Franz Seldte (29 June 18821 April 1947) was a German politician who served as the Reich Minister for Labour from 1933 to 1945.Stackelberg (2007). ''The Routledge Companion to Nazi Germany'', p. 243. Prior to his ministry, Seldte served as the Federal Leader of ''

Der Stahlhelm ' (German, 'The Steel Helmet, League of Front-Line Soldiers'), commonly known as ''Der Stahlhelm'' ('The Steel Helmet'), was a German First World War veteran's organisation existing from 1918 to 1935. It was part of the "Black Reichswehr" and ...

World War I 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 ...

ex-

servicemen The term serviceman, alternatively service member, refers to enlisted members of a nation's armed forces. More generally, the term can be applied to officers as well. For more information see: *Soldier *Sailor *Airman *Marine *Coast guard ...

's organisation from 1918 to 1934. Ideologically, he identified as a

national conservative National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity. National conservatives usually combine nationalism with conservative stances promoting traditional cultural values, fa ...

Early life and education

Born in

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

in the

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

province of Saxony The Province of Saxony (german: link=no, Provinz Sachsen), also known as Prussian Saxony () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1944. Its capital was Magdeburg. It was formed by the merge ...

, Seldte was the son of an owner of a factory producing chemical products and soda water. He attended the Wilhelm-Raabe- Gymnasium in Magdeburg and, after an apprenticeship as a salesman, studied chemistry at the universities of

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...

and

Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (german: Universitäts- und Hansestadt Greifswald, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostoc ...

. In 1908 he took over the business of his early deceased father. As an officer of the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

he was wounded in

and lost his left arm. He then became a front reporter. Awarded with the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia est ...

2nd and 1st class,Snyder (1976). ''Encyclopedia of the Third Reich'', p. 320. Seldte also was promoted to the rank of '' Hauptmann d.R.'' in the 66th Infantry Regiment.

''Der Stahlhelm''

Bundesarchiv Bild 102-01258, Hugenberg, von Stephani und Seldte

As a reaction to the

German Revolution of 1918–1919 The German Revolution or November Revolution (german: Novemberrevolution) was a civil conflict in the German Empire at the end of the First World War that resulted in the replacement of the German federal constitutional monarchy with a dem ...

, Seldte founded ''Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten'' on 25 December 1918, agitating against the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

and German

war reparations War reparations are compensation payments made after a war by one side to the other. They are intended to cover damage or injury inflicted during a war. History Making one party pay a war indemnity is a common practice with a long history. R ...

. According to Seldte, the organization was to use the spirit of the ''Frontsoldaten'' against the 'swinish revolution' taking place in Germany under the Weimar government. While he took charge of ''Der Stahlhelm'' from 1923 onwards, he had to cope with the constant rivalry of his deputy leader, the militant

Theodor Duesterberg Theodor Duesterberg (; 19 October 1875 – 4 November 1950) was a leader of ''Der Stahlhelm'' in Germany prior to the Nazi seizure of power. Background Born the son of an army surgeon in Darmstadt, Duesterberg entered the Prussian Army in 18 ...

. Seldte became a member of the national conservative

German National People's Party The German National People's Party (german: Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP) was a national-conservative party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major conservative and nationalist party in Wei ...

(DNVP) and was a member of the Magdeburg city council (''Stadtrat''). During the later years of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...

''Der Stahlhelm'' became increasingly anti-democratic and anti-republican. However, Seldte hoped that the organization could become a leading organ of a united right-wing movement. In 1929 it united its forces with the DNVP under

Alfred Hugenberg Alfred Ernst Christian Alexander Hugenberg (19 June 1865 – 12 March 1951) was an influential German businessman and politician. An important figure in nationalist politics in Germany for the first few decades of the twentieth century, Hugenbe ...

, the

Pan-German League The Pan-German League (german: Alldeutscher Verband) was a Pan-German nationalist organization which was officially founded in 1891, a year after the Zanzibar Treaty was signed. Primarily dedicated to the German Question of the time, it held pos ...

and the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

to initiate a German referendum against the

Young Plan The Young Plan was a program for settling Germany's World War I reparations. It was written in August 1929 and formally adopted in 1930. It was presented by the committee headed (1929–30) by American industrialist Owen D. Young, founder and for ...

