Rudolf Buttmann (4 July 1885 – 25 January 1947) was a German lawyer, Bavarian State Library director and Nazi politician.
Early life
Rudolf Hermann Buttmann was born 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 ...
, the son of a school teacher. After attending
gymnasium in
Zweibrücken
Zweibrücken (; french: Deux-Ponts, ; Palatinate German: ''Zweebrigge'', ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river.
Name
The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; olde ...
, he studied
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
and
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
at the universities of
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 ...
,
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...
and
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, which he completed in 1907 by passing his state law examination. A year later he began an internship at the Royal Bavarian Court Library in
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 ...
. In 1910 he received his
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
in political science from Munich University and, on 1 October of that year, he began work at the Bavarian State Parliament Library.
From 1914 to 1918 he took part 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 ...
with the 12th Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment and the 18th Royal Bavarian Reserve Infantry. He attained the rank of ''
Leutnant
() is the lowest Junior officer rank in the armed forces the German (language), German-speaking of Germany (Bundeswehr), Austrian Armed Forces, and military of Switzerland.
History
The German noun (with the meaning "" (in English "deputy") fro ...
'' and received 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 ...
, second class. Buttmann was married to Karoline Schandl in 1916, with whom he had three sons. After the end of the war in 1918, Buttmann unsuccessfully attempted to organize bourgeois and right wing elements to form a citizen
militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
in opposition to left wing revolutionaries in the newly proclaimed
Free State of Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
. He also supported 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 ...
'' Epp against the short-lived
Bavarian Soviet Republic
The Bavarian Soviet Republic, or Munich Soviet Republic (german: Räterepublik Baiern, Münchner Räterepublik),Hollander, Neil (2013) ''Elusive Dove: The Search for Peace During World War I''. McFarland. p.283, note 269. was a short-lived unre ...
, and then returned to his position with the Bavarian State Parliament Library, where he was promoted to senior librarian in 1924.
During the time of the
German Empire
The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
Buttmann had been a member of the
National Liberal Party. After the November Revolution, he co-founded 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 ...
(DNVP) in 1919. At this time he also became a member of the ''
Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund
The ''Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund'' (English: German Nationalist Protection and Defiance Federation) was the largest, and most active anti-semitic federation in Germany after the First World War,Beurteilung des Reichskommissars für à ...
'', the largest and most influential
anti-Semitic
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 ...
organization in Germany. Leaving the DNVP in 1922, he founded the ''Völkischen Rechtsblocks''. Drawn to the nationalist and anti-Semitic platform of
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
's
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 ...
, Buttmann took part in the failed
Beer Hall Putsch
The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch,Dan Moorhouse, ed schoolshistory.org.uk, accessed 2008-05-31.Known in German as the or was a failed coup d'état by Nazi Party ( or NSDAP) leader Adolf Hitler, Erich Ludendorff and othe ...
on 9 November 1923. After the Nazi Party was outlawed, Buttmann on 6 January 1924 co-founded the ''
Völkische Block'', a Nazi
front organization
A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy gro ...
. Under its banner, Buttmann was elected as one of its 23 deputies to the
Bavarian Landtag
The Landtag of Bavaria, officially known in English as the Bavarian State Parliament, is the unicameral legislature of the German state of Bavaria. The parliament meets in the Maximilianeum in Munich.
Elections to the Landtag are held every f ...
in May 1924. However, when Hitler reestablished the Nazi Party on 27 February 1925, Buttmann immediately joined the NSDAP (membership number 4).
Nazi Party career
In September 1925, the NSDAP formed its own parliamentary bloc in the Bavarian ''Landtag''; Buttmann was named its leader and would remain so until 1933. Over the next few years he was very active as a propaganda speaker throughout Bavaria, and was named a ''Reichsredner'', or national speaker. During a debate in the ''Landtag'' in July 1927 concerning a drop in Bavarian tourism, Buttmann ascribed it not to anti-Semitic agitation, but to the presence of Jews in the Alpine spa of
Bad Reichenhall
Bad Reichenhall (Central Bavarian: ''Reichahoi'') is a spa town, and administrative center of the Berchtesgadener Land district in Upper Bavaria, Germany. It is located near Salzburg in a basin encircled by the Chiemgau Alps (including Mount Staufe ...
