Published on 26 October 2018
For decades, nothing was said of how Hohenheim presidents, scientists, and students were connected to the Nazi regime’s crimes. Historian Dr. Anja Waller provided long overdue clarification with her publication “Erschreckend einwandfrei – Die NS-Zeit und ihre Folgen an der Universität Hohenheim” (With Little Resistance - The National-Socialist Period and its Consequences at the University of Hohenheim). The book presentation will take place on 12 November during a memorial event on campus. The Online Courier will provide an article series about the results before the event. Part 2: National-Socialist Presidents and Denazification
Campus visitors who take a look at the upper Palace levels after strolling through the Park cannot help but see the portrait gallery of Hohenheim presidents. From 1818 until today, visitors cannot see any obvious breaks. The portraits in front of the Aula and the Blue Room as well as the hallway in front of the President’s office are hung next to each other without discrimination. This includes zealous Nazi ideologues as well as scientists who were pushed out of the college during the Nazi era. Without any comments - until now.
This form of presentation could be viewed as a symptom: After all, Hohenheim Agricultural College did not experience a radical upheaval either before or after the Nazi period. And a critical review of its responsibility during that period has only taken place now, over 70 years after the end of National-Socialism.
Biographies of Selected Presidents
As part of the virtual and real memorial points, the project published biographical notes on 12 presidents who benefited or experienced disadvantages from National-Socialism. more
Forgotten and Repressed
When the National-Socialists came to power in 1933, no one in Hohenheim needed to be converted. The entire College from the students to the president were ready to fall in line and rush to serve Nazi ideology right from the start. The end of the war in 1945 was once again surprisingly smooth. Hohenheim was one of the first universities in the American occupied areas that started teaching all of its regular courses again.
To the public, they gave the impression of being reformed, they welcomed an example being made of a few Hohenheim scientists in the summer of 1945 - and they then made an effort to close the chapter of National-Socialism as quickly as possible.
This attempt at forgetting was disturbed only the former forced laborers who continued to live in Hohenheim after the war and had to be cared for by the College according to American commands. The same held true of the denazification proceedings of College members that in some cases were annoyingly long. They quickly came to view themselves as the victims. Critical questions about the biographies of new professors were not even raised in Hohenheim.
“Various circumstances could have contributed to Hohenheim being more successful than other institutions at forgetting and repressing its own responsibility in the following decades. It is certainly not true, at any rate, that Hohenheim scientists and presidents were not involved in the Nazi regime’s crimes,” clarified historian Dr. Anja Waller.
Notes on Presidents’ Biographies
On the occasion of the anniversary, the University of Hohenheim also became uncomfortably aware of how it had previously dealt with its own Nazi past. As part of a memorial event on 12 November, signs will be added to 15 portraits of Hohenheim presidents (14 photographs and one large-format painting) and will include QR codes that lead to more extensive information.
“The Hohenheim Presidents decisively contributed to the quick and successful Gleichschaltung of the College as part of the inhuman Nazi ideology. Their outstanding position and thus individual responsibility makes it even more important that information about their biographies is provided,” commented Waller. “At the same time, the role of the presidents can only be understood if they are viewed as actors in a larger, gradual development at the College that started well before 1933 and in which numerous scientists, employees, and students took part.”
Generational Gap
In the years before the National-Socialists seized power, Hohenheim scientists had a uniform national-conservative worldview. They struggled with the conclusion of the war, believed Germany had been treated unjustly, and wanted the nation to be strong again. The rise of the National-Socialists was viewed with silent benevolence or open enthusiasm. Opposing opinions, as could be found at least occasionally at most other universities, were not voiced in Hohenheim. The professors and scientists unanimously greeted the National-Socialists seizing power in 1933.
Still, there was a generational gap. The older generation had experienced the First World War themselves on the front. After the difficult years, they desired especially political stability and economic recovery. They believed the National-Socialists were most capable of effecting this kind of change. However, the older Hohenheim professors did not join the NSDAP before 1933.
The younger generation only know about the horrors of war from stories, and in the following years they suffered under economic hardships as adolescents. They were particularly receptive to conspiracy theories according to which social democracy and other democratic politicians were actually at fault for the military defeat. They enthusiastically joined in on the Nazi’s ideological answer to these problems. Young scientists often became party members well before 1933. They believed they were social avant-gardes and developed an increasing feeling of solidarity at Hohenheim Agricultural College.
Smooth Transition
This generational gap can also be seen among the Hohenheim presidents during the Nazi period.
The agricultural chemist Percy Brigl was 47 years old when he became president on 2 May 1933. It was his second time as Hohenheim’s President. During his term of office, the course was set for National-Socialist Gleichschaltung at the Agricultural College. Brigl cooperated.
He largely did not have to make any uncomfortable decision as president, because Hohenheim as a refuge for national-conservative thinking did not have any left-wing, democratic, or republican movements. When students and scientists demanded new Nazi teaching content such as eugenics and racial hygiene, Brigl strove to ensure that they were taught with the best possible expertise.