World War I reparations Following the ratification of article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles at the conclusion of World War I, the Central Powers were made to give war reparations to the Allied Powers. Each of the defeated powers was required to make payments in eith ...

. The common goal was to denounce the Chancellor Hermann Müller and his ministers as traitors to their country, nevertheless the plebiscite failed to reach the

quorum A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature) necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to ''Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'', the ...

. In 1931 Seldte helped create the short-lived

Harzburg Front The Harzburg Front (german: Harzburger Front) was a short-lived radical right-wing, anti-democratic political alliance in Weimar Germany, formed in 1931 as an attempt to present a unified opposition to the government of Chancellor Heinrich Brü ...

, a right-wing alliance against the government of Müller's successor

Heinrich Brüning Heinrich Aloysius Maria Elisabeth Brüning (; 26 November 1885 – 30 March 1970) was a German Centre Party politician and academic, who served as the chancellor of Germany during the Weimar Republic from 1930 to 1932. A political scienti ...

Minister for Labour

During the negotiations for the Chancellorship of Germany between

Franz von Papen Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen, Erbsälzer zu Werl und Neuwerk (; 29 October 18792 May 1969) was a German conservative politician, diplomat, Prussian nobleman and General Staff officer. He served as the chancellor of Germany i ...

and Hitler in mid-January 1933, Seldte threw his vote and ''Der Stahlhelm'' behind Hitler, after which Papen acquiesced to Hitler's demands. On the day of the ''

Machtergreifung Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...

'' on 30 January 1933, Seldte joined the

Hitler Cabinet The Hitler cabinet was the government of Nazi Germany between 30 January 1933 and 30 April 1945 upon the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of the German Reich by president Paul von Hindenburg. It was originally contrived by the national ...

as Reich Minister for Labour, once again outdoing his long-time rival Duesterberg. In the run-up to the elections of March 1933, ''Der Stahlhelm'' together with Hugenberg's national conservative

(DNVP) attempted to make the ''Kampffront Schwarz-Weiß-Rot'' (" Black White Red Combat Front") into the dominant political camp on the right, but ultimately failed as it only gained 8.0% of the votes cast. Nevertheless, Seldte obtained a seat in the '' Reichstag'' parliament as a DNVP "guest". On 27 April 1933 Seldte finally joined the Nazi Party and merged ''Der Stahlhelm'' into

Ernst Röhm Ernst Julius Günther Röhm (; 28 November 1887 – 1 July 1934) was a German military officer and an early member of the Nazi Party. As one of the members of its predecessor, the German Workers' Party, he was a close friend and early ally ...

's ''

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; literally "Storm Detachment") was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi ral ...

(SA)'' militia – de facto placing it at the disposal of Hitler. In August 1933, he was awarded the rank of ''SA-

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 ...

'' and later was appointed

Reichskommissar (, rendered as "Commissioner of the Empire", "Reich Commissioner" or "Imperial Commissioner"), in German history, was an official gubernatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and Nazi Germany. Germa ...

for the ''Freiwilliger Arbeitsdienst'' employment program, but was soon superseded by his state secretary

Konstantin Hierl Konstantin Hierl (24 February 1875 – 23 September 1955) was a major figure in the administration of Nazi Germany. He was the head of the Reich Labour Service (''Reichsarbeitsdienst''; RAD) a ''Reichsleiter'' of the Nazi Party and an associa ...

as leader of the ''

Reichsarbeitsdienst The Reich Labour Service (''Reichsarbeitsdienst''; RAD) was a major organisation established in Nazi Germany as an agency to help mitigate the effects of unemployment on the German economy, militarise the workforce and indoctrinate it with Nazi ...

'' organization. Seldte also was made a member of the

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 ...

