"Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich (171 page)

13.
For full details, see Broszat,
Nationalsozialistische Polenpolitik
(1961), 52 ff.; Mommsen,
Beamtentum im Dritten Reich
(1966), 110 ff., and the material contained in BA R 22/2234 and 2241 on the appointment of the
Landrat
offices in the administrative district of Zichenau. In 1940–41, 17 of the
Landräte
of the administrative district of Posen were also
Kreisleiter
; in the administrative district of Hohensalza, 2 of the 3 Oberbürgermeister of the municipal districts (Hohensalza, Gnesen, Leslau), and 7 of the 11
Landräte
were probably also
Kreisleiter
. In the administrative district of Łód
, 8 of the 9
Landräte
were also
Kreisleiter
(“Verwaltungsaufbau des Warthegaues 1940–1941,” State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
1067, Bl. 85–87). With regard to the conflicts between the minister of the interior and the Reich governor of Posen and Danzig, the deputy Führer’s office, and the Reich Chancellery, see the exhaustive material in BA R 43 II/643 and 1136b.

14.
Order of the deputy Führer of February 19, 1937, quoted by Diehl-Thiele,
Partei und Staat im Dritten Reich
, 182, requiring that all official links between
Kreisleitung
and the offices of
Landrat
, Oberbürgermeister, and Bürgermeister should be removed by October 1, 1937, since NSDAP officers tended all to often to heed only the requirements of the state administration. Similarly the circulars of August 7, 1942, from the head of the Party Chancellery to all
Reichsleiter
and Gauleiter, etc. (in
Verfügungen
2 [1943]: 223 ff.; also in Mommsen,
Beamtentum im Dritten Reich
, 239 f.). Regarding the development of the merging of posts between
Kreisleiter
and
Landrat
, see Diehl-Thiele,
Partei und Staat im Dritten Reich
, 176 ff.

15.
Decree of the Reich minister of the interior of December 1, 1939 (State Archive Pozna
,
Landgericht
Posen 19, Bl. 34–35); order of the Reich minister of the interior of December 2, 1939 (
RGBl.
1940 I 8), repeated in the urgent memorandum of June 24, 1941, from the commissioner-general for administration of the Reich (Frick) to the Reich defense commissioners (BA R 43 II/703 a). See also the letter of July 18, 1941, from the RMuChdRkzlei to the commissioner-general for administration of the Reich (ibid.).

16.
See the decree of November 16, 1939, from the Reich governor of the Warthegau to all
Landräte
of the district and others: “So long as the merging of posts between
Landrat
and
Kreisleiter
or Oberbürgermeister proposed by me to the deputy Führer does not exist, the
Landrat
remains my political delegate in his field” (State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
4, Bl. 27).

17.
Transcript of a paper by
Hauptamtleiter
Friedrich of the staff of the deputy Führer’s office in early 1940, reproduced in Diehl-Thiele,
Partei und Staat im Dritten Reich
, 182 f. n. 23; Mommsen,
Beamtentum im Dritten Reich
, 228 ff.

18.
As many as 40 of the 63
Landrat
offices in the
Reichsgaue
Danzig, West Prussia, and the Wartheland were held by nonspecialists, i.e., Party functionaries; Danzig and West Prussia in fact had the highest rate of Party functionaries as
Landräte
(88%), whereas in the Wartheland the proportions appeared somewhat more balanced (52.6% pure administrative officials, who of course had to belong to the Party, and 47.4% Party functionaries [personal letter of May 26, 1941, from the Reich Ministry of the Interior to the RMuChdRkzlei, BA R 43 II/647]). But there too, at least initially, there was a heavy bias toward the Party. Of the 23
Landräte
for the
Reichsgau
Wartheland championed by the Reich governor of Posen at the end of 1939, 16 were also to be installed as
Kreisleiter
, the other 7 only as
Landräte
(letter of January 2, 1940, from the Reich Ministry of the Interior to the RMuChdRkzlei, BA R 43 II/647; quoted in Mommsen,
Beamtentum im Dritten Reich
, 227). The rest, some 14
Landräte
, consisted of pure Party functionaries without any specialized training. Thus, out of the 37
Landräte
of the Warthegau, 30 were also active as
Kreisleiter
, while in the administrative district of Łód
the merging of posts of
Kreisleiter
and
Landrat
was realized almost 100%. (According to the review “Verwaltungsaufbau des Warthegaus, 1940–41,” no author, State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
1067, Bl. 85–87, the number was 31
Kreisleiter
).

Toward the end of the war the proportion changed in favor of separate incumbents of the offices of
Kreisleiter
and
Landrat:
on May 1, 1944, there was a merging of posts in “only” 25 of the 37 districts of the Warthegau (67.6%) (register of
Landräte
and
Kreisleiter
as of May 1, 1944, State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
1067, Bl. 351–53). Of the 31
Landkreise
still existing on January 1, 1945, in the Warthegau, there was a merging of posts (
Kreisleiter
and
Landrat
) in 16 (51.6%) (register of
Landräte
and
Kreisleiter
as of May 1, 1945, Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
, doc. I, 258, Bl. 7). The merging of posts between Party and state offices is also found in other branches of the administration. For the justice department, see personnel files, State Archive Pozna
, State Superior Court Posen 1311; “Tautphaeus,”
DR
(1941) (A): 2466 ff. (2467) (“merging of posts in the Warthegau has been achieved as far as possible”). “Law officers primarily hold Party positions in the legal field in addition to other political offices…. Refusal to cooperate in the NSDAP and its organizations would give rise to discharge and dismissal from the Warthegau”; Public Prosecutor Drendel, Posen,
Ostdeutscher Beobachter
, June 24, 1940: “[There is] not a single one of my staff foreseen for work in the Wartheland who is not active in the NSDAP or its sections.” Reich Ministry of Justice report on a visit of Reich Ministry of Justice representatives to the public prosecutor’s offices in East Upper Silesia, October 22–25, 1940 (the attorney general in Ratibor [Racibórz], head of the local branch of the SD, has been “brought to state” that it is desirable for justice officers—especially high-ranking ones—to hold Party positions).