Baldur von Schirach

Baldur Benedikt von Schirach (; 9 May 1907 – 8 August 1974) was a German politician who was the leader (Reichsjugendführer) of the Hitler Youth from 1931 to 1940. From 1940 to 1945, he was the Gauleiter (district leader) and Reichsstatthalter (Reich governor) of Vienna.

A member of the Nazi Party from the age of 18, Schirach was named national youth leader of the party in 1931. In 1932, he was elected as a deputy to the Reichstag. After Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, he was appointed Jugendführer (Youth Leader) of the German Reich, responsible for all youth organizations in the nation. In 1940, Schirach saw action as an infantryman in the French Campaign, for which he was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd Class. In 1940, Schirach was appointed Gauleiter of the Reichsgau Vienna; Artur Axmann succeeded him as leader of the Hitler Youth. A virulent antisemite, he was responsible for deporting 65,000 Viennese Jews to various Nazi concentration camps in German-occupied Poland.

In April 1945, facing Red Army advance, Schirach fled from Vienna to Tyrol, where he later surrendered to American forces. At the Nuremberg trials, he was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 20 years in prison. After completing his sentence at Spandau in 1966, Schirach retired to southern Germany. He died in 1974 at the age of 67.

Early life and family

thumb|left|Schirach (far left) watches as Hitler greets his [[Hitler's Chancellery|Chancellery chief Philipp Bouhler in Munich 1938.]]

thumb|left|Schirach (right) with Hitler, [[Martin Bormann|Bormann and Göring at the Obersalzberg ]]

Schirach was born in Berlin, the youngest of four children of theatre director, grand ducal chamberlain and retired captain of the cavalry Carl Baily Norris von Schirach and his American wife Emma Middleton Lynah Tillou, a descendant of Arthur Middleton, one of the founding fathers of the United States. A member of the noble Schirach family, of Sorbian origins, three of his four grandparents were from the United States, chiefly from Pennsylvania. English was the first language he learned at home and he did not learn to speak German until the age of six. He had two sisters, Viktoria Benedikta Otto Strasser dismissively described Schirach as "a young effeminate". Through this relationship, Schirach became part of Hitler's inner circle. (1938–1980) and sinologist Richard von Schirach (1942–2023). Robert had a son, the lawyer and best-selling German crime-fiction writer Ferdinand von Schirach. Richard had children Ariadne von Schirach, philosopher and critic, and Benedict Wells, a novelist.

Nazi Party career

Reich youth leader

Schirach joined a Wehrjugendgruppe (paramilitary youth group) at the age of seventeen, the youth division of the . On 10 June 1933, Schirach was named Reichsjugendführer (Youth Leader of the German Reich), with responsibility for all youth organizations in the nation. His permission was required to found youth organisations. Also on that date, he was made a State Secretary in the Reich Interior Ministry. On 23 June 1933, all other youth organisations were retroactively dissolved from 17 June 1933. In July 1940, when a new play by Hans Baumann was staged at Veste Oberhaus in Passau, Schirach insisted that 2,000 local Hitler Youth members be part of that Contempt for Schirach was expressed in various songs, such as "Baldur, darling, be clear about this: When a new spirit stirs you will be dumped as soon as possible." (Baldur, Liebling, sei dir darüber im klaren: Wenn ein neuer Geist sich rührt, wirst du schleunigst abserviert.")

The Hitler Youth was a militaristic organisation, with Erwin Rommel serving as liaison officer to the Wehrmacht, in charge of military training for the youth. Rommel attempted to subordinate the Hitler Youth to the Wehrmacht instead of the NSDAP, and managed to trick Schirach into signing a document to that effect. His deputy Hartmann Lauterbacher had previously rejected the proposal, but Schirach was not attentive to details. Schirach had to send Lauterbacher to Hitler to cancel the proposal. Hitler criticised Schirach and Rommel was removed from his position.

