Eberhard Taubert (11 May 1907 in
Kassel – 2 November 1976 in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
) was a lawyer and
anti-Semitic Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
propagandist. He joined the
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 ...
in 1931, and quickly became involved in both
anti-Communist and
anti-Jewish
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
propaganda. From 1933 to 1945 he worked as a high official in the ''
Propagandaministerium
The Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (; RMVP), also known simply as the Ministry of Propaganda (), controlled the content of the press, literature, visual arts, film, theater, music and radio in Nazi Germany.
The ministry ...
'' under
Joseph Goebbels, where he headed its
anti-Komintern department.
His nickname in Nazi circles was ''Dr. Anti''. From 1939 he headed the
Institute for the Study of the Jewish Question
The Institute for the Study of the Jewish Question (german: Institut zum Studium der Judenfrage) was founded in 1934 and was affiliated with the Reich Ministry of Propaganda under Joseph Goebbels. In 1939 the institution was called "Anti-Semitic A ...
. He worked in 1940 on the script for the anti-Semitic propaganda film ''
Der ewige Jude'' (English: ''The Eternal Jew'') and was responsible for the law requiring Jews to wear the
yellow badge
Yellow badges (or yellow patches), also referred to as Jewish badges (german: Judenstern, lit=Jew's star), are badges that Jews were ordered to wear at various times during the Middle Ages by some caliphates, at various times during the Medieva ...
(''Judenstern'').
After the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
he changed his name to Erwin Kohl and worked for $3,000 a month for the
German Christian Democratic Union in
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
, providing material against more radical Marxists.
As "Erwin Kohl" Taubert was one of the founders of the People's Union for Peace and Freedom (VFF) in 1950. The VFF saw itself as “the central anti-communist organization in the Federal Republic” and was supported and subsidized by the Federal Ministry for All-German Questions (predecessor of the
Federal Ministry for Intra-German Relations). Mathias Friedel regarded the VFF as a replica of the "Anti-Komintern" during the Nazi regime. After his true identity and background was revealed, Eberhard had to retire from the VFF.
After 1957 he worked in South America,
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
and South Africa and as the counsel of the German minister
Franz Josef Strauß
Franz Josef Strauss ( ; 6 September 1915 – 3 October 1988) was a German politician. He was the long-time chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) from 1961 until 1988, member of the federal cabinet in different positions between ...
. Taubert maintained a liaison office in Bonn, which worked for
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
on matters of psychological defense (PSV).
Taubert was still a counter-intelligence expert for
US secret services and in 1959 took on a job for the Iranian secret service (
SAVAK) and other Middle Eastern intelligence services. Under the pseudonym Dr. Marcel Wallensdorfer, Taubert was given a press service entitled ''Anti-Comintern Service''.
[''Zur Person''. In: CrP-Informationsdienst 9, 1961]
From 1970 he was employed by German industrialists and largely withdrew from political life due to his illness.
His rhetorical ability made him the talented and wanted propagandist he was, not only during the NS-regime. His agitative style used in the
Nazi propaganda
The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation of Nazi polici ...
was reused after the war to boost the Western
fear of communism. For this mission he worked with secret services (for example
CIC) and right-wing politicians and journals.
References
Further reading
*
Max Weinreich
Max Weinreich ( yi, מאַקס ווײַנרײַך ''Maks Vaynraych''; russian: Мейер Лазаревич Вайнрайх, ''Meyer Lazarevich Vaynraykh''; 22 April 1894, Goldingen, Russian Empire – 29 January 1969, New York City) was a Russ ...
: ''Hitler's Professors: The Part of Scholarship in Germany's Crimes Against the Jewish People'', Publisher: Yale University Press; 2nd edition, 1999,
1907 births
1976 deaths
Nazi propagandists
Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
{{Germany-politician-stub