Helmuth Friedrichs (born 22 September 1899 in

Otterndorf Otterndorf () is a town on the coast of the North Sea in the federal state of Lower Saxony, Germany, and is part of the collective municipality (''Samtgemeinde'') of Land Hadeln. The town, located in the administrative district (''Landkreis'') of ...

– died probably February 1945) 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 politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

official. He was an important figure in the Office of the

Deputy Führer Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933, Hess held that position unt ...

and its successor the Nazi Party Chancellery.

Early years

After secondary school Friedrichs enlisted in the

German Imperial Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (german: Deutsches Heer), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the l ...

in 1916, seeing 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 ...

. Serving on both fronts, he was captured by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

in October 1918 and held as a prisoner of war until the end of 1919. Serving with the

Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, regar ...

and the army, he joined with Karl Dincklage, later a

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) leader, in campaigning for the

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 ...

. He also worked as a miner in

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

and studied at the Mining Academy in

Clausthal-Zellerfeld Clausthal-Zellerfeld is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the southwestern part of the Harz mountains. Its population is approximately 15,000. The City is the location of the Clausthal University of Technology. The health resort ...

without graduating.Helmuth Friedrichs
in the ''Datenbank der Reichstagsabgeordneten'' He was nicknamed "Long Friedrichs" on account of his height.Dietrich Orlow, ''The History of the Nazi Party 1933-1945 Volume 2'', David & Charles, 1973, p. 103

Nazi Party

He joined the Nazi Party in 1929Ernst Klee: ''Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich.'' Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 167 the SA in turn of the year 1929/1930Joachim Lilla: Statisten in Uniform : Die Mitglieder des Reichstags 1933 - 1945, Düsseldorf 2004, pp.162-163 and the

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe d ...

in 1936. He reached the rank of

Gruppenführer __NOTOC__ ''Gruppenführer'' (, ) was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA. Since then, the term ''Gruppenführer'' is also used for leaders of groups/teams of the police, fire de ...

in the SS in 1944. He also served as a member of the Reichstag for

Hessen-Nassau The Province of Hesse-Nassau () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1868 to 1918, then a province of the Free State of Prussia until 1944. Hesse-Nassau was created as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 by combining the ...

during the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

Party Chancellery

Freidrichs was serving as head of organisation in Gau Essen in March 1934 when

Rudolf Hess Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933, Hess held that position unt ...

appointed him to his staff as head of the "party division". In this role he served as liaison between Hess and

Martin Bormann Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery. He gained immense power by using his position as Adolf Hitler's private secretary to control the flow of information ...

, meeting the former weekly to obtain his general policy ideas before passing these on to Bormann who then developed specific initiative based upon Hess's initial ideas. Heinrich Walkenhorst served as his deputy, with both men remaining in office until 1945. Along with

Gerhard Klopfer Gerhard Klopfer (18 February 1905 – 29 January 1987) was a senior official of the Nazi Party and assistant to Martin Bormann in the Office of the (Nazi) Party Chancellery. Klopfer was born in Schreibersdorf, Silesia (now in Poland), in 1905. ...

Friedrichs was the highest-ranking bureaucrat behind Bormann in the Chancellery. As a result, he wielded a significant level of influence as the office controlled appointments to various party positions, including those of

Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a ''Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany, Gau'' or ''Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party, rank in ...

and Reich minister, and Bormann often delegated appointments to his two deputies. Along with

Gottlob Berger Gottlob Christian Berger (16 July 1896 – 5 January 1975) was a senior German Nazi official who held the rank of '' SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS'' (lieutenant general) and was the chief of the SS Main Office responsibl ...

he was also appointed as one of the two Chiefs of Staff of the

Volkssturm The (; "people's storm") was a levée en masse national militia established by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II. It was not set up by the German Army, the ground component of the combined German ''Wehrmacht'' armed forces, ...

upon the foundation of this civil defence force in 1944.Ian Dear, Michael Richard Daniell Foot (eds.), ''The Oxford Companion to World War II'', Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 369

Disappearance

Friedrichs was reported missing from February 1945; on 13 August 1951 he was declared legally dead by the

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

district court with his date of death officially set as 31 December 1945.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedrichs, Helmuth 1899 births 1945 deaths German Army personnel of World War I Officials of Nazi Germany Sturmabteilung officers SS-Gruppenführer Members of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany People declared dead in absentia People from Cuxhaven (district) People from the Province of Hanover 20th-century Freikorps personnel Volkssturm personnel killed in acton Missing in action of World War II German prisoners of war in World War I World War I prisoners of war held by the United Kingdom

Early years

Nazi Party

Party Chancellery

Disappearance

See also

References