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Artur Axmann

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Artur Axmann
Axmann in September 1942
Reich Youth Leader of the Nazi Party
In office
8 August 1940 – 8 May 1945
Appointed byAdolf Hitler
Preceded byBaldur von Schirach
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Personal details
Born(1913-02-18)18 February 1913
Hagen,Province of Westphalia,Kingdom of Prussia,German Empire
Died24 October 1996(1996-10-24)(aged 83)
Berlin,Germany
NationalityGerman
Political partyNazi Party(NSDAP) 1928-1945
Military service
AllegianceNazi Germany
Branch/serviceArmy
Volkssturm
Years of service1940–1941
1945
Unit23rd Infantry Division
Battles/warsBattle of France
Operation Barbarossa
Battle in Berlin

Artur Axmann(18 February 1913 – 24 October 1996) was theGermanNazinational leader (Reichsjugendführer) of theHitler Youth(Hitlerjugend) from 1940 to 1945, when the war ended. He was the last living Nazi with a rank equivalent toReichsleiter.

Early life and career[edit]

Axmann was born inHagen,Westphalia,the son of an insurance clerk.[1]In 1916, his family moved toBerlin-Wedding,where his father died two years later. The young Axmann was a good student and received a scholarship to attend secondary school. He joined theHitler Youthin November 1928 after he had heard NaziGauleiterJoseph Goebbelsspeak. Axmann became leader of the local cell in the Wedding district.[2]He also joined theNational Socialist Schoolchildren's Leaguein which he distinguished himself as an orator.[citation needed]

Nazi career[edit]

From left to right:Gertrud Scholtz-Klink,Himmler,Hess,von Schirachand Axmann, at a Hitler Youth rally,Berlin Sportpalast,13 February 1939

In September 1931, Axmann joined theNazi Partyand the next year he was called to the NSDAPReichsjugendführung[1]to carry out a reorganisation ofHitler Youthfactory and vocational school cells. After theNazi seizure of powerin 1933, he rose to a regional leader and became Chief of the Social Office of the Reich Youth Leadership.[2]

Axmann directed the Hitler Youth in state vocational training and succeeded in raising the status of Hitler Youth agricultural work. He was also a member ofHans Frank'sAcademy for German Lawand the chairman of its Committee on Youth Law.[3]In November 1934, he was appointed Hitler Youth leader of Berlin and from 1936, presided at the annualReichsberufswettkampfcompetitions. On 30 January 1939 he was awarded theGolden Party Badge.On 1 May 1940, he was appointed deputy to NaziReichsjugendführerBaldur von Schirach,whom he succeeded three months later on 8 August 1940.[2]In October 1941, Axmann became a member of theReichstagfrom electoral constituency 1,East Prussia.

AfterWorld War IIbegan in Europe, Axmann was on active service on theWestern Frontuntil May 1940.[2]As a member of the Wehrmacht23rd Infantry Division,he was severely wounded on theEastern Frontin 1941 and lost his right arm.[2]

In early 1943, Axmann proposed the formation of the12th SS Panzer Division HitlerjugendtoHeinrich Himmler,with servicemen drawn from the Hitler Youth.[4]Hitler approved the plan for the combat division to be made up of Hitler Youth members born in 1926, and recruitment and training began.[4]In the last weeks of the war in Europe, Axmann commanded units of the Hitler Youth, which had been incorporated into the Home Guard (Volkssturm). His units consisted mostly of children and adolescents and fought in theBattle of Seelow Heightsand theBattle in Berlin.[2]

Berlin, 1945[edit]

DuringHitler's last days in Berlin, Axmann was among those present in theFührerbunker.[1]Meanwhile, it was announced in the German press that Axmann had been awarded theGerman Order,the highest decoration that the Nazi Party could bestow on an individual for his services to the Reich.[5]He and one other recipient,Konstantin Hierl,were the only holders of the award to survive the war and its consequences. All other recipients were either awarded it posthumously or were killed during the war or its aftermath.[5]

On 30 April 1945, just a few hours beforecommitting suicide,Hitler signed the order to allow a breakout. According to a report made to his Soviet captors byObergruppenführerHans Rattenhuber,the head of Hitler's bodyguard, Axmann took theWalther PPpistol that had been removed from Hitler's sitting room in theFührerbunkerbyHeinz Linge,Hitler's valet, which Hitler had used to commit suicide and said that he would "hide it for better times".[6]

On 1 May, Axmann left theFührerbunkeras part of a breakout group, which includedMartin Bormann,Werner Naumannand SS doctorLudwig Stumpfegger.[7]The group managed to cross theRiver Spreeat theWeidendammer Bridge.[8]

Leaving the rest of their group, Bormann, Stumpfegger, and Axmann walked along railway tracks toLehrter railway station.Bormann and Stumpfegger followed the railway tracks towardsStettiner station.Axmann decided to go in the opposite direction of his two companions.[9]When he encountered aRed Armypatrol, Axmann doubled back. He saw two bodies, which he later identified as Bormann and Stumpfegger, on theInvalidenstraßebridge near the railway switching yard (Lehrter Bahnhof), the moonlight clearly illuminating their faces.[9][10]He did not have time to check the bodies thoroughly and so he did not know how they died.[11]His statements were confirmed by the discovery of Bormann's and Stumpfegger's remains in 1972.[12]

Post-war[edit]

Interrogation of Axmann in Nuremberg, 16 October 1947

Axmann avoided capture bySoviettroops[13]and lived under the alias of "Erich Siewert" for several months. In December 1945, Axmann was arrested inLübeckwhen a Nazi underground movement, which he had been organising, was uncovered by aUS Armycounterintelligence operation.[13]

In May 1949, aNurembergdenazificationcourt sentenced Axmann to a prison sentence of three years and three months as a "major offender".[13]He was not found guilty of war crimes.[13]

On 19 August 1958, aWest Berlincourt fined the former Hitler Youth leader 35,000marks(approximately £3,000 or US$8,300, equivalent to €87,937 in 2021), about half the value of his property in Berlin. The court found him guilty of indoctrinating German youth with National Socialism until the end of the war in Europe but concluded that he was not guilty of war crimes.[13]

After his release from custody, Axmann worked as a businessman with varying success. From 1971 he left Germany for a number of years and lived on the Spanish island ofGran Canaria.[13]Axmann returned to Berlin in 1976, where he died on 24 October 1996, aged 83. His cause of death and details of his surviving family members were not disclosed.[14]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^abcJoachimsthaler 1999,p. 283.
  2. ^abcdefHamilton 1984,p. 247.
  3. ^Klee 2007,p. 21.
  4. ^abMcNab 2013,p. 295.
  5. ^abAngolia 1989,pp. 223, 224.
  6. ^Vinogradov 2005,p. 195.
  7. ^Beevor 2002,pp. 382–383.
  8. ^Beevor 2002,p. 382.
  9. ^abLe Tissier 2010,p. 188.
  10. ^Trevor-Roper 2002,p. 193.
  11. ^Beevor 2002,p. 383.
  12. ^Lang 1979,pp. 410, 432, 436.
  13. ^abcdefHamilton 1984,p. 248.
  14. ^Cowell, Alan (7 November 1996)."Artur Axmann, 83, a Top Nazi Who Headed the Hitler Youth".The New York Times.Retrieved2 February2014.

Bibliography[edit]

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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