In March 1936, Schirach purchased in Kochel am See. He and Henriette had previously lived in a hunting lodge nearby in Urfeld am Walchensee. In March 1936, Manfred von Brauchitsch and his brother Harald insulted Henriette. Schirach told them they were not men of honour. Manfred challenged Schirach to a duel, but instead Schirach attacked them with a dog whip. Schirach had immunity as a member of the Reichstag. He was promoted to Leutnant, served as a platoon leader and was decorated for bravery with the Iron Cross 2nd class, before being recalled to Germany. He was sworn in as Reichsstatthalter by Hitler in Berlin on 29 September 1940.

Bürckel had been widely disliked, partly due to employing mainly functionaries from outside Vienna, and due to his brutal methods. Schirach took a different approach, employing Austrian National Socialists, and ingratiating himself with the Viennese population. He declared his "love for this blessed and gifted city with its immeasurable cultural treasures", but stressed its position in the greater German Volksgemeinschaft ("people's community").

Beginning in October 1940, Schirach was assigned to organise the evacuation of 2.5 million children from cities threatened by Allied bombing, sometimes to foster parents, but increasingly to purpose-built camps. Separating children from their parents was used as an opportunity to indoctrinate them ideologically. He attended cultural events with his wife, and was president of the Bibliophile Society (Gesellschaft der Bibliophilen). At first, Goebbels supported this as a way to keep up morale, and as a "fig leaf" for the German war of aggression. As such, Hitler and Goebbels substantially subsidised the Viennese cultural budget from 1941 to 1943. Hitler also criticised Schirach's attempt to prevent the movement of armament factories to Vienna. At the Nuremberg trials, Schirach said his conflict with Hitler grew over three days, beginning when Schirach had argued for an autonomous Ukraine within the Reich, rather than the oppressive policy of Erich Koch. Henriette's protest was on the first or second evening. According to Baldur von Schirach, they had planned that she would broach the "Jewish question", as he was unable to bring up the subject. On the third evening, Goebbels brought up the subject of Vienna, and Hitler spoke with hatred about the Viennese. Goebbels wrote, "Frau von Schirach in particular behaves like a stupid turkey... The Führer doesn't want to know Schirach anymore. Schirach is a weakling, a windbag and an idiot when it comes to deep political matters. He would rather dismiss him from Vienna sooner than later, if only he had a successor." Henriette von Schirach had asked Hitler to send Baldur to Munich as Gauleiter, swapping positions with Paul Giesler; Hitler refused. Hugo Jury later declined to succeed Schirach. Jury and defended Schirach, but Scharizer increasingly took over his work. While generally positive about Schirach, Scharizer wrote "Schirach somehow lives in a different world, in a high tower, as it were, pursuing his hobbies. He thinks about foreign policy and wants to sort it out... Without noticing, Schirach lives a life that is not in keeping with the times. He cannot empathize with the life and way of living of the common people."

Schirach was notoriously anxious about Allied air raids, fleeing in public view to his Gaugefechtsstand Wien ("Gau Command Center Vienna") whenever air raid sirens sounded. He had sent his children away to the Schloss Aspenstein, followed by Henriette in late autumn 1944 (their art collection was shipped separately). Schirach's mother Emma had burned to death on 16 July 1944 when a plane crashed into her house in Wiesbaden and she attempted to rescue her dog. Schirach evacuated approximately one third of the children of Vienna, and in September 1944 organised the rescue of 2,000 children from Slovakia, which had become contested territory – an operation in which 15 men died. Hitler and Goebbels thought Schirach had not done enough to protect Vienna from air raids, but there was little he could do due to the centralised armaments policy. In 1941, Göring had ordered him to stop building air raid shelters. Flak towers were constructed from 1942. Schirach's December 1943 proposal to evacuate 300,000 women and children from Vienna was rejected. and their chauffeur Franz Ram. At Schwaz their car broke down. On 2 May, he discarded his uniform, grew a moustache and posed as a crime writer, "Dr Richard Falk". However, 25 of her relatives were murdered in Nazi concentration camps. In January 1944, Alice and Franz Strauss were abducted by the Viennese Gestapo and imprisoned for two nights. Strauss's personal appeal to Schirach saved them,

Martin Bormann told Schirach to use deportation of Jews as a means to alleviate housing shortages, rather than diverting resources from the war effort to the building of new apartments.

