Ludolf Haase

Ludolf Haase (6 January 1898, Hanover – 8 October 1972, Ilten) was a Nazi Party official who served as Gauleiter in Southern Hanover from 1925 to 1928.

Ludolf Haase
(1926)
Gauleiter of Gau Göttingen later, Gau Hanover-South
In office 27 March 1925 – 20 July 1928
Appointed by	Adolf Hitler
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	Bernhard Rust
Personal details
Born	6 January 1898 Hanover, Province of Hanover, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Died	8 October 1972 (aged 74) Ilten, Lower Saxony, West Germany
Citizenship	German
Political party	Nazi Party
Alma mater	University of Göttingen
Profession	Physician

Early life

After attending elementary school and high school, Haase studied medicine at the University of Göttingen. In Göttingen in 1921 he served as the local Chairman of the Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund, the largest, most active, and most influential anti-Semitic federation in Germany. In February 1922 he joined the Nazi Party and founded the first Ortsgruppe (local group) in Göttingen, becoming the Ortsgruppenleiter.[1]

Haase was personally devoted to Adolf Hitler, who was imprisoned at Landsberg prison in 1924 as a consequence of the Beer Hall Putsch. Haase had a continuous connection to Hitler through Haase's friend, Hermann Fobke, a member of the Stoßtrupp-Hitler, who was also imprisoned in Landsberg. While the Party was outlawed, Haase carried on activities as Bezirksleiter (Regional Leader) of the Hanover National Socialist Landesverband (State Association) a Nazi-front organization.[2]

Nazi career

After the ban on the Party was lifted, Haase rejoined it on 6 March 1925 (membership number 2,827). On 27 March 1925, Haase was appointed the Gauleiter for Gau Göttingen. This was composed of the southern section of the Province of Hanover known as Regierungsbezirk (Governmental District) Hildesheim. Hermann Fobke was named Deputy Gauleiter. In December, the organization was redesignated Gau Hanover-South.[3]

Under Haase's leadership, according to the historian Hans-Jürgen Döscher, “the Hanover and Göttingen local groups developed into the most active and largest bases of the National Socialists in Lower Saxony”.[4] Haase suffered a head injury in an altercation with political opponents in 1927 and resigned as Gauleiter on 20 July 1928. Gau Hanover-South was merged with neighboring Gau Hanover-North under Bernhard Rust on 1 October, and was renamed Gau Southern Hanover-Brunswick.[3]

In February 1943, Haase took a position as a personal assistant to the State Secretary and SS-Obergruppenführer Herbert Backe in the Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture.[3]

After World War II, Haase practiced medicine in Wunstorf in the Hanover area. In April 1949, the Denazification Committee of the city of Hanover classified him as Category IV (follower) and he was not jailed or sanctioned.[5] He died in Ilten, a village of the township of Sehnde in 1972.[6]

Bibliography

• Döscher, Hans-Jürgen (2008). "Kampf gegen das Judenthum". Gustav Stille 1845–1920. Antisemit im Deutschen Kaiserreich (in German). Berlin: Metropol. ISBN 978-3-938690-90-1.
• Höffkes, Karl (1986). Hitlers Politische Generale. Die Gauleiter des Dritten Reiches: ein biographisches Nachschlagewerk (in German). Tübingen: Grabert-Verlag. ISBN 3-87847-163-7.
• Miller, Michael D.; Schulz, Andreas (2012). 'Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925-1945. I (Herbert Albrecht - H. Wilhelm Hüttmann). R. James Bender Publishing. ISBN 978-1-932970-21-0.
• Miller, Michael D.; Schulz, Andreas (2017). 'Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925-1945. II (Georg Joel - Dr. Bernhard Rust). R. James Bender Publishing. ISBN 978-1-932970-32-6.

References

1. Höffkes 1986, p. 118.
2. Miller & Schulz 2012, p. 415.
3. Miller & Schulz 2012, p. 416.
4. Döscher 2008, p. 90.
5. Döscher 2008, p. 94.
6. Miller & Schulz 2017, p. 450.