Friedrich Hildebrandt (19 September 1898 – 5 November 1948) was a

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

politician, a ''

Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a '' Gau'' or '' Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest rank in the Nazi political leadership, subordinate only to '' Reichsleiter'' and to ...

'' and an SS-''

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 ...

''. He was adjudged and executed for war crimes committed during the time of

Nazi Germany 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 ...

Early life

Hildebrandt was born in

Parchim Parchim (; Mecklenburgisch: ''Parchen'') is a town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is the capital of the Ludwigslust-Parchim district. It was the birthplace of Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, to whom a monument was erected in 1876. Foun ...

, Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He entered service in the German Army on 19 April 1916 as a "Kriegsfreiwilliger" (''literally, "war volunteer"'') and was assigned to Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment 24 on the Western Front. He was severely gassed in Flanders in 1917, and wounded twice before the end of 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 ...

. During January 1919, he returned to Mecklenburg and joined the 1.Kompanie/Freikorps "von Brandis" (in Silesia and on the Baltic). He served there until his capture and imprisonment by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

in Riga. He was later released and returned to Germany, being discharged from the German Army as a ''Vizefeldwebel'' in January, 1920. From March, 1920 to June, 1920, Hildebrandt was a member of the '' Sicherheitspolizei'' in Halle, with which he participated in the suppression of the " Kapp-Putsch" in March, 1920. In the wake of the Putsch, he was tried for excessive brutality against captured Spartakists in Osterfeld/Weissenfels. Although acquitted, he was dismissed from police service. He found employment as a farm worker and gardener.

Nazi Party career

Hildebrandt joined the

in February 1925. On 27 March 1925 he was appointed ''

'' of Gau Mecklenburg-Lübeck. In September 1925, he became a member of the

National Socialist Working Association The National Socialist Working Association, sometimes translated as the National Socialist Working Community (German: ''Nazionale Sozialiste Arbeitsgemeinschaft'') was a short-lived group of about a dozen Nazi Party '' Gauleiter'' brought togeth ...

, a short-lived group of north and northwest German ''Gauleiter'', organized and led by

Gregor Strasser Gregor Strasser (also german: Straßer, see ß; 31 May 1892 – 30 June 1934) was an early prominent German Nazi official and politician who was murdered during the Night of the Long Knives in 1934. Born in 1892 in Bavaria, Strasser served i ...

, which unsuccessfully sought to amend the Party program. It was dissolved in 1926 following the

Bamberg Conference The Bamberg Conference (german: Bamberger Führertagung) included some sixty members of the leadership of the Nazi Party, and was specially convened by Adolf Hitler in Bamberg, in Upper Franconia, Germany on Sunday 14 February 1926 during the "wilde ...

. Briefly suspended as ''Gauleiter'' in July 1930 for criticism of Hitler's alliance with industry, Hildebrandt was reinstated on 31 January 1931. He was elected to the '' Reichstag'' in September 1930. After the Nazi seizure of power, he was made ''Reichsstatthalter'' (Reich Governor) of the Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the Free State of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and the City of

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

on 26 May 1933. He thus united under his control the highest party and governmental offices in his jurisdictions. On 1 January 1934, the two Free States in his jurisdiction were combined into a unified

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

. Under the

Greater Hamburg Act The Greater Hamburg Act (german: Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz), in full the Law Regarding Greater Hamburg and Other Territorial Readjustments (german: Gesetz über Groß-Hamburg und andere Gebietsbereinigungen), was passed by the government of Nazi Germa ...

the City of Lübeck was transferred to Gau Schleswig-Holstein on 1 April 1937 and Hildebrandt's Gau was renamed Gau Mecklenburg. A member of the SS since 1933, on 30 January 1942 Hildebrandt was promoted to SS-''

'', and on 16 November he was named

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. 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 opposing ...

ended, he was arrested and interned by U.S. forces, and tried in the Allied Dachau Trials. He was sentenced specifically in the Airmen's Trial, for contraventions of the Hague Conventions by issuing orders to shoot parachuting U.S. aircrewmen. Friedrich Hildebrandt was then put to death by hanging at

Landsberg am Lech Landsberg am Lech (Landsberg at the Lech (river), Lech) is a Town#Germany, town in southwest Bavaria, Germany, about 65 kilometers west of Munich and 35 kilometers south of Augsburg. It is the capital of the district of Landsberg (district), Lands ...

on 5 November 1948.

References

Bibliography

External links

* 1898 births 1948 deaths Dachau trials executions Executed people from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Gauleiters German Army personnel of World War I German National People's Party politicians German people imprisoned abroad German Völkisch Freedom Party politicians Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic Members of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany National Socialist Working Association members Nazi Party officials Nazi Party politicians People from Parchim People from the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin SS-Obergruppenführer 20th-century Freikorps personnel {{Germany-Nazi-politician-stub