Regarding the accusation of crimes against peace for his leadership of the Hitler Youth, he presented the Hitler Youth as a youth organisation like the Boy Scouts, rather than a paramilitary organisation responsible for war crimes:</blockquote>He claimed that members of the Hitler Youth were innocent of any of the German war crimes:

Dodd also presented a telegram from Schirach arguing for a violent air attack on a British cultural town in response to the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich.

While on trial and expecting to be hanged, Schirach along with Speer and Fritzsche received the Eucharist from Lutheran Pastor Henry F. Gerecke.

Schirach was acquitted of crimes against peace, but he was found guilty on 1 October 1946 of crimes against humanity. The court concluded that despite the warlike nature of the Hitler Youth, Schirach was not involved in Hitler's plans for aggressive war. However, regarding his deportation of Vienna's Jews, the court found that Schirach knew they would face a miserable life at best, and that bulletins describing their extermination were in his office. He was sentenced to 20 years in Spandau Prison, Berlin.

In December 1963, he was sent for two weeks to the British Military Hospital to treat a blood clot in his femoral artery.

Schirach was released from prison on 1 October 1966, after serving his full sentence. He agreed to a series of interviews with Stern magazine. Schirach described his trial as a "show trial". The 1,500 pages of transcripts were compiled into his memoirs, "I believed in Hitler" (Ich glaubte an Hitler, 1967), and were the basis of a biography by . His memoirs were much less successful than his wife Henriette's fantastical memoir "The Price of Glory", although he received generous fees from Stern.

Schirach was interviewed in English by British journalist David Frost. In the interview, he reflects on his imprisonment, meeting with Hitler, and the deportation of the Jews. Contrary to his testimony at Nuremberg, he denied his antisemitism. He again claimed to have no knowledge of the extermination, and deflected guilt in regard to discriminatory education laws: "the whole generation was wrong". He described Hitler as "a man without measure [i.e. without any sense of measure], a man with great gifts, a man who in some ways could be considered a genius". a businessman who had been a Nazi member of the Reichstag and an SS-Hauptsturmführer on Heinrich Himmler's personal staff. His son Robert married Kiehn's granddaughter Elke, and Robert became managing director of one of Kiehn's companies. Baldur was looked after by Kiehn's daughter Gretl, ex-wife of Fritz Wieshofer and mother of Elke from her first marriage, and they holidayed together.

Schirach later turned down further interviews, saying he ought not to comment on public matters due to his role under Hitler.

In 1971, with his eyesight failing, Schirach moved to the Pension Müllen, the former Montroyal hotel in Kröv an der Mosel, which was run by two former BDM leaders Ida and Käthe Müllen. He consumed alcohol to excess. He died there on 8 August 1974, aged 67, of coronary thrombosis, and was buried in Kröv. Käthe Müllen chose his epitaph, "I was one of you" (Ich war einer von Euch).

Books

Hitler as no one knows him (1932, Hitler wie ihn keiner kennt)
The Hitler Youth (1943)
Hitler Youth Yearbook 1934 (Hitlerjugend Jahrbuch)
Adolf Hitler's Reich: A Photographic Record of the Creation of Greater Germany, 1933 to 1940 (1940, Das Reich Adolf Hitlers: ein Bildbuch vom Werden Grossdeutschlands 1933 bis 1940)
Revolution der Erziehung (Revolution of Education) by Baldur von Schirach
Die Hitler-Jugend – Idee und Gestalt (The Hitler Youth – Idea and Character) by Baldur von Schirach
Die Fahne der Verfolgten (The Flag of the Persecuted), collection of poetry
Goethe an uns (Goethe to Us) by Baldur von Schirach
Das Lied der Getreuen (The Lay of the Faithful); more poetry

References

Notes

External links

Timeline of Schirach's life
Short biography of Baldur von Schirach
Baldur von Schirach, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Biography: Baldur von Schirach
Interview with David Frost