Rudolf Jordan (politician)
Rudolf Jordan (21 June 1902 – 27 October 1988) was the Gauleiter in Halle-Merseburg and Magdeburg-Anhalt in the time of the Third Reich. After the war, he was sentenced to 25 years in a Soviet Union labour camp. Released from the camp in October 1955, he died in Munich in 1988.
Rudolf Jordan | |
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| Gauleiter of Gau Halle-Merseburg | |
| In office 19 January 1931 – 20 April 1937 | |
| Preceded by | Paul Hinkler |
| Succeeded by | Joachim Albrecht Eggeling |
| Gauleiter of Gau Magdeburg-Anhalt | |
| In office 20 April 1937 – 2 May 1945 | |
| Preceded by | Joachim Albrecht Eggeling |
| Succeeded by | None |
| Reichsstatthalter of the Free State of Anhalt | |
| In office 20 April 1937 – 2 May 1945 | |
| Preceded by | Fritz Sauckel |
| Succeeded by | None |
| Reichsstatthalter of the Free State of Brunswick | |
| In office 20 April 1937 – 2 May 1945 | |
| Preceded by | Fritz Sauckel |
| Succeeded by | None |
| Minister-President of the Free State of Anhalt | |
| In office 1 January 1940 – 2 May 1945 | |
| Preceded by | Alfred Freyberg |
| Succeeded by | None |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 21 June 1902 Großenlüder, Prussia, German Empire |
| Died | 27 October 1988 (aged 86) Munich, Bavaria, Germany |
| Political party | National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) |
Biography
Jordan was born in Großenlüder, Hesse-Nassau. His family's background was in farming, although his father was also a salesman. After finishing Volksschule, Jordan became a worker in the armament industry between 1916 and 1918. He earned so much money doing this that after the First World War, he found himself able to begin training as a teacher in Fulda. He nevertheless got involved in the military, serving from 1920 to 1922 as a temporary volunteer in the Reichswehr. In 1922, Jordan became a member of the Freikorps Oberland, and alongside this service ended his teacher training in 1924. At 22, he was already a Volksschule teacher.
The high joblessness rate in Germany at that time, kept him from finding a teaching job, leading him to take such jobs as workman, office worker or freelancer, among others, at publishing houses and in advertising. Only in 1927 was he able to obtain a teaching job. He worked as a teacher at, among other schools, the "Army Vocational School for Economics and Administration" ("Heeresfachschule für Wirtschaft und Verwaltung") in Fulda.
Already by 1924, Jordan was active as a speaker for the Völkisch-Sozialer Block and the Deutsch-Völkischer Reichspartei,[1] without ever becoming a member of either one. Through these rather nationalistically oriented groups, Jordan came into contact with the NSDAP, which he joined on 15 May 1925.[2]
In 1925, he was the founder and editor of the völkisch monthly Notung.[1] Jordan's first writings came out:
- "Der wissenschaftliche Sozialismus" ("Scientific Socialism"), 1925[3]
- "Deutschland als Kolonie der Wallstreet" ("Germany as Wall Street's Colony"), 1925[3]
In 1926 he emigrated to Australia, returning to Germany in 1927.[1]
on 17 November 1929[1] Jordan got into Hesse-Nassau's Provinziallandtag for the NSDAP, and in December of the same year he got elected as Fulda's only NSDAP city councillor. Owing to this appointment, he was dismissed from his teaching job on 22 December 1929.[1] Also in November 1929,[1] Jordan founded the party newspaper Der Fuldaer Beobachter[1] ("The Fulda Observer"), whose name was freely borrowed from the Party's official paper, the Völkischer Beobachter.
In 1930, Jordan was made Aussenpolitischer Schriftleiter[1] (foreign policy editor) of the NSDAP Gau newspaper Der Sturm (The Storm), whose offices were in Kassel.
