Josef Fitzthum (September 14, 1896 – January 10, 1945) was a high-ranking Austrian member of the SS and Special Representative of the

Reichsführer-SS (, ) was a special title and rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945 for the commander of the (SS). ''Reichsführer-SS'' was a title from 1925 to 1933, and from 1934 to 1945 it was the highest rank of the SS. The longest-servi ...

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

during

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 opposing ...

Career

Born in 1896, Josef Fitzthum enlisted in the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army (, literally "Ground Forces of the Austro-Hungarians"; , literally "Imperial and Royal Army") was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint arm ...

in 1916 and was deployed to the Italian front. In January 1919 he was dismissed from the army, and from 1923 to 1933 he worked as a secretary at the Vienna School of Applied Arts. Fitzthum joined the Nazi party in 1931 (membership number 363,169) and in 1932, the ''SS'' (membership number 41,936). In April 1932 he joined the ''XI SS Standard'' in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, which he led from September 1932 for six months. After his expatriation from

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, starting in March 1936, he was appointed a full-time SS-Standartenführer. In May 1936 he was posted to the SS ''Germania''. From October 1937 to March 1938 he was involved in '' SD'' activities. Following the ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

'' he was appointed Deputy Chief of police in Vienna from 12 March 1938 to March 1940. In March 1938 he was involved in several high-profile meetings and public ceremonies with

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

Kurt Daluege Kurt Max Franz Daluege (15 September 1897 – 24 October 1946) was chief of the national uniformed ''Ordnungspolizei'' (Order Police) of Nazi Germany. Following Reinhard Heydrich's assassination in 1942, he served as Deputy Protector for th ...

Karl Wolff Karl Friedrich Otto Wolff (13 May 1900 – 17 July 1984) was a German SS functionary who served as Chief of Personal Staff Reichsführer-SS (Heinrich Himmler) and an SS liaison to Adolf Hitler during World War II. He ended the war as the Supre ...

Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( ; ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a high-ranking German SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He was chief of the Reich Security Main Office (inclu ...

and Ernst Kaltenbrunner reviewing Austrian police forces in Vienna. In 1940 he was removed from his post following accusations of corruption. In 1940 Fitzthum was transferred to the

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

and appointed as an infantry commander in the SS-Totenkopfverbände. Between mid-April 1942 and May 1943 he was in the

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 ...

as a commander for the establishment of the ''Aufstellung von Freiwilligen-Verbänden der Waffen-SS'' (voluntary associations of the Waffen-SS).

Appointment to Albania

From October 1943 to 1 January 1945 Fitzthum was appointed Special Representative of the

by Heinrich Himmler to act as his personal plenipotentiary in Albania. As a former Vienna police chief Fitzthum's main stated task was to rebuild the Albanian police force. However he soon conceived the idea of raising an Albanian Legion as the Austrians had done here during

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 ...

but within the Waffen SS. Consequently, from April to June 1944 Fitzthum organized the recruitment and training of the

21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg (1st Albanian) The 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS ''Skanderbeg'' (1st Albanian) was a German mountain infantry division of the Waffen-SS, the armed wing of the German Nazi Party that served alongside, but was never formally part of, the Wehrmacht du ...

. Inside Albanian wartime politics, he was a vocal opponent of collaborating with the Zogist / Royalist faction. An experienced political infighter, Fitzthum rapidly monopolized both the Reich powers in Albania (usurping even those of the German Foreign Ministry) and the local Albanian political systems of administration. In August 1944 he was promoted ''SS Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS'' and granted very broad powers. In September 1944 he directly appointed a three-man "control committee" for

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

including Prengë Previzi (an obscure collaborating politician), the formal head of the Albanian secret police under the Nazis, and General Gustav von Myrdacz (an Austrian military officer who had retired to Tirana after World War I). "Regular army officers decried Fitzthum's rash of arrests as well as the transporting of some 400 Albanian prisoners out of Albania, directly contravening existing agreements.".Bernd Jürgen Fischer: Albania at War, 1939–1945. Purdue University Press, West Lafayette 1999, p. 226. By 2 October 1944, when the Germans decided to formally evacuate Albania, Fitzthum was perhaps the most powerful man in the entire country. During the withdrawal, Fitzthum helped

Xhafer Deva Xhafer Deva (21 February 1904 – 25 May 1978) was a Kosovo Albanian politician during World War II. A notable local politician in Kosovo and in Axis-occupied Albania, he took charge of German-occupied Mitrovica and worked with the Germans ...

set up, arm and equip a local administration and defence force in

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

. Upon returning to 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 ...

he was posted to the 18th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Horst Wessel as a commander from 3 to 10 January 1945, when Fitzthum was killed in a car accident in

Wiener Neudorf Wiener Neudorf (Central Bavarian: ''Weana Neiduaf'') is an Austrian town in the eastern part of the Mödling district, south of Vösendorf and Maria Enzersdorf, west of Biedermannsdorf, and north of Guntramsdorf. History First settled in 4000 ...

. He was buried in Vienna.

References

Bibliography

* Birn, Ruth Bettina (1986). ''Die Höheren SS- und Polizeiführer. Himmlers Vertreter im Reich und in den besetzten Gebieten''. Droste. * Bishop, Chris (2005). ''Hitler's Foreign SS Divisions''. or * Fischer, Bernd Jürgen (1999). ''Albania at War, 1939–1945''. Purdue University Press, West Lafayette. or * Klee, Ernst (2007). ''Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich''. Frankfurt am Main, S. Fischer (Aktualisierte 2. Auflage). * Malcolm, Noel (2000). ''Kosovo: A Short History''. New York University Press. New Update edition. * Neubacher, Hermann (1956). ''Sonderauftrag Sudost''. Musterschmidt. * Sarner, Harvey (1997). ''Rescue In Albania: One Hundred Percent Of Jews In Albania Rescued From Holocaust''. Brunswick Press, California. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzhum, Josef 1896 births 1945 deaths People from Gänserndorf District Austrian Nazis Members of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany SS-Gruppenführer SS and Police Leaders Waffen-SS personnel killed in action Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Recipients of the Iron Cross (1939), 1st class Road incident deaths in Austria