. It was first published in April 1977 by Hodder & Stoughton and Viking Pre ...

'' that Röver was killed by Nazi agents who had been sent specifically by Martin Bormann.David Irving, ''Hitler's War'', p. 392 This is also the conclusion of Bormann's biographer Jochen Von Lang, who states that Röver's increasingly erratic behaviour was caused by progressive dementia brought on by late stage syphilis, supposedly contracted before the First World War: “Bormann ordered that the nature of the disease be kept secret. From Munich he dispatched two agents to Oldenburg who, on May 15 , were able to report to him that Röver had died, officially from heart failure.”

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rover, Carl 1889 births 1942 deaths Former Roman Catholics Gauleiters German Army personnel of World War I History of Bremen (state) Holocaust perpetrators in Germany Members of the Academy for German Law Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic Members of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany People from the Free State of Oldenburg People from the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg People from Wesermarsch Sturmabteilung officers