Carl Friedrich Goerdeler

Carl Friedrich Goerdeler (July 31, 1884 – February 2, 1945) was a conservative German politician and opponent of the Nazi regime. Carl Friedrich Goerdeler originally uploaded to German Wikipedia by Trainspotter source: [1] licence: Public Domain This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Carl Friedrich Goerdeler originally uploaded to German Wikipedia by Trainspotter source: [1] licence: Public Domain This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... July 31 is the 212th day (213th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 153 days remaining. ... 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... Widerstand (German: resistance) is the name given to the resistance movements in Nazi Germany. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...

Biography

Goerdeler was born in Schneidemühl, Germany (modern Piła, Poland) in what was then the Prussian Province of Posen, to a family of Prussian officials. He studied law, and after World War I he joined the conservative German National People's Party (DNVP). Goerdeler served as the second mayor (Bürgermeister) in Königsberg/East Prussia (modern Kaliningrad, Russia) before being elected mayor of Leipzig in 1930. He served as Price Commissioner in 1931-1932 under his friend Heinrich Brüning and again in 1934-35. During the Weimar Republic, Goerdeler was considered to be a hard-working and outstanding successful municipal politician. After the downfall of the Brüning government in 1932, Goerdeler was considered to be a potential Chancellor and was sounded out by General Kurt von Schleicher, who ultimately choose Franz von Papen instead as Brüning's successor. During his second time as Price Commissioner Goerdeler often came into conflict with Hjalmar Schacht over his inflationary policies, which posed a grave danger for the German economy in Goerdeler's opinion, and finally prompted his resignation as Price Commissioner in 1935. PiÅ‚a (German Schneidemühl) is a town in northwestern Poland. ... PiÅ‚a (German Schneidemühl) is a town in northwestern Poland. ... The Province of Posen (German: , Polish: ) was a province of Prussia from 1846-1918. ... Flag of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1894-1918 Prussia (German: ; Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Lithuanian: ; Old Prussian: PrÅ«sa; Polish: ) was, most recently, a historic state originating in East Prussia, an area which for centuries had substantial influence on German and European history. ... This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ... Combatants Allies: Serbia, Russia, France, Romania, Belgium, British Empire, United States, Italy, and others Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire Casualties Military dead: 5 million Civilian deaths: 3 million Total of dead: 8 million Military dead: 4 million Civilian deaths: 3 million Total dead: 7 million The First... 1924 electoral poster, using the Admiral Tirpitz as a figurehead The German National Peoples Party (German: Deutschnationale Volkspartei) (DNVP) was a right wing national-conservative party in Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic. ... Former German name of the city of Kaliningrad. ... East Prussia (German: Ostpreu en; Polish: Prusy Wschodnie; Russian: Восточная Пруссия — Vostochnaya Prussiya) was a province of Kingdom of Prussia, situated on the territory of former Ducal Prussia. ... Map of Kaliningrad Oblast Kaliningrad (Russian: ), until 1945 known by its German name Königsberg, then briefly as Kenigsberg (Russian: Кёнигсберг), is a seaport city, capital and main city of the Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea. ... This is a list of mayors of Leipzig since 1778. ... 1930 (MCMXXX) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Dr. Heinrich Brüning (November 26, 1885–March 30, 1970) was a German politician and Chancellor of Germany. ... Flag of Germany, 1919–1933 This article outlines political events from 1918 until the collapse of the Republic in 1933. ... Kurt von Schleicher (4 April 1882–30 June 1934) was a German general and the last Chancellor of Germany during the era of the Weimar Republic. ... Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen (29 October 1879 – 2 May 1969) was a German Catholic politician and diplomat, who served as Chancellor of Germany in 1932. ... Dr. Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht (January 22, 1877 - June 3, 1970) was a German financial expert and Minister of Economics from 1935 until 1937. ... World inflation rate, based on CIA factbook figures In economics, inflation is an increase in the money supply or a sustained increase in prices over a period of time. ...

