Wilfred von Oven (4 May 1912 – 13 June 2008) was a German journalist, publicist and civil servant who served as the Press Adjutant of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels between 1943 and the German capitulation in 1945.

Biography

Wilfred von Oven was born in La Paz, Bolivia to German parents, the father's side having a strong military tradition. His father fell in Flanders in 1917: two uncles held high rank in the German Army, and of these Ernst von Oven (1859-1945) was the highest ranking German officer in the field at the Armistice and subsequently reported directly to the Minister of Defence. Both helped form

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 ...

to combat communism and the revolutionary movement in Germany. Wilfred von Oven joined the SA and

National Socialist German Workers 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 ...

on 1 May 1931, but resigned from both exactly one year later in protest at the shift 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 ...

further to the right (the " Stennes Revolt"). Oven was interested in journalism and served with the

Legion Condor The Condor Legion (german: Legion Condor) was a unit composed of military personnel from the air force and army of Nazi Germany, which served with the Nationalist faction during the Spanish Civil War of July 1936 to March 1939. The Condor Legio ...

in Spain as a war correspondent. After obtaining an Army commission in 1939 he served with the Propaganda Ministry as a war correspondent reporting from the fronts in Poland and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

during the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

. In 1943, with the rank of Lieutenant, the OKW appointed him as Goebbels' Press adjutant, which he remained until the end of the war. In a German TV documentary on the " German Resistance", Oven described the events of the 20 July plot which he witnessed. On the afternoon in question the Propaganda Ministry on the

Wilhelmstrasse Wilhelmstrasse (german: Wilhelmstraße, see ß) is a major thoroughfare in the central Mitte and Kreuzberg districts of Berlin, Germany. Until 1945, it was recognised as the centre of the government, first of the Kingdom of Prussia, later of t ...

, with Goebbels inside, was surrounded by disloyal troops. Goebbels ordered Oven to discover whether escape was possible. He found they were trapped but reported that the telephone system was still working, an oversight by the plotters which assisted in their downfall. At the capitulation in 1945 Oven went into hiding under an assumed name to escape Allied internment:

Werner Naumann Werner Naumann (16 June 1909 – 25 October 1982) was a German civil servant and politician. He was State Secretary in Joseph Goebbels' Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda during the Nazi Germany era. He was appointed head of th ...

, the replacement Propaganda Minister for Goebbels whose assistant Oven would have been, fled to Argentina in 1946, where Oven arrived in 1951. Oven was declared " persona non grata" by the Federal German Embassy in Buenos Aires and remained a committed Nazi. He continued to reject

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

for paganism in Argentina. He was married, and the author of several books and numerous magazine articles. In his book ''Auschwitz: The Nazis and The 'Final Solution, Laurence Rees discusses an interview he conducted with Oven. He was asked if he could sum up his experience of the Third Reich in one word, what would it be, to which Oven responded: "Paradise". Wilfred von Oven died in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, Argentina at 13 June 2008.

References

Literature

* Wilfred von Oven:'' Mit ruhig festem Schritt – Aus der Geschichte der SA'', 1998.

External links

1912 births 2008 deaths Argentine people of German descent Bolivian people of German descent Bolivian emigrants to Argentina Nazi propagandists German Army officers of World War II Adherents of Germanic neopaganism People from La Paz Nazis in South America Condor Legion personnel People of the Federal Intelligence Service German modern pagans {{Germany-bio-stub