Viktor Lutze (28 December 1890 – 2 May
1943) was the commander of the Sturmabteilung ("SA")
succeeding Ernst Röhm as Stabschef. He died from injuries
received in an automobile accident. Lutze was given an elaborate
state funeral in Berlin on 7 May 1943.
Early life
Lutze was born in Bevergern, Westphalia, the son of a peasant
craftsman. After a short career in the post office, he joined
the German Army in 1912,
serving with the 55th Infantry Regiment. He fought in the 369th
Infantry Regiment and 15th Reserve Infantry Regiment duringWorld War I. He became a company commander
and was heavily wounded four times, including the loss of his left
eye. After the war, Lutze became a merchant and joined the police
force.
Nazi Party and SA[edit]
Lutze joined the National Socialist
German Workers Party (NSDAP; Nazi Party) in 1922, and
the Prussian State Council. He became an
associate of Franz Pfeffer von Salomon,
the first leader of the SA. Together, they determined the structure
of the organization.
He also worked with Albert Leo Schlageter in the
resistance/sabotage of the Belgian and French occupation of the Ruhr in
1923. His organization of the Ruhr for the SA became a model for
other regions after 1926. In October 1931, he organized a huge
joint rally in Braunschweig (Brunswick) of SA
and SS men to show both strength in strife-weary
Germany and loyalty to their leader, Adolf Hitler. This was before Hitler came
to national power as Chancellor of Germany in January
1933.[1] Over
100,000 men attended the rally hosted by SA-Gruppe
Nord under the leadership of Lutze. At the rally, the SA
assured Hitler of their loyalty and Hitler in turn increased the
size of the SA with the creation of 24
new Standarten (regiment-sized formations).
Hitler never forgot this show of loyalty by Lutze. A badge was made to
commemorate the event.[2] Lutze
rose through the ranks and by 1933 was a SA-Obergruppenführer. In March
1933, he was appointed police president of Hanoverand later its provincial governor and
state counselor.[3]
Purge of Röhm[edit]
Lutze's participation in the Night of the Long
Knives in 1934 was very important: he informed Hitler
about Ernst Röhm's anti-régime activities. (Hitler at first said,
"We'll have to let the thing ripen"). In preparation for the purge,
both Heinrich Himmlerand his
deputy Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the SS
Security Service (SD), assembled dossiers of manufactured evidence
to suggest that Röhm planned to overthrow Hitler. Meanwhile,
Göring, Himmler, Heydrich and Lutze (at Hitler's direction) drew up
lists of those who should be liquidated, starting with seven top SA
officials and including many more. At least 85 people died during
the purge, although the final death-toll may have been in the
hundreds. After the purge Lutze succeeded Röhm
as Stabschef SA, but after the Night of
the Long Knives, the SA no longer had as prominent a role as it had
had in the early days of the party.[3] Lutze's
major tasks included overseeing a large reduction in the SA, a task
welcomed by the SS and by the regular armed forces. On 30 June 1934
Hitler issued a twelve-point directive to Lutze to clean up the SA
and wrote that "SA men should be leaders, not ludicrous apes".
Hitler (center, in front of the wreath), Lutze (on Hitler's left),
and Himmler (on Hitler's right), making a
Nazi salute in front of
the
World War I cenotaph in the 1934
Nuremberg rally.
At the Nazi Party
Congress in Nuremberg in September
1934, William L. Shirerobserved Hitler
speaking to the SA for the first time since the purge (Hitler
absolved the SA from crimes committed by Röhm). Shirer also noted
Lutze speaking there (Lutze reaffirmed the SA's loyalty). Shirer
described Lutze as possessing a shrill unpleasant voice, and
thought the "SA boys received him coolly". Leni Riefenstahl's
film Triumph of the Will, however,
shows the SA mobbing Lutze as he departs at the end of his evening
rally speech. His automobile can barely make it through the crowd.
Alone among the speakers (apart from Hitler) Lutze receives the
dramatic low-angle shots while standing solo at the podium. Only
Hitler, Himmler, and Lutze are shown in the march to
the World War I cenotaph, where they lay a wreath. The makers
of the film give the then little-known Lutze some of the prestige
of a party leader, so as to draw attention away from their recent
leader, Ernst Röhm. The latter appeared often by the side of Hitler
in the previous Riefenstahl film of the 1933 party
congress Der Sieg des Glaubens, but
that film was withdrawn from circulation and all prints known to
the Nazi officials were eradicated after his murder; the film is
known today from a copy found in Britain in the 1990s.
Foreign organisation[edit]
After the Anschluss, Lutze traveled to Austria to help
reorganize the SA there.
In September 1938, SA Stabschef Lutze traveled
to Passau to welcome Nazis who had returned from
the Reichsparteitag in Nuremberg. Lutze stayed
at "Veste Oberhaus" and seized the opportunity to meet Johann
Nepomuk Kühberger, who had once helped to save Hitler from drowning
in the Inn river. Now, he was a priest, and played the organ at
Passau cathedral.[4]
The reintroduction of military conscription in 1935 reduced the
size of the SA significantly. Its most visible role after the purge
was in assisting the SS in perpetrating the Kristallnacht in November 1938. In
February 1939, Lutze reviewed a parade of 20,000 Blackshirts in
Rome and then set off for a tour of Italy’s Libyan frontier
with Tunisia.
Lutze's death and
funeral[edit]
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With the outbreak of war in 1939, the bulk of the SA was drafted
into theWehrmacht, leaving behind members who were
either too young for or considered unfit for military service.
Lutze maintained his position in the weakened SA until his death.
On 1 May 1943 he was driving a car near Potsdam with his entire family. Driving
too fast on a curve caused an accident that badly injured Lutze as
well as killing his oldest daughter Inge and greatly injuring his
younger daughter. Viktor Lutze died during an operation in a
hospital in Potsdam at 10:30 the next evening. News reports stated
that the accident involved another vehicle, keeping the news of
reckless driving from the public. This may have contributed to
theories that Lutze has been murdered.[citation
needed] Hitler ordered Joseph Goebbels to convey his
condolences to Viktor's wife Paula and son Viktor, Jr. Goebbels, in
his diaries, had already described Lutze as a man of "unlimited
stupidity" but at his death decided he was a decent fellow. Lutze
was 52 years old.
The esteem in which Lutze was held is indicated by the fact that
Hitler ordered a lavish state funeral for him on 7 May 1943 in
the Reich Chancellery. Hitler attended in
person, something he rarely did at that stage in the war, and
posthumously awarded Lutze the Highest Grade of the German Order. Hitler also
took this opportunity to order party, army, and government
officials (many of whom attended) to curtail speeding (specifically
requesting they drive no faster than 80 kilometres (50 mi) per
hour).[citation
needed]
Hitler appointed Wilhelm Schepmann to succeed
Lutze as Stabschef SA, but the organization had been
thoroughly marginalized by that time.
Family life
Pictures found in Lutze's house by the Allies depict a family man
who enjoyed day-trips and table tennis.[5]
Honors
Lutze was posthumously awarded the Highest Grade of the German
Order.
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