Julius Heinrich Dorpmueller (24 July 1869 – 5 July 1945) was
general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
of
Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft
The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'' (), also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the re ...
from 1926 to 1945, a
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
politician and the
Reich Minister for Transport from 1937 to 1945.
Life
Dorpmueller was the son of a railway engineer, and studied railway and road construction from 1889 to 1893. After graduating in 1898, Dorpmueller was active in the
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
n state railway administration. In 1907, he stepped down as an executive of the technical office and went into the service of the Schantung railway in
Qingdao
Qingdao, Mandarin: , (Qingdao Mandarin: t͡ɕʰiŋ˧˩ tɒ˥) is a prefecture-level city in the eastern Shandong Province of China. Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, Qingdao was long an important fortress. In 1897, the city was ceded to G ...
. In 1908, he was appointed chief engineer for the German section of the new Chinese Imperial state
Tianjin-Pukou railway. Due to the declaration of war by China against the
German Reich
German ''Reich'' (, from ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty entirely from a continuing unitary German ''Volk'' ("na ...
, he returned as a
refugee
A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
in 1918, passing through
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...
,
Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
and
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
to Germany. In the
light railway
A light railway is a Rail transport, railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail": it uses lighter-weight track, and may have more Grade (slope), steep gradients and Minimum railway curve radius, tight curves to ...
service, he was active in the management of the
Transcaucasian SFSR railways. In 1919, he became departmental head with German Reich Railways (''
Deutsche Reichseisenbahnen'') in the Stettin district. From 1922 to 30 September 1924, he was a president in the ''Deutsche Reichseisenbahnen'' in the
Oppeln district, and from 1 October 1924 to 1925, he was president in the Ruhr district; due to his comprehensive experience in light railways, Dorpmueller was consulted as part of the
Dawes plan
The Dawes Plan temporarily resolved the issue of the reparations that Germany owed to the Allies of World War I. Enacted in 1924, it ended the crisis in European diplomacy that occurred after French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr in re ...
.
After 1925 the board of directors of the German Reich Railway (''
Deutsche Reichsbahn Gesellschaft'') created a position entitled Permanent Representative of the general manager (Head of the Railway), as general manager
Rudolf Oeser was seriously ill; Dorpmueller was appointed to this post on 3 July 1925. In December 1925
RWTH Aachen
RWTH Aachen University (), in German ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen'', is a German public research university located in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With more than 47,000 students enrolled in 144 study prog ...
, in acknowledgment of his services to railways awarded him a doctorate in engineering. On 3 June 1926, the day of Rudolf Oeser's death he was selected by the board of directors to become the German railway's general manager. Due to political considerations it was only confirmed on 18 October 1926 by the
President of Germany
The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...
.
Nazi career
After the
Nazi seizure of power
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 ...
Dorpmüller replaced nearly all "non-Aryan" workers with Nazis. Dorpmüller became Reich Transport Minister on 2 February 1937 after the resignation of his predecessor
Paul Freiherr von Eltz-Rübenach. In April 1938, when a Berlin train stopped in Passau, Dorpmüller was ceremonially welcomed and escorted to the Danube, where he continued his trip to Linz and Vienna on board the Austrian ''Wotan''.
[Anna Rosmus. ''Hitlers Nibelungen'', Samples Grafenau 2015, pp. 158f]
On 11 July 1939 the "law concerning the ''
Deutsche Reichsbahn
The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'' (), also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the Weimar Republic, German national Rail transport, railway system created after th ...
''" (German Reich Railway) was issued and Dorpmüller was confirmed as transport minister and also General Manager of the ''Deutsche Reichsbahn''.
According to
Albert Speer
Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of W ...
, Dorpmüller confessed that "The ''Reichsbahn'' has so few cars and locomotives available for the German area that it can no longer assume responsibility for meeting the most urgent transportation needs." Speer then convinced Hitler to name
Albert Ganzenmüller as State Secretary in place of Dorpmüller's long-time deputy,
Wilhelm Kleinmann.
Though he had entered the cabinet with no party affiliation, Dorpmüller was awarded the
Golden Party Badge
__NOTOC__
The Golden Party Badge () was an award authorised by Adolf Hitler in a decree in October 1933. It was a special award given to all Nazi Party members who had, as of 9 November 1933, registered numbers from 1 to 100,000 (issued on 1 Oc ...
on 7 December 1940 and joined the Nazi Party on 1 February 1941 (membership number 7,883,826). Dorpmüller was not mentioned in Hitler's will and was therefore not in the
Goebbels cabinet. But was in the
Flensburg Government
The Flensburg Government (), also known as the Flensburg Cabinet (''Flensburger Kabinett''), the Dönitz Government (''Regierung Dönitz''), or the Schwerin von Krosigk Cabinet (''Kabinett Schwerin von Krosigk''), was the rump government of Naz ...
as he was named Minister for Transport, Communications and Posts.