Nazi Visionaries Sought
“Still, Brigl could hardly be called a zealous Nazi supporter. For example, he spoke out against the firing of Adolf Münzinger, a renowned Hohenheim scientist who did not become a party member or receive any party awards until the end. Brigl himself did not become an NSDAP member until 1937,” stated Waller.
The Nazi regime must have found Brigl too careful, too nice, too inconsistent. After all, they had high hopes for Hohenheim. The Nazi regime wanted to open up new space to settle in the East for the German people. Agricultural sciences were to play a key role in resettlement policies, and Hohenheim was to be expanded into a National-Socialist training ground. Brigl seemed to be the wrong man for that kind of vision. He had to resign from his office as president after only one year.
His successor Alfred Beck, who was also part of the older generation of scientists, suffered a similar fate. Before his appointment, he had monitored Brigl as the Special Representative of the Ministry. When he became president, however, Beck was also not able to fulfill the expectations placed on him. He was also forced to leave before his term of office ended regularly. Beck seemed to take this personally and left the Agricultural College. Younger Generation Takes Over
The election of the president at the Agricultural College was now only pro forma - and it had no binding effects. Although the majority of the Senate once again voted for Alfred Beck, the Ministry placed 32-year-old Peter Carstens at the head of the College, the first representative of the younger generation.
Carstens had studied and completed his doctorate in Hohenheim and wrote his habilitation on the topic “Comparative Breed Investigations with Dog Skeletons”. He had only been appointed as the Professor of Animal Breeding one year previously. At the same time, the ambitious scientist had already had a meteoric career with the National-Socialists: 1930 member of the NSDAP and SA, 1933 switch to SS and appointment as Oberscharführer, 1934 appointment as Director of the SS Race and Settlement Office, and many other political offices. The office of President in Hohenheim was not to be the final station in his career.
On the Path to a Nazi Training Ground
Carstens brought new plans to Hohenheim. The young, zealous National-Socialists among the scientists saw their positions strengthened and increasingly tried to distance themselves from free riders who had only joined the NSDAP in 1933 and were mocked as “Märzgefallene,” that is, opportunists who did not join until the party seized power.
The deep National-Socialist sympathy gradually became the decisive standard at the College. Those who continued to work while the Führer held a speech on the radio had to fear for their reputation. NSDAP members with a lower membership number were given preferential treatment for promotions and administrative files.
Carstens wanted to expand Hohenheim into a National-Socialist model institute, an elite university for young Nazi talents. His plans included the establishment of a riding and driving school in Hohenheim, for example. However, these plans were never implemented.
“The reason for this was not that the regime’s plans changed but because of the impending war,” emphasized Waller. “They assumed there would be a quick victory and postponed the expansion of the college to after the war.”
From Theory to Inhuman Practice
The careerist Carstens ended his position as president in Hohenheim voluntarily after three years so that he could continue to climb the career ladder. Before he became the president of the newly founded Reich University Posen in 1941, he was the Director of the SS Settlement Department Poland, where he had a chance to implement his scientific plans to resettle “ethnic Germans” to the Eastern territories.
When doing so, Carstens included Hohenheim students, who visited him in Poland as part of an “excursion.” The students’ task: They were to help “vacate” Polish operations, map expropriated farms, and prepare the smooth transfer of these to “ethnic German” farmers. This was a task that was considered very important: After all, livestock and fields that need to be farmed do not permit long periods of turnover. Reversal of Power Relations Until the end of the war, the Hohenheim presidents were Erhard Jung, Walter Zimmermann, and Emil Lowig. They were also all part of the younger generation of enthusiastic National-Socialists and continued to lead the College in the same spirit.
Walter Zimmermann’s career can be considered a prime example for the typical reversal of power relations during the Nazi period. His extremely early membership in the party in 1925 (member number 1857!) suddenly turned the research assistant into a VIP after the National-Socialists seized power.
Zimmermann shamelessly played up this political power - and made his boss’s life at the institute difficult. Max Rüdiger, Professor of Agricultural Technology, who was elected as the new President of the College in January 1933, decided not to take office after the National-Socialists came to power. In 1936, Rüdiger left the College and emigrated to Turkey. Officially, this was his own desire. In actuality, the conditions at his institute had become untenable for Rüdiger.
Zimmermann, who had not completed his habilitation, first took over Rüdiger’s professorship and in 1941 he was then appointed President by the Ministry.
Zero Hour did not Appear
For a long period, 1945 was viewed as zero hour in post-war Germany. But historical findings have shown that this term is inappropriate. In most institutions, there was no radical change of personnel. For the most part, there was continuity. This was especially true in Hohenheim.
Even though some of the denazification proceedings continued until the 1950s, only a handful of Hohenheim scientists were permanently prevented from returning to their previous positions.
