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Karl Haushofer and the German Academy, 1925–1945

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2008

Donald H. Norton
Donald H. Norton
Affiliation:
Colby Junior College
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Extract

On February 10, 1944, a colorful ceremony took place in the great hall of the University of Munich. The occasion was the official inauguration of Reich Minister Arthur Seyss-Inquart as President of the German Academy. Under swastika banners lining the front of the auditorium sat the General Secretary of the Academy, Dr. Matthias Schmitz; Vice-President Professor Walther Wüst; Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels; and Dr. Seyss-Inquart himself. The organization which Seyss-Inquart had been chosen to head had in nineteen years achieved a predominant position in teaching the German language to foreigners and in promoting German culture at home and abroad. Its world-wide network of schools was particularly strong in southern and eastern Europe.

Type
Articles
Information
Central European History , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , March 1968 , pp. 80 - 99
Copyright
Copyright © Conference Group for Central European History of the American Historical Association 1968

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References

1. Reden aus Anlass der Amtseinführung des Präsidenten der Deutschen Akademie Reichs-minister Dr. Seyss-Inquart (Munich, n. d. [1944]), in the records of the German Academy included in U.S. National Archives Microfilm Publication, Microcopy No. T-82, Records of Nazi Cultural and Research Institutions and Records Pertaining to Axis Relations and Interests in the Far East, Roll 22, Frames 0212572–600. These records and papers of General Karl Haushofer included in U.S. National Archives Microfilm Publication, Microcopy No. T-253, Records of Private German Individuals, are hereafter cited by microcopy, roll, and frame number, e.g., T-82/22/0212572–600.Google Scholar They are described in American Historical Association, Committee for the Study of War Documents, Guides to German Records Microfilmed at Alexandria, Va., Nos. 6 and 9 (Washington: National Archives, 1959), respectively.Google Scholar

2. Edict of the Führer concerning the German Academy, November 15, 1941 (English translation of the original), T-82/22/0212615–16. See also T-82/22/0212575, for part of the German text.

3. Obst, Erich, “Karl Haushofer zum 60. Geburtstag,” Zeitschrift für Geopolitik, VI (1929), 709–10Google Scholar; von Ruith, A. Ritter, “Das Militärische Wirken Karl Haushofers,”Google Scholaribid., p. 715.

4. Der deutsche Anteil an der geographischen Erschliessung Japans und des subjapanischen Erdraums und deren Förderung durch den Einfluss von Krieg und Wehrpolitik (Munich, 1914).Google Scholar

5. Berlin, 1912.

6. “‘Deutsches Institut’. Vorläufiges Programm, festgelegt in der Sitzung am 16. April 1923,” T-253/56/1512428.

7. Agenda for meeting concerning the “Deutsches Institut,” June 5, 1923, T-253/56/1512426.

8. Haushofer to an unnamed recipient, March 8, 1925, T-253/58/1515461.

9. Akademie, Deutsche, Satzung (Munich, n.d.), paragraph 2, T-253/48/1502764.Google Scholar

10. Thierfelder, Franz and von Zweidineck-Südenhorst, Otto, “Die politische Tätigkeit der Deutschen Akademie, 1925–1945,” memorandum dated August 21, 1945, T-82/14/203054–55. Hereafter cited as “Politische Tätigkeit.”Google Scholar

11. “Niederschrift der wissenschaftlichen Sitzung vom 21.10.26,” T-82/22/393334.

12. Satzung, paragraph 10, T-253/48/1502764.

13. Haushofer, Karl, “Entwurf einer ersten Dienstanweisung f. d. pr. Abt.,” memorandum dated June 17, 1925, T-82/22/393720–22. Although Haushofer was concerned mainly with the organization of his own Practical Department, he also describes the Scientific Department.Google Scholar

14. Various papers of the Scientific Department, T-253/47/1501810, 1501850, 1502018.

15. Haushofer, Karl, “Entwurf einer ersten Dienstanweisung f. d. pr. Abt.,” T-82/22/393720–22; Satzung, paragraph II, T-253/48/1502764.Google Scholar

16. Unsigned memorandum, July 13, 1925, T-82/22/393675; “Protokoll über die Sitzung des Kleinen Rates vom 3.7.1925,” T-82/22/393712–13. Years later the Nazi newspaper Völkischer Beobachter, in commenting on Haushofer's election in 1934 to be President of the Academy, stated that Haushofer resigned as head of the Practical Section in 1925 because of difficulty with others in the Academy, but this does not appear to be correct. T-253/57/1513438.