Post war career
After the end of the war, the British then asked Dorpmueller to take over reconstruction of the German railways: Dorpmueller and his representative
Albert Ganzenmüller were brought by air, by the United States, to
Chesnay in Paris, in order to meet for negotiations over the reorganization of German transport. American general
Carl R. Gray Jr. had expressly recommended Dorpmueller to General
Dwight D Eisenhower for "re-instatement to his old office", because he—as also "our secret service confirms"—had been neither a "Nazi sympathizer nor activist". With difficulty, as he was suffering from cancer, Dorpmueller returned on 13 June 1945 to
Malente
Malente is a municipality in the district of Ostholstein, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is about 5 km northwest of Eutin and 35 km north of Lübeck.
The cities belonging to this municipality are Timmdorf, KreuzfeldNeukirchen Siev ...
and from there, gave advice on reconstruction. On 23 June 1945 he was operated on—again—but his digestive system no longer functioned, so his health deteriorated rapidly. Despite this, he led official discussions, in full coherence, until two days before his death.
Dorpmueller died on 5 July 1945 and was buried in Malente.
After his death
In accordance with an October 1949 letter from Lübeck's
denazification
Denazification () 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 removing those who had been Nazi Par ...
main committee to Maria Dorpmueller, Julius's sister, he was said to have obtained "relief" under category V classification. In the honours lists of the Aachen university 1995 anniversary publication, he was listed as an honorary doctor (1925) and an honorary senator (1939), with no further details. In the
Nuremberg
Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...
transport museum and in the "Dorpmueller Hall" of the main station of
Hanover
Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...
there were
busts of Dorpmueller, until 1985, when they were removed during preparations for celebration of the
sesquicentenary
An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded.
Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the date of independence of the nation or the adoption o ...
of the introduction of railways to Germany. In the
Essen
Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...
railway's head office there was once a "Dorpmueller room", which was renamed in 1985 to "Small meeting room"; the bust there also disappeared. Roads in the cities
Wuppertal
Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...
,
Minden
Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district () of Minden-Lübbecke, situated in the cultural region ...
and
Hameln
Hameln ( ; ) is a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Hameln-Pyrmont and has a population of roughly 57,000. Hamelin is best known for the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
History
Hameln st ...
, were originally named after Dorpmuller and have also been renamed.
In September 1994, someone from Ratingen complained to German railways about Dorpmüller's "badly maintained" grave. In a letter from them in response in January 1995, they said that the former BD Hamburg had maintained the grave until the end of 1991, a decision by the former executive committee of the German Federal Railroads meant there was no more provision for maintenance thereafter. In the middle of 1995, someone from Hamburg tidied up the grave and took over care at their own expense.
Honors and medals
* 1913
Order of the Red Eagle
The Order of the Red Eagle () was an order of chivalry of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was awarded to both military personnel and civilians, to recognize valor in combat, excellence in military leadership, long and faithful service to the kingdom, o ...
, 4th class
* 1925 Honorary Doctorate of Engineering,
University of Aachen
RWTH Aachen University (), in German ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen'', is a German public research university located in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With more than 47,000 students enrolled in 144 study prog ...
* 1934 Gold Medal of the Prussian Academy for Construction
* 1936 Grashof Commemorative Medal of the
Association of German Engineers
* 1936 Member of the Reich Chamber of Labour
* 1936 Member of the
Academy for German Law
The Academy for German Law () 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 after the fall of the Nazi regime on ...
* 1936 Grand Cross Royal Swedish Order of the Pole Star
* 1937 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 ...
* 12 November 1938 Karmarsch Medal (community of the
Leibniz University Hannover
Leibniz University Hannover (), also known as the University of Hannover, is a public university, public research university located in Hanover, Germany. Founded on 2 May 1831 as Higher Vocational School, the university has undergone six period ...
)
* 24 July 1939
Eagle Shield of the German Reich
* 1939 Honorary Senator of the
Technical University of Aachen
* 7 December 1940
Golden Party Badge of the NSDAP
*
Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross (twice: one with Swords – 24 July 1944; and one without Swords – 18 September 1943)
Notes
References
Abstract of the National Railroad until 1945 from the federal archives – in German
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorpmueller, Julius
1869 births
1945 deaths
Businesspeople from North Rhine-Westphalia
Deaths from cancer in Germany
German businesspeople in transport
German people in rail transport
German refugees
Holocaust perpetrators in Germany
Romani genocide perpetrators
Members of the Academy for German Law
Members of the Prussian State Council (Nazi Germany)
Government ministers of Nazi Germany
Nazi Party politicians
People from the Rhine Province
Recipients of the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross
19th-century German businesspeople