On 19 January 1931, Jordan was summoned to Munich by Gregor Strasser, and was personally met by Adolf Hitler who appointed him Gauleiter of Halle-Merseburg.[4] He then began rising within the Party ranks, acting as member of the Prussian Landtag between 24 April 1932 and 14 October 1933[4] and being appointed to the Prussian State Council and made an SA Gruppenführer. He was also the editor of the Mitteldeutschen Nationalzeitung (Halle) and the weekly Der Kampf (The Struggle).[4] In March 1933 came his appointment as Plenipotentiary for the Province of Saxony in the Reichsrat and in November 1933 his election as a member of the Reichstag. On 20 April 1937, Adolf Hitler personally appointed him Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor) in the Free State of Brunswick and the Free State of Anhalt and NSDAP Gauleiter of Magdeburg-Anhalt. Jordan was succeeded as Gauleiter of Halle-Merseburg by Joachim Albrecht Eggeling. On 9 November of the same year came Jordan's promotion to SA-Obergruppenführer.
On 6 June 1932, he wrote to Gregor Strasser concerning the alleged Jewish origins of Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the Sicherheitsdienst, the intelligence service of the SS. Strasser passed Jordan's letter to the NSDAP's chief racial inverstigator, Dr Achim Gercke, who dismissed the allegation.[4]
On the outbreak of the Second World War on 1 September 1939, Jordan was named Reich Defense Commissioner for Wehrkreis (Military District) XI, which encompassed his Gau along with most all of Gau Southern Hanover-Brunswick and part of Gau Eastern Hanover. This gave him control of civil defense matters over a large area. Additionally, on 1 January 1940, Jordan was named Minister-President of the Anhalt Provincial Government. [5] On 16 November 1942, the jurisdiction of the Reich Defense Commissioners was changed from the Wehrkreis to the Gau level, and Jordan remained Commissioner for only his Gau.[6] On 1 July 1944 came Jordan's last leap up the career ladder when he was appointed Oberpräsident (High President) of the Province of Magdeburg, thus united under his control all the highest party and governmental offices in his jurisdictions. In the war's dying days, on 2 May 1945, Jordan dissolved the Gau staff, disbanded the local Volkssturm and managed to go underground with his family under a false name.[7]
Post-war
On 30 May 1945, he was arrested by the British, and in July of the next year, the Western Allies handed him over to the Soviets. Late in 1950 – after four years in custody in the Soviet occupation zone – Jordan was sentenced to serve 25 years in a Soviet Union labour camp. Only Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's visit to Moscow managed to persuade the Soviets to reconsider Jordan's sentence, and then he was released on 13 October 1955. In the years to come, Jordan earned a living as a sales representative, and worked as an administrator for an aircraft manufacturing firm. He died in Munich. He published his autobiography about his time as Gauleiter and in captivity, "Experienced and Suffered. A Gauleiter's Way from Munich to Moscow", which showed no indication that he was willing to take responsibility for the events in Nazi Germany.[8]
Publications after the war
- 1971: "Erlebt und erlitten. Weg eines Gauleiters von München nach Moskau" ("Experienced and Suffered. A Gauleiter's Way from Munich to Moscow")
- 1974: "Im Zeugenstand der Geschichte. Antworten zum Thema Hitler" ("On History's Witness Stand. Answers on the Topic of Hitler")
- 1984: "Der 30. Juni 1934. Die sog. "Röhm-Revolte" und ihre Folgen aus der Sicht eines Erlebniszeugen" ("The 30th of June 1934. The so-called "Röhm Revolt" and its Aftermath from a Witness's Point of View")
Awards and decorations
- Golden Hitler Youth Badge with Oak Leaves[3]
- Honour Chevron for the Old Guard[3]
- Golden Party Badge[3]
- NSDAP Long Service Award in Bronze, c.1940[3]
- NSDAP Long Service Award in Silver, c.1940[3]
- NSDAP Long Service Award in Gold, c.1941[3]
- War Merit Cross 2nd Class without Swords[3]
- War Merit Cross 1st Class without Swords[3]
Notes
- Miller & Schulz 2017, p. 16.
- Miller & Schulz 2017, p. 15.
- Miller & Schulz 2017, p. 24.
- Miller & Schulz 2017, p. 17.
- Miller & Schulz 2017, pp. 20, 22.
- Broszat 1981, p. 122.
- Miller & Schulz 2017, p. 23.
- "Jordan, Rudolf". uni-magdeburg.de (in German). University of Magdeburg. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
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References
- Broszat, Martin (1981). The Hitler State: The Foundation and Development of the Internal Structure of the Third Reich. New York: Longman Inc. ISBN 0-582-49200-9.
- 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 1-932970-32-0.