Otto Hellmuth (22 July 1896 – 20 April 1968) was a member of the

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 ...

Party and the ''

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 ...

'' in

Lower Franconia Lower Franconia (german: Unterfranken) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia. History After the founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria the state was totally r ...

(''Unterfranken'') from 1928 to 1945.

Early life

Born at

Markt Einersheim Markt Einersheim is a market town and municipality in the district of Kitzingen in Bavaria, Germany. On April 5, 1945, at the end of World War II, the town was bombed by United States Army Air Forces P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunder ...

, 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 ...

he entered service as a Kriegsfreiwilliger in the

Bavarian Army The Bavarian Army was the army of the Electorate (1682–1806) and then Kingdom (1806–1919) of Bavaria. It existed from 1682 as the standing army of Bavaria until the merger of the military sovereignty (''Wehrhoheit'') of Bavaria into that of t ...

, assigned successively to Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 9, Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 4 and Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 8. He was wounded in action four times. He returned to Germany in October 1918 after being severely gassed. He studied dentistry at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...

and the University of Würzburg. He received his doctorate in 1922 and began practice as a dentist.

Nazi Party career

He joined the Nazi Party in 1922 before it was outlawed and re-joined in December 1925. He served as 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 ...

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...

and joined the municipal council in

Marktbreit Marktbreit am Main () is a town in the district of Kitzingen in the Regierungsbezirk Unterfranken in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated at the most southern point of the Main river. Marktbreit is the birthplace of Alois Alzheimer who first identi ...

. On 20 May 1928, Hellmuth was elected to the Bavarian

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- ...

. On 1 October 1928, Hellmuth was appointed ''

'' of Lower Franconia (''Gau Unterfranken''). His home and office were in

the capital. Three weeks before the first nationwide anti-Jewish boycott began in 1933, Hellmuth had already forced the closing of Jewish-owned stores and offices in Würzburg. In April 1929, he organized mass meetings to protest the death of a four-year-old child and alleged in an article in ''

Der Stürmer ''Der Stürmer'' (, literally "The Stormer / Attacker / Striker") was a weekly German tabloid-format newspaper published from 1923 to the end of the Second World War by Julius Streicher, the ''Gauleiter'' of Franconia, with brief suspensions ...

'' that the child had been killed by Jews in a ritual murder. These accusations were dismissed after a police investigation. After the Nazi seizure of power, Hellmuth was elected to the '' Reichstag'' on 12 November 1933. On 1 July 1934, he became ''Regierungspräsident'' (Government President) of Unterfranken, thus uniting under his control the highest party and governmental offices in his jurisdiction. He had the Gau renamed Mainfranken on 30 July 1935. On 1 June 1938, the name of the government region was also changed to Mainfranken. After

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 ...

, the region's original name was reinstated. In September 1935, Hellmuth 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 ...

. Unlike almost all other Gauleiters, Hellmuth did not belong to the SA or the SS. However, on 9 November 1939, he was made an ''

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 ...

'' 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 16 November 1942, he was appointed the

Reich Defense Commissioner Reich Defense Commissioner (German: ''Reichsverteidigungskommissar'', RVK) was a governmental position created in Nazi Germany at the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939. Charged with overall defense of the territory of the German Reich, th ...

for his Gau. In 1936 he acquired the house of a Jewish pharmacist as his private residence by compelling the city to purchase it far below its market value. He lived here in great luxury with a large household staff. When the ''Gaufrauenschaftsleiterin'' of Mainfranken paid Passau a formal visit, with a delegation of activists, Margarethe Schneider-Reichel presented them with a painting of Hellmuth. Over most of his term, Hellmuth was not an impressive personality.

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...

saw him as "a most retiring unassuming ''Gauleiter'' in whom one had not too much confidence." However, Hellmuth defended his Gau vigorously in the spring of 1945, as Goebbels noted in his diary on 2 April.

Post-war

Hellmuth and his family fled Würzburg on 2 April 1945, two days before it fell to US forces. He fled to the

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

region of Austria where he was briefly detained by US troops in May. Escaping, he hid out as a farmworker in the

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

area and then resumed the practice of dentistry under an assumed name. Discovered, he was arrested in May 1947 and accused of complicity in the murders of

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

aircraft pilots. He was tried at Dachau and sentenced to death. This sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment, then further reduced to 20 years. He was released from

Landsberg Prison Landsberg Prison is a penal facility in the town of Landsberg am Lech in the southwest of the German state of Bavaria, about west-southwest of Munich and south of Augsburg. It is best known as the prison where Adolf Hitler was held in 1924, a ...

in June 1955, settled in Kassel, and resumed his dental practice. Hellmuth killed himself on 20 April 1968 in

Reutlingen Reutlingen (; Swabian: ''Reitlenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it has a population of 115,818. Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which ...

References

External links

Würzburg
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hellmuth, Otto 1896 births 1968 deaths 1968 suicides Gauleiters German Army personnel of World War I German prisoners sentenced to death Members of the Academy for German Law Members of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany National Socialist Motor Corps members Nazi Party officials Nazi Party politicians Nazis who committed suicide in Germany People from Kitzingen (district) Prisoners sentenced to death by the United States military People convicted in the Dachau trials