17. Norton, Donald H., “Karl Haushofer and His Influence on Nazi Ideology and German Foreign Policy” (unpub. diss., Clark University, 1965), pp. 118–19.Google Scholar

18. “Vortrag für die Senatssitzung in Köln am 22 Okt. 1926” (unsigned, but probably by Pfeilschifter, Georg), T-82/22/393311–12Google Scholar. On the various Volksdeutsch organizations see Norton, op. cit., pp. 62–63, 67–82, and Edmondson, Nelson, “The Fichte Society: A Chapter in Germany's Conservative Revolution,” Journal of Modern History, XXXVIII (1966), 161–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

19. “Vortrag für die Senatssitzung in Köln am 22 Okt. 1926,” T-82/22/393303.

20. Deutsche Akademie München, Aufgabe und Arbeit (Munich, n.d.), T-82/1/0188234.Google Scholar

21. Reports of the divisions of the German Academy for the year 1943, T-82/14/0203139.

22. Deutsche Akademie München, Aufgabe und Arbeit (Munich, n.d.), T-82/1/0188245–46.Google Scholar

23. Ibid., T-82/1/0188238; Reports of the divisions of the German Academy for the year 1943, T-82/14/0203177.

24. Reden aus Anlass der Amtseinführung des Präsidenten der Deutschen Akademie Reichsminister Dr. Seyss-Inquart (Munich, n.d. [1944]), T-82/22/0212591; Reports of the divisions of the German Academy for the year 1943, T-82/14/0203115.Google Scholar

25. Brown, MacAlister, “The Third Reich's Mobilization of the German Fifth Column in Eastern Europe,” Journal of Central European Affairs, XIX (1959), 129.Google Scholar

26. The General's son Albrecht is quoted as saying: “Der Grundakkord des Vaters gegenüber den Nazis war der englische Leitspruch: let us educate our masters [sic]. Sie setzen nun einmal im Sattel, wir können sie nicht herunterwerfen, also haben wir die Verdammte Pflicht und Schuldigkeit, uns voll ins Zeug zu legen, damit sie ihre bösen Kinderkrankheiten raschestens verlieren und sie lernen, die richtigen Lehren aufzunehmen.” Hildebrandt, Rainer, Wir sind die Letzen (Berlin, n.d.), p. 37.Google Scholar

27. Haushofer revealed these facts in a May 8, 1934, letter to a recipient identified in the salutation only as “Georg,” T-253/48/1502826.

28. Haushofer to the Dean of the University of Munich, December 24, 1938, T-253/54/1510399.

29. The rightist, anti-democratic elements in the Weimar Republic, to which General Haushofer certainly belonged, were fragmented and disorganized as compared to the Communists, for example. Only the National Socialists (after the 1930 election) offered a practical chance to gain power. Sontheimer, Kurt, Antidemokratisches Denken in der Weimarer Republik (Munich, 1962), pp. 357–80.Google Scholar

30. Stellvertreter des Führers (signed by Schulte Strathaus) to Gauleitung Schlesien der NSDAP, November 2, 1934, T-82/22/0212724.

31. Unfortunately the only record is an indirect reference to a telegram from the Führer in a memorandum (T-253/51/1506127) written by Haushofer towards the end of his term as President. Although not signed or dated the memorandum is obviously by Haushofer and was probably written as an enclosure to a letter of January 16, 1937. The first lines of the memorandum read as follows: “Erfahrungen bei meinem Scheitern mit dem Auftrag, die Deutsche Akademie in die führende, womöglich kulturpolitische Dach-Einrichtung für nichtamtlichen Aussenbeziehungen nach den Führer-Fernschreiben zu wandeln.”

32. Haushofer to Party Member Schmidt (also spelled “Schmitt”; see below, n. 53) of the Academy's Economic Council, April 4, 1938, T-253/51/1506132.

33. Haushofer to Ministerial Counsellor Dr. Donnevert (Reichsministerium des Innern), May 23, 1934, T-253/52/1507549. It might be noted that while the Academy was seeking official subsidies, its general secretary was informing the editor of an Indian newspaper, the Bombay Chronicle, that the German Academy was financially independent of the government and did its work unaffected by political events. Dr. Thierfelder to the Editor of the Bombay Chronicle, August 16, 1934, T-253/48/1502779.

34. Thierfelder to Haushofer, October 17, 1934, T-253/48/1503225.

35. Thierfelder to Haushofer, August 21, 1935, T-253/48/1503161.

36. “Niederschrift über die Sitzung des Kleinen Rates am 4. September 1935,” T-253/48/1503157.

37. Albrecht Haushofer's connections with the staff of the future Nazi foreign minister may have been of some help to his father in interesting Ribbentrop in the plight of the German Academy.

38. Ibid.

39. Thierfelder to Haushofer, September 26, 1935, T-253/48/1503166.

40. Thierfelder to members of the Small Council, October 5, 1935, T-253/48/1503156.

41. Thierfelder to Haushofer, September 25, 1936, T-253/60/1517240. Cf. an undated memorandum (about the end of 1936), T-253/54/1509486, in which the Foreign Ministry laid down the conditions the Academy had to accept in return for financial aid: Foreign Ministry representation on the Small Council; avoidance of political questions in lectures, etc.; and no relations with foreign governments except through the Foreign Ministry.