Once again, the College benefited from its research focus - agriculture. The Americans quickly realized that agricultural science would play a central role in reconstruction and feeding the population. So besides the theological institutes, the agricultural institutes were the first that were permitted to re-open.
The minimal damage due to Hohenheim’s isolated location made it possible for all subjects to be taught in Hohenheim again in the summer semester of 1946.
Generous Denazification Certificate Statements
Part of the reason for the high degree of continuity was also the transitional president Adolf Münzinger. In search of a competent person not burdened with a Nazi past who could be entrusted with the College’s future, the Americans found the long-serving agricultural economics professor, who never received any party badges and was only able to retain his position at the College due to his formidable scientific reputation.
But even Münzinger, who had already served as President of the College from 1926 to 1927, gave priority to quickly re-starting teaching and not to a true confrontation of the past.
“In those times, Münzinger was in demand,” explained Waller. “Both from the American military administration, who needed his opinion in many denazification processes as well as from colleagues who had a Nazi past and hoped to get a denazification certificate from him. Münzinger must have been well aware that many personal fates rested in his hands. In retrospect, one has to say that his many exonerating statements were based on personal sympathies and assessments of scientific value and not on the actual Nazi connections of the person in question.”
Lack of Ambition in Denazification
In 1945, the Americans ambitiously set about denazification. As the Cold War began, however, the conflict with the Soviet Union became the primary focus. With each denazification wave, rules were relaxed and more exceptions were approved.
Finally, in 1951 the civil servant lobby achieved a great coup. Due to the pressure they built up and to prevent claims to damages, the “131 law” was passed. It proclaimed that long-standing civil servants who had lost their positions in the course of the political cleansing but had not been part of the group of primary perpetrators, had a right to be re-hired. If no suitable position was free, then it even required that a new position be created.
To make room for the many professors with a Nazi past, many new professorships were created at the universities in the American occupation zone. Hohenheim also received a 131-professor. Since no agricultural scientist was available, they decided on the historian Günther Franz. Starting in 1957, he taught agricultural history in Hohenheim, a subject that until that time had not existed at the College.
From Nazi Propagandist to Agricultural Historian
Günther Franz had been an enthusiastic Nazi follower and had supported the propaganda until shortly before the end of the war with relevant publications and speeches. For example, in the speech “Jews, what they were like and what they are like now” around the time of the Reichspogromnacht, he defended the forced marking of Jews and their social exclusion.
During his time at the University of Jena, which was considered a center of National-Socialist racism research at the time, Franz worked in the research group SS-Ancestor Legacy in the department “opposition research.” Besides the Jews, the other opposition groups were Communists, Free Masons, liberals, and the churches.
After Strasbourg was captured, he was offered a Chair of History at the newly founded Reich University there. In November 1943, Franz was named an SS Hauptsturmführer. In this position, in December 1944 he began serving in the Culture Department of the Head Reich Security Office in Berlin.
Silence and Lack of Interest
“Günther Franz’s Nazi past was no secret in Hohenheim - on the contrary, it was the reason he was able to come to the university at all because of the 131 law. Still, a contemporary reported about the ‘cloak of silence’ on the topic,” reported Waller.
This kind of cloak of silence is the only explanation for such an absurd situation as took place in 1962: As a former Nazi functionary, Günther Franz ran in the upcoming election for president against Georg Baur - a professor who had been driven from the Agricultural College during the Nazi period and was only able to return after the war.
Franz was not elected until the followed term of office. But his National-Socialist past does not seem to have played a role in either candidacies.
“In public agencies, for example in the judiciary, it was usually old boys’ networks that helped smooth the path for former Nazi functionaries to return to higher offices, but in Hohenheim it seems to be a result of a lack of interest among the professors. Asking critical questions would have meant that they would have had to face their own ties. Apparently, there was no interest in doing so,” stated Waller.
Former Nazi Functionary beside Forced Laborer in University Cemetery
“After 1945 Günther Franz did not defend any National-Socialist topics anymore, but he did build on his research from the Nazi period. He re-published many of his books from before 1945 in revised form. In addition, after the war Franz maintained close contacts with former colleagues, which led to a network of mutual favoritism,” said Waller.
Even after his appointment in Hohenheim, for example, Franz kept in touch with the major offender Franz Six, who was pardoned in 1952 and released from prison. Sources suggest that at the time, as a member of the board for the Tractor Association (Landmaschinen- und Ackerschleppvereinigung), Six took part in supporting the war criminal Josef Mengele, who had gone into hiding in South America.
After he became professor emeritus in 1970, Günther Franz lived close to the University. He was buried in the University Cemetery after his death in 1992. The unmarked graves of two forced laborers who had been deported to Hohenheim during the Nazi period are also located in the University Cemetery.
The University of Hohenheim now also wants to place these graves in their historical context. As part of a memorial event on 12 November, a memorial stele will be revealed that commemorates the fate of around 240 forced laborers in Hohenheim who were exploited between 1940 and 1945.
