Emil Stürtz (15 November 1892 – missing 21 April 1945) was a German

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

official and politician who served as 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

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

from 1936 to 1945.

Early life

Stürtz was born in Wieps, a village outside of Allenstein in

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

. He grew up in

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

, and after attending the

Friedrich Bessel Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (; 22 July 1784 – 17 March 1846) was a German astronomer, mathematician, physicist, and geodesy, geodesist. He was the first astronomer who determined reliable values for the distance from the Sun to another star by th ...

Realschule Real school (, ) is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), F ...

'', he joined the merchant marine as a seaman in 1912. When the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

broke out, he joined the

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Imperial Navy) was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for ...

as a sailor. He served aboard the

battlecruiser The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of att ...

SMS Seydlitz and participated in the

Battle of Jutland The Battle of Jutland () was a naval battle between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet, under Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer, durin ...

in 1916. He transferred to the U-boat arm and served aboard U-128 until Spring 1918 when he was declared unfit for duty due to severe illness. He became a war pensioner and then worked in various jobs as a locksmith repairman and a driver in Hattingen.

Nazi career

On 28 December 1925, Stürtz joined the National Socialist German Worker's Party (membership number 26,929) and became the press and propaganda leader for the ''Ortsgruppe'' (Local Group) in Hattingen. He moved up to '' Kreisleiter'' (County Leader) in the city of

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

in 1926. By 1929 he became '' Bezirksleiter'' (District Leader) of the Siegerland district. In November of that year, he was elected a member of the ''

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 ...

'' of the

Province of Westphalia The Province of Westphalia () was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. In turn, Prussia was the largest component state of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918, of the Weimar ...

where he would serve until 1933 as the chairman of the Nazi faction. Stürtz next became Business Manager of Gau Westphalia in June 1930 and by September was elected to the national '' Reichstag'' for electoral district 18 ( Westphalia-South). On 1 October of the same year, the party appointed him Deputy ''

'' of Gau Westphalia. When the Gau was divided in two on 1 January 1931, he remained Deputy ''Gauleiter'' in Gau Westphalia-South. Upon the ''

Machtergreifung The rise to power of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919, when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He quickly rose t ...

'' (Nazi seizure of power) in 1933, Stürtz became chairman of the Provincial Committee for the province of Westphalia. In 1935, he was made a Prussian Provincial Councilor (''Provinzialrat''). On 7 August 1936, Stürtz succeeded

Wilhelm Kube Wilhelm Kube (13 November 1887 – 22 September 1943) was a German Nazi politician and official who served as the '' Generalkommissar'' of '' Generalbezirk Weißruthenien'' in the ''Reichskommissariat Ostland'' from 1941 to 1943. Kube was invol ...

as ''

'' of Gau Kurmark, and as '' Oberpräsident'' of the Prussian Provinces of

and Posen-West Prussia, thus uniting under his control the highest party and governmental offices in these provinces. He was also made a member of the

Prussian State Council The Prussian State Council ( German: ''Preußischer Staatsrat'') was the second chamber of the bicameral legislature of the Free State of Prussia between 1921 and 1933; the first chamber was the Prussian Landtag (). The members of the State Cou ...

. At the next '' Reichstag'' election in April 1938, Stürtz was elected as a deputy for electoral constituency 5 ( Frankfurt am Oder). Following some territorial restructuring, Gau Kurmark became the Gau March of Brandenburg on 31 January 1939 and Stürtz remained its leader. In September 1936, Stürtz joined the

National Socialist Motor Corps The National Socialist Motor Corps (, 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 older National Socialist Automobile Corps (, NS ...

(NSKK) with the rank of ''

Brigadeführer ''Brigadeführer'' (, ) was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) that was used between 1932 and 1945. It was mainly known for its use as an SS rank. As an SA rank, it was used after briefly being known as '' Untergruppenführer'' in ...

''. He would be promoted to ''

Gruppenführer __NOTOC__ ''Gruppenführer'' (, ) was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA. Since then, the term ''Gruppenführer'' is also used for leaders of groups/teams of the police, fire d ...

'' on 30 January 1937 and ''

Obergruppenführer (, ) 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 commissioned SS rank after ...

'' on 30 January 1939.

World War II and disappearance

At the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

on 1 September 1939, Stürtz was appointed the Reich Defense Commissioner ''(Reichsverteidigungskommissar)'' for ''

Wehrkreis The military districts, also known in some English-language publications by their German name as Wehrkreise (singular: ''Wehrkreis''), were administrative territorial units in Nazi Germany before and during World War II. The task of military dist ...

'' (Military District) III, which encompassed his Gau of Mark Brandenburg as well as Gau Berlin. Important sectors of the military and civilian war effort were now directly, or at least ''de facto'', subject to his control. On 16 November 1942, the jurisdiction of the Reich Defense Commissioners was changed from the ''Wehrkreis'' to the Gau level, and he remained Commissioner only in his Gau. In September 1944, Stürtz became leader of the ''

Volkssturm The (, ) was a ''levée en masse'' national militia established by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II. It was set up by the Nazi Party on the orders of Adolf Hitler and established on 25 September 1944. It was staffed by conscri ...

'' units within his Gau and was charged with constructing a defensive line against the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

advance on the eastern front. Over 40,000 German and foreign laborers were compelled to engage in this effort. On 21 April 1945, during the Battle of Berlin, Stürtz went missing. After his widow searched for him unsuccessfully for ten years – even amongst the late repatriates () – Stürtz was officially declared dead on 24 August 1957 by the District Court of

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, the city of his residence. The court fixed his date of death at 31 December 1945. It was assumed that he was captured by the Red Army and died in captivity.

References

Sources

* *Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich. p. 513. *Lilla Joachim (ed.): The NSDAP Gauleiter, Koblenz, 2003, p. 93 (materials from the Federal Archives, No. 13) . * *Erich Stockhorst : 5000 Heads - Who Was Who in the Third Reich. Arndt, Kiel 2000, .

External websites