. In March 1934 Seldte was made the federal leader of the ''Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher frontkämpfer-Bund (Stahlhelm)'' ( en, National Socialist German Combatants' Federation (Stahlhelm)) (NSDFBSt), a successor organization of ''Der Stahlhelm'', which however was soon disbanded. In 1935 he requested to be released from official responsibilities, but Hitler refused. Throughout his tenure as chief of the Labor Ministry, Seldte never enjoyed the full support of Hitler, who did not think he was worth much. As a result, members of the Nazi hierarchy began encroaching on his areas of responsibility and Seldte was marginalized accordingly. For instance, Hermann Goering's Four Year Plan which he began to implement in late 1936, ran roughshod over Seldte's Labor Ministry altogether. Seldte, without substantial power, remained Reich Minister for Labour until the end of

World War II 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 opposin ...

and was also a member of the

government under Minister president

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 ...

as State Labour Minister. Even after Hitler's suicide and the nomination of Grand-Admiral Dönitz as his successor, Seldte kept his post, being accordingly named Labour Minister. As Reich Minister for Labour, Franz Seldte was one of the signatories of the

Work Order Act The Work Order Act (german: Arbeitsordnungsgesetz - officially ') of 20 January 1934 was the basis for labour relations in Nazi Germany. It regulated the structure of the enterprises and implemented the Führerprinzip, leader principle (''Führerpri ...

(''Gesetz zur Ordnung der nationalen Arbeit'') from 1934, which introduced the

Führer principle ( ; , spelled or ''Fuhrer'' when the umlaut is not available) is a German word meaning "leader" or "guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Nazi Germany cultivated the ("leader principl ...

(''Führerprinzip'') in factories and significantly restricted the rights of employees.

Death

Seldte was captured and arrested in

Mondorf-les-Bains Mondorf-les-Bains ( ; ) is a commune and town in south-eastern Luxembourg. It is part of the canton of Remich. Mondorf-les-Bains is a spa town (hence its name), and has the only casino in Luxembourg. , the commune of Mondorf-les-Bains (other tow ...

at the end of the war. During the

Nuremberg trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945 ...

, Seldte tried to exonerate himself by claiming that he had stood against the dictatorship of Hitler and that he advocated for a two-chamber system of parliamentary governance. His story was not convincing. Seldte died in a US military hospital in April 1947 at

Fürth Fürth (; East Franconian: ; yi, פיורדא, Fiurda) is a city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the t ...

, before the Nuremberg Tribunal had the chance to formally try him on the charges.

Legacy

In Nazi-era Germany, streets were named after him in several German cities, among them his hometown

and

Leverkusen Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf. With about 161,000 inhabitants, Leverkusen is on ...

. In

Forst (Lausitz) Forst (Lausitz) ( dsb, Baršć) is a town in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany. It lies east of Cottbus, on the river Lausitzer Neiße which is also the German-Polish border, the Oder-Neisse line. It is the capital of the Spree-Neiße district ...

, the football stadium at the water tower was named ''Franz-Seldte-Kampfbahn''. In

Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Rout ...

, the square behind the main railway station was named after him.

References

Bibliography

* Bracher, Karl D. ''The German Dictatorship: The Origins, Structure, and Effects of National Socialism''. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970. * Evans, Richard J. ''The Third Reich in Power''. New York: Penguin, 2006. * Fischer, Klaus. ''Nazi Germany: A New History''. New York: Continuum, 1995. * Kershaw, Ian. ''Hitler: 1889-1936, Hubris''. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. * Klee, Ernst. ''Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945''. Frankfurt-am-Main: Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, 2007. * Longerich, Peter. ''Heinrich Himmler''. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. * Mazower, Mark. ''Hitler's Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe''. New York: Penguin, 2009. * Shirer, William L. ''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich''. New York: MJF Books, 1990,

959 Year 959 ( CMLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * April - May – The Byzantines refuse to pay the yearly tribute. A Hungari ...

* Snyder, Louis L. ''Encyclopedia of the Third Reich''. London: Robert Hale, 1976 * Stackelberg, Roderick. ''The Routledge Companion to Nazi Germany''. New York: Routledge, 2007. * Taylor, James, and Warren Shaw. ''Dictionary of the Third Reich''. New York: Penguin, 2002. * Wistrich, Robert S. ''Who's Who in Nazi Germany''. New York: Routledge, 2001. * Zentner, Christian, and Friedemann Bedürftig, eds. ''The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich'', vol. 2 (M-Z). New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1991.

External links

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