, along with other non-German influences such as jazz music, which he denounced using vulgar, racist terms.
In September 1932, Buttmann became the head of the Main Department (''Hauptabteilung'') for Popular Education in the Nazi Party's ''Reichsleitung'' (National Leadership). After the
Nazi seizure of power
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 ...
, Buttmann was considered by many to be a natural candidate to become the Education Minister in Bavaria but the post instead went to
Hans Schemm
Hans Schemm (6 October 1891 – 5 March 1935) was an educator who became a prominent Nazi Party official. He served as ''Gauleiter'' of Gau Bayreuth and Bavarian State Minister for Education and Culture until his death in an airplane accident.
...
, the powerful ''
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 ...
'' of
the Bavarian East March. In October 1933, Buttmann was one of the founding members of
Hans Frank
Hans Michael Frank (23 May 1900 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and lawyer who served as head of the General Government in Nazi-occupied Poland during the Second World War.
Frank was an early member of the German Workers' Party ...
's
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 November 1933, Buttmann was elected to the ''
Reichstag'' from electoral constituency 24,
Upper Bavaria
Upper Bavaria (german: Oberbayern, ; ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany.
Geography
Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat o ...
-
Swabia
Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.
The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...
where he would continue to serve until 1945. From 1933 to 1945 he also served as Chairman of the German Language Association.
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R24391, Konkordatsunterzeichnung in Rom](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-R24391%2C_Konkordatsunterzeichnung_in_Rom.jpg)
In 1933 and 1934 he published and edited the journal ''Völkische Kultur''. From 5 May 1933 until 1 October 1935 he served as head of the Department for Cultural Policy in the Reich Ministry of the Interior with the rank of Ministerial Director. In this capacity, he served as a chief negotiator between the Reich and the
Holy See
The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...
over the July 1933 ''
Reichskonkordat
The ''Reichskonkordat'' ("Concordat between the Holy See and the German Reich") is a treaty negotiated between the Vatican and the emergent Nazi Germany. It was signed on 20 July 1933 by Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli, who later be ...
''. He would continue to negotiate the implementing details of the pact over the next two years. He then left the Interior Ministry to become Director General of the
Bavarian State Library
The Bavarian State Library (german: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, abbreviated BSB, called ''Bibliotheca Regia Monacensis'' before 1919) in Munich is the central " Landesbibliothek", i. e. the state library of the Free State of Bavaria, the bigg ...
, a post which he held from 1 October 1935 to the fall of the Nazi regime in May 1945. From 1936 he worked together with the Reich Institute for the History of the New Germany, and was a member of its advisory board on the "Jewish Question Research Department."
Postwar events
At the end of the war, Buttmann was briefly interned on 19 May 1945, and died on 25 January 1947 at his home in
Stockdorf
Stockdorf is the largest district in the municipality of Gauting in the District of Starnberg in upper Bavaria, Germany. It is inhabited by approximately 4,000 citizens.
Geography
The village is situated at the Würm River, directly bordered i ...
, near Munich. On 26 November 1948, he was posthumously classified by the
denazification
Denazification (german: link=yes, Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by remov ...
tribunal in
Starnberg
Starnberg is a German town in Bavaria, Germany, some southwest of Munich. It is at the north end of Lake Starnberg, in the heart of the " Five Lakes Country", and serves as capital of the district of Starnberg. Recording a disposable per-capi ...
as belonging to Group I ("main offender"); on appellate review, he was reclassified as Group III ("lesser offender") on 21 March 1949.
References
Sources
*
*
External weblinks
Director General Rudolf Buttmannin th
Bavarian State Library CollectionsRudolf Buttmannin th
Bavarian Culture and Knowledge website
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buttmann, Rudolf
1885 births
1947 deaths
German librarians
German National People's Party politicians
Holocaust perpetrators in Germany
Lawyers in the Nazi Party
Members of the Academy for German Law
Members of the Landtag of Bavaria
Members of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany
Nazi Party officials
Nazi Party politicians
Nazi propagandists
Nazis who participated in the Beer Hall Putsch
People from Marktbreit
Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 2nd class
20th-century Freikorps personnel
German Army personnel of World War I