Hans Hinkel (22 June 1901 – 8 February 1960) was a German

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and ministerial official in

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 ...

. He studied at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...

, where he was a member of the

academic fencing Academic fencing (german: link=no, akademisches Fechten) or is the traditional kind of fencing practiced by some student corporations () in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Latvia, Estonia, and, to a minor extent, in Belgium, Lithuania, and Pol ...

fraternity ''Sugambria''. Hinkel had served in 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, rega ...

and joined the

NSDAP 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 ...

in 1921. From 1930 to 1932 he was the editor of the

Völkischer Beobachter The ''Völkischer Beobachter'' (; "'' Völkisch'' Observer") was the newspaper of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) from 25 December 1920. It first appeared weekly, then daily from 8 February 1923. For twenty-four years it formed part of the official pub ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, he became Reich Organization Leader of the Militant League for German Culture ('' Kampfbund für Deutsche Kultur'' or KfdK) and manager of the Reich Culture Chamber (''

Reichskulturkammer The Reich Chamber of Culture (''Reichskulturkammer'') was a government agency in Nazi Germany. It was established by law on 22 September 1933 in the course of the ''Gleichschaltung'' process at the instigation of Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels as ...

'').

Background

From 1935, Hinkel was responsible as a special commissioner for "cultural particulars" at the Reich Ministry for the People's Enlightenment and Propaganda. In this function, Hinkel, an SS officer and member of the Blood Order, was responsible for Anti-Semitic issues and particularly for the removal of

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

s (''" Entjudung"'') from cultural undertakings. Hans Hinkel was, for instance, the driving force behind the pressure brought to bear on the popular

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

Joachim Gottschalk to get him to separate from his Jewish wife. In late 1942, Hans Hinkel took over the leadership of the film department at the Reich Ministry for the People's Enlightenment and Propaganda. Hinkel also organized test screenings of films before propaganda experts, institutions, and authorities. Testing propaganda films for their effectiveness was an ongoing business. Since Anti-Semitic film propaganda touched on one of

Nazism 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) i ...

's core issues, these test screenings served at the same time as a way to commit the whole propaganda apparatus to a common, radical line. As Reich Culture Governor, Hinkel's work consisted of, among other things, approving events staged by the Cultural Federation of German Jews (''Kulturbund Deutscher Juden'') on a case-by-case basis. Hinkel thereby saw to it that this Federation was sealed off from non-Jewish artists' contributions. The Federation was dissolved in 1942. In March 1944, Hans Hinkel was appointed National Film Superintendent (''Reichsfilmintendant''). In this capacity he took steps to ensure that during the final phase of the war more than half of the members of the German feature industry fulfilled their duty to serve in the German army and the militia (''Volkssturm''). In 1945 he was interned by the Allies and in 1947 he was handed over to Poland to face charges for his involvement in theft of Polish cultural properties. After the deportation from Poland into the Federal Republic of Germany 1952 Hinkel was never held responsible for his acts. Hinkel's works, published under the titles ''Manual of the National Cultural Chamber'' and ''Jew Quarter of Europe'' were placed in the Soviet zone of occupation on the list of prohibited literature.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hinkel, Hans 1901 births 1960 deaths People from Worms, Germany People from Rhenish Hesse Nazi Party politicians Militant League for German Culture members Nazi Party officials Holocaust perpetrators Nazi propaganda SS-Gruppenführer 20th-century Freikorps personnel Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic Members of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany

Background

See also

References

External links