Käthe Bierbaumer, also known as Katharina Bierbaumer (4 July 1884 – after 1942), was a pioneer of

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. She was a publisher, entrepreneur, sponsor of the

Thule Society The Thule Society (; ), originally the ('Study Group for Germanic Antiquity'), was a German occultist and group founded in Munich shortly after World War I, named after a mythical northern country in Greek legend. The society is notable chie ...

and investor in the Franz-Eher Verlag. Bierbaumer was a financial backer of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

in the early days of the

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 ...

after

World War I 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 ...

.Mühlberger, Detlef. (2004) ''Hitler's Voice: The Völkischer Beobachter 1920–1933''. Bd. 1: ''Organisation & development of the Nazi Party''. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main. , Seitenzahlen fehlen.

Early life

Käthe Bierbaumer was born on 4 July 1884, in Neustift (today Újteleki) in the

Burgenland Burgenland (; ; ; Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland''; Slovene language, Slovene: ''Gradiščanska''; ) is the easternmost and least populous Bundesland (Austria), state of Austria. It consists of two statutory city (Austria), statut ...

district of

Mattersburg Mattersburg (; formerly ''Mattersdorf'', , Croatian: ''Matrštof'') is a town in Burgenland, Austria. It is the administrative center of the District of Mattersburg and was home to former Bundesliga football team, SV Mattersburg. Location Mat ...

near

Ödenburg Sopron (; , ) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő. History Ancient times-13th century In the Iron Age a hilltop settlement with a burial ground existed in the neighbourhood of Sopron-Várhely. When ...

(today part of

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Sopron Sopron (; , ) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő. History Ancient times-13th century In the Iron Age a hilltop settlement with a burial ground existed in the neighbourhood of Sopron-Várhely. When ...

). Her family is said to have emigrated to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

before the First World War. It is unknown under what circumstances she arrived in Germany during or after the war. She seems to have lived in

Bad Aibling Bad Aibling (; ) is a spa town and former district seat in Bavaria on the river Mangfall, located some southeast of Munich. It features a luxury health resort with a peat pulp bath and mineral spa. History Bad Aibling and its surroundin ...

at the latest from 1918 in the milieu of the

Germanenorden The Germanenorden (Germanic or Teutonic Order) was an occultist and '' völkisch'' secret society in early 20th-century Germany. History The Germanenorden was founded in Berlin in 1912 by Theodor Fritsch and several prominent German occultists ...

and the

.von Sebottendorff, R. (1933) ''Bevor Hitler kam - Urkundliches aus der Frühzeit der nationalsozialistischen Bewegung.'' Deukula-Verlag Grassinger & Co, Munich.David Luhrssen. Hammer of the Gods: The Thule Society and the Birth of Nazism. Potomac Books, Washington, D. D., 2012 Later residences were in

Bad Sachsa Bad Sachsa is a town in the district of Göttingen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town was one of the few municipalities in West Germany that imported electric power from former East Germany. This was done via Neuhof Substation. Geography Bad ...

and

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

Thule Society

Bierbaumer was a member of the ''Germanic Order'' and the ''Thule Society,'' as well as the main shareholder of the publishing house Franz Eher Nachfahren in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. She was the life companion, patron and partner of

Rudolf von Sebottendorff Adam Alfred Rudolf Glauer also known as Rudolf Freiherr von Sebottendorff (or Sebottendorf; 9 November 1875 - 8 May 1945) was a German occultist, writer, intelligence agent and political activist. He was the founder of the Thule Society, a post-Wo ...

(actually Adam Alfred Rudolf Glauer), who had been editor of the ''

Münchener Beobachter The ''Münchener Beobachter'' ("Munich Observer") was a völkisch newspaper edited by Rudolf von Sebottendorf. In the course of 1920 it became the official Nazi organ, becoming the '' Völkischer Beobachter'' (People's Observer), and remained the ...

'' (the predecessor newspaper of the NSDAP party organ ''

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 ...

'') published by Franz Eher since August 1918. On 14 September 1918, her name was entered in the commercial register as the owner of the publishing house Franz Eher Nachfahren with the address Parkstraße 335 in

. On 30 September 1918, the publishing house was renamed "Franz Eher Nachfolger GmbH". Käthe Bierbaumer (now listed as living in Freiburg) and Sebottendorff's sister Dora Kunze were now registered as shareholders. On 17 December 1920, the NSDAP acquired the paper from its eight owners via the front man

Anton Drexler Anton Drexler (13 June 1884 – 24 February 1942) was a German far-right political agitator for the ''Völkisch'' movement in the 1920s. He founded the German Workers' Party (DAP), the pan-German and anti-Semitic antecedent of the Nazi Part ...

for 120,000 marks, before ownership was then transferred to Adolf Hitler in November 1921.Hale, Oron James. (1964)
The Captive Press in the Third Reich
'.

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

, Princeton,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. According to other sources, Hitler was entered in the commercial register on 17 December together with Käthe Bierbaumer and Dora Kunze as principal partners. Käthe Bierbaumer is also said to have been one of Hitler's personal financial patrons.

During the Nazi dictatorship

On 13 January 1934, Bierbaumer submitted a petition to

Rudolf Hess Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German politician, Nuremberg trials, convicted war criminal and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer ( ...

as a former member of the Thule Society on behalf of Rudolf Freiherr von Sebottendorf, who had been taken into

protective custody Protective custody (PC) is a type of imprisonment (or care) to protect a person from harm, either from outside sources or other prisoners. Many prison administrators believe the level of violence, or the underlying threat of violence within pris ...

on the basis of a "denunciation". The petition was forwarded to the

Bavarian Political Police The Bavarian Political Police (), BPP, was a police force in the German state of Bavaria, active from 1933 to 1936. It served as a forerunner of the Gestapo in Bavaria, the secret police during the Nazi era, and was predominantly engaged in the p ...

, who classified Sebottendorf as a swindler and impostor. The Staff of the Deputy Führer (StdF) did not object Sebottendorf's expulsion.

Internment on the Isle of Man

Bierbaumer was interned for several years as an

Enemy alien In customary international law, an enemy alien is any alien native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secur ...

on the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

and in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

under the registration number 1388. According to records of the Rushen Internment Camp on the Isle of Man, Bierbaumer is said to have entered

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

on 16 September 1937. Her last address outside the United Kingdom was the Pension Ville Frey in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

and she is also known to have left Munich using forged documents with the signature of the commander of the Red Guards. She held the Austrian passport with no. 235, which had been issued in Munich on 14 January 1929. Her internment was ordered by Metro Police verdict no. 2 of 20 December 1938. On 3 May 1940, the Secretary of State exempted her from internment until further notice. However, she appears to have been interned later, as she was allowed to leave Rushen Camp on 11 November 1940, to attend court in

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

and the Home Office Advisory Committee. On the same day, it was noted that she was to be interned further. On 4 October 1941, she left the Isle of Man and went to 101 Nightingale Lane,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. She appears to have returned to the Isle of Man, as on 13 October 1943, she is recorded as having left the island again with an escort, now with the aim of "repatriation".iMuseum
Miss Katharina Bierbaumer
Manx National Heritage (MNH) After that, traces of her are lost.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bierbaumer, Kathe 1884 births Austrian Nazis Thule Society members Women in Nazi Germany 20th-century deaths Year of death missing People interned in the Isle of Man during World War II Women fascists