SAUCKEL, Ernst Friedrich Christoph (Fritz)
(1894-1946)
Gauleiter und Reichsstatthalter/SS-Obergruppenführer/
SA-Obergruppenführer/M.d.R.:
Born: 27. Oct. 1894 in Haßfurt/Main.
Hanged: 16. Oct. 1946 in Nürnberg Prison.
NSDAP-Nr.: 1 395 (Joined, 1922)/SS-Nr.: 254 890 (Joined, 9. Sep. 1934)
Promotions:
SS-OGruf.: 30. Jan. 1942; SA-OGruf.: 9. Nov. 1937; SS-Gruf.: 9. Sep. 1934 (entered SS at that rank); SA-Gruf.: ;
Assignments:
Head of Arbeitseinsatz Abteilung in Amt des Vierjahresplan: 27. Mar. 1942 - 8. May 1945.
Generbevollmächtigter für den Arbeitseinsatz (General Plenipotentiary for Labor Allocation [Slave Labor]): 21. Mar. 1942 - 8.May 1945.
Reichsverteidigungskommissar Wehrkreis IX (Kassel): 1. Sep. 1939 - May 1945.
Mitglied des Reichstages (Wahlkreis 12 [Thüringen]): 12. Nov. 1933 - May 1945.
Reichsstatthalter von Anhalt: 1935 - 1937.
Stab Reichsführer-SS: 9. Sep. 1934 -8. May 1945.
Joined SS: 9. Sep. 1934.
Appointed as Ehrenführer of an SA-Standarte: 1934.
Reichsstatthalter Thüringen: 5. May 1933 - 8. May 1945.
Founder, "Landesarbeitsdienstes Thüringen e.V.": 17. Sep. 1932.
Ministerpräsident und Innenminister von Thüringen: 26. Aug. 1932 -
Mitglied des thüringischen Landtages (NSDAP-Fraktion): 10. Feb. 1929 -
Gauleiter Thüringen: 30. Sep. 1927 - 8. May 1945.
Gaugeschäftsführer der NSDAP-Thüringen: 1. Mar. 1925 -
Officially left NSDAP after failure of München Putsch, but continued as illegal Bezirksleter der NSDAP in Thüringen: 1923 - 1925. Officially reentered NSDAP with his original Partei-Nr. of 1 395, 1925.
Founder of "Tejabundes": 1923.
Elected Ortsgruppenleiter der NSDAP in Ilmenau, then Bezirksleiter der NSDAP-Thüringen: 1922.
Joined NSDAP: 1922; Joined SA: 1922.
Postwar Prosecution:
Tried by U.S. Military Tribunal, Nürnberg. Defended by Dr. Robert Servatius. Sentenced to death, 30. Sep. 1946; hanged, 16. Oct. 1946. His final words: "Ich sterbe unschuldig, mein Urteil ist ungerecht. Gott beschütze Deutschland!" ("I die innocent, my sentence is unjust. God protect Germany!")
Notes:
Son of a postal official. Merchant seaman, 1909 - 1914 (rising from Schiffsjunge to Leichtmatrose, then to Vollmatrose [First Mate?] aboard various sailing ships of the Norwegian and Swedish merchant marine). Interned by the French in several POW camps, 4. Aug. 1914 - Nov. 1918. Returned to Germany, Nov. 1918. Employed in Kugellagerfabrik Fischer, Schweinfurt. Joined "Deutsch-Völkischen Schutz- und Trutzbund", 1919. Appointed Gauleiter of "Deutsch-Völkischen Schutz- und Trutzbund" in Unterfranken, 1920. Attended Engineering School, Ilmenau/Thürigen, 1922 - 1923. Married, 1923; 10 children (two of whom were killed in action during World War II).
In a meeting of about 800 offcials in Weimar on 6. Jan. 1943, Sauckel announced:
"Where the voluntary method fails (and experience shows that it fails everywhere) compulsory service takes its place....
We are going to discard the last remnant of our soft talk about humanitarian ideals. Every additional gun which we procure brings us a moment closer to victory. It is bitter to tear people from their homes, from their children. But we did not want the war. The German child who loses his father at the front, the German wife who mourns her husband killed in battle, suffers far more. Let us disclaim every sentiment now....
This is the iron law for the Allocation of Labor for 1943. In a few weeks from now there must no occupied territory in which compulsory service for Germany is not the most natural thing in the world."
Decorations & Awards:
Goldenes Parteiabzeichen; Coburger Abzeichen 1922; Dienstauszeichnung der NSDAP in Gold; Traditions-Gauabzeichen für Thuringen; SA-Sportabzeichen in Bronze; Ehrendegen des RF SS/Totenkopfring der SS.
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