42. Haushofer to Thierfelder, October 3, 1935, T-253/48/1503153.

43. “Arbeitsverteilung in der Hauptsgeschäftsstelle der Deutschen Akademie,” October 15, 1935, T-253/51/1506916.

44. Thierfelder and von Zwiedineck-Südenhorst, “Politische Tätigkeit,” T-82/14/203058–59.

45. Meyer, Arnold Oskar (Vice-President of the Academy) to Haushofer, September 22, 1936, T-253/60/1517233;Haushofer to Fehn, September 30, 1936, T-253/60/1517239; Fehn to Haushofer, October 1, 1936, T-253/60/1517238.Google Scholar

46. Thierfelder and von Zwiedineck-Südenhorst, “Politische Tätigkeit,” T-82/14/0203058–59. I have not found any further evidence on this matter beyond this reference.

47. Haushofer to members of the Small Council, Reich Minister Kerrl, and von Twardowski (Foreign Ministry), November 11, 1936, T-253/54/1509538.

48. Haushofer to Grimm, November 21, 1936, T-253/54/1509303; Haushofer to Jobst, November 23, 1936, T-253/54/1509302; Thierfelder to Haushofer, February 16, 1937 T-253/54/1509440. Fochler-Hauke turned out to have even more exalted ideas of his own importance than Jobst as is shown by proposals he made to Haushofer on May 12, 1937, T-253/48/1502739, suggesting that he be given control of the lion's share of the work of the Academy. Haushofer by that time was no longer President, although he still represented Hess.

49. From a memorandum by Karl Haushofer. See n. 31 above.

50. “Niederschrift über die Sitzung des Kleinen Rates am 1. Oktober 1936,” T-253/54/1509684; “Niederschrift über die Sitzung des Kleinen Rates am 13.10.1936,” T-253/54/1509487. See also the minutes of the meeting of December 9, 1936, T-253/54/1509509, which shed light on the earlier meetings.

51. Thierfelder to Haushofer, October 16, 1936, T-253/54/1509470.

52. Member of the Academy's Economic Council (an employee of Ambassador Ribbentrop brought into Academy earlier in 1936 by President Haushofer).

53. Probably Albert Schmidt, who was a friend of Wilhelm Rodde.

54. “Erklärung zu den Darlegungen des Präsidenten für die Sitzung des Kleinen Rates am 9. 12. 36. in Berlin,” T-253/54/1509527.

55. “Niederschift über die Sitzung des Kleinen Rates am 9. Dezember 1936,” T-253/54/1509509.

56. Haushofer to Rector Kölbl (University of Munich), December 10, 1936, T-253/54/1509619.

57. Haushofer to Rodde, Kerrl, Wolff, et al., January 16, 1937, T-253/51/1506125.

58. Karl Haushofer to Albrecht Haushofer, March 6, 1937, T-253/59/1516351.

59. Thierfelder and von Zwiedineck-Südenhorst, “Politische Tätigkeit,” T-82/14/0203059–60.

60. Edict of the Führer concerning the German Academy (English translation of the original), November 15, 1941, T-82/22/0212615–16. See also T-82/22/0212575 for part of the German text.

61. Thierfelder and von Zwiedineck-Südenhorst, “Politische Tätigkeit,” T-82/14/0203065.

62. von Weizsäcker, Ernst (State Secretary of the German Foreign Ministry) to Haushofer, December 14, 1942, T-253/56/1512622.Google Scholar

63. Thierfelder and von Zwiedineck-Südenhorst, “Politische Tätigkeit,” T-82/14/0203065–66.

64. See, for example, Sondern, Frederick, “Hitler's Scientists,” Current History, LIII (1941), 10 ff.Google Scholar, and Roucek, J. S., “German Geopolitics,” Journal of Central European Affairs, II (1942), 180–89.Google Scholar

65. For a discussion of the Hess flight and the role played by General Haushofer and his son Albrecht, see Norton, op. cit., pp. 172–86.

66. “Mein Vater war noch blind vom Traum der Macht.” From “Acheron,” one of the Moabiter Sonette (Berlin, 1946) penned by Haushofer, Albrecht as he lay in the Gestapo's Moabit Prison after the July 1944 attempt to assassinate Hitler.Google Scholar

67. Hipp, D. (Staatsminister für Unterricht und Kultus) to Military Government, Munich, June 27, 1945, T-82/22/0212602.Google Scholar

68. Thierfelder, Franz, “Kulturpolitik im neuen Stil,” Aussenpolitik, II (1951), 219.Google Scholar