Goerdeler opposed the national socialist racial ideology. He left the DNVP in 1931 when this party began to cooperate with the Nazi party. After 1933, Goerdeler was one of very few politicians in opposition to the ruling NSDAP. Several times, he attempted to help Leipzig Jewish businessmen threatened with "Aryanization" economic policies of the Nazi regime. When the Nazis in 1936 ordered the demolition of a monument to the German-Jewish composer Felix Mendelssohn, Goerdeler tried to achieve its rebuilding. After failing that he declined to accept his reelection as mayor of Leipzig and resigned from office. Between 1937-1938, Goerdeler often travelled abroad, mostly in France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada to warn anyone who would listern about what he considered to be the aggressive and dangerous foreign policy of the Nazis. During this period, Goerdeler met with Winston Churchill and Robert Vansittart several times. Through opposed to what he considered to be the reckless foreign policy of Nazi Germany, Goerdeler often demanded in his meetings with foreign friends that the Great Powers back the bestowal of the Sudetenland , the Polish Corridor, Memel (modern Klaipėda, Lithuania) , and the Free City of Danzig (modern Gdańsk, Poland) together with the return of the former German colonies in Africa to Germany. In 1938, Goerdeler was deeply disappointed with the Munich Agreement, which in his view, through desirable in that turned over the Sudetenland to Germany was undesirable in that removed what Goerdeler considered to be best chance of putsch against the Nazi regime. After the Munich Agreement, Goerdeler wrote to one of his American friends: "...The German people did not want war; the Army would have done anything to avoid it;...the world had been warned and informed in good time. If the warning had been heeded and acted upon Germany would by now be free of its dictator and turning against Mussolini. Within a few weeks we could have began to build lasting world peace on the basis of justice, reason and decency. A purified Germany with a governmnet of decent people would have been ready to solve the Spanish problem without delay in company with Britain and France, to remove Mussolini and with the United States to create peace in the Far East. The way would have been open for sound co-operation in economic and social fields, for the creation of peaceful relations between Capital, Labour and the State, for the raising of ethical concepts and for a fresh attempt to raise the general standard of living..."^[1]. Despite what Goerdeler considered a major set-back, continued with his efforts to bring about the downfall of the Nazi regime. Goerdeler was a resolute and unyielding optimist, which together with a deep sense of civic duty and religious convictions led him to believe that if only he could convince enough people, he could overthrow the Nazi regime. National Socialism redirects here. ... 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ... The flag of the NSDAP National-Socialist German Workers Party (German: ), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a socialistic political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... name_local = | image_coa = Coat of arms of Leipzig. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 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Afterwards, Goerdeler assembled conservative politicians and generals comprising most notably Ulrich von Hassell, Ludwig Beck, and Johannes Popitz in opposition to Adolf Hitler. They developed a future constitution for Germany and even a list of potential ministers. Goerdeler's prosposed constitution called for a strong executive branch, a high degree of decentralisation, a Reichstag partially elected on British style-"First-pass-the post" system instead of election by party lists and partially elected by members of local councils, and an Reichsrat comprised of representatives nominated by Christian Churches, trade unions, universities, and business groups^[2]. To assist with the drafting of the future constitution, Goerdeler enlisted the help through his friend Dietrich Bonhoeffer the so-called "Freiburg Circle" a group of professors at Freiburg University which comprised Adolf Lampe, Erich Wolf, Walter Eucken, Constantin von Dietze, and Gerhard Ritter. Had the Putsch attempt of July 20, 1944 succeeded, Goerdeler would have served as Chancellor in the new government that would have been formed after Hitler's assassination and the overthrow of the Nazi regime. Ulrich von Hassell Ulrich von Hassell (born 12 November 1881 in Anklam; died 8 September 1944 in Berlin [executed]) was a German diplomat and an opponent of the Third Reich involved in the July 20 plot. ... Ludwig Beck General Ludwig Beck (June 29, 1880- July 21, 1944) was Chief of Staff of the German Armed forces during the early years of the Nazi regime in Germany before World War II. Born in Biebrich in the Rhineland, he was educated in the conservative Prussian military tradition. ... Johannes Popitz Johannes Popitz (born 2 December 1884 in Leipzig; died 2 February 1945 in Berlin) was a Prussian finance minister and an opponent of the Third Reich. ... (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945) was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 and Führer (Leader) of Germany from 1934 until his death. ... A minister or a secretary is a politician who heads a government ministry or department (e. ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer Dietrich Bonhoeffer (February 4, 1906 – April 9, 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and participant in the German resistance movement against Nazism. ... The University of Fribourg (in French: Université de Fribourg, in German: Universität Freiburg) is a university in the city of Fribourg, Switzerland. ... Gerhard Albert Ritter (April 6, 1888-July 1, 1967) was a well-known German conservative historian. ...

Unlike the Kreisau Circle, Goerdeler was a strong champion of laissez-faire capitalism, and was very much opposed to what Goerdeler saw as the socialism of the Kreisau Circle^[3] .This system was in Goerdeler's vision to serve as the basis of the "democracy of the Ten Commandments"^[4]. In March 1943, Goerdeler wrote in a letter addressed to several German Army officers appealing to them to overthrow the Nazis that the one line that should divide Germans was "...that beween decent and non-decent"^[5]. However, Goerdeler was heavily criticised by other members of the German resistance (for example by some members the Kreisau Circle) for objecting to killing Hitler (who Goerdeler wanted to see tried; Goerdeler had no objection to Hitler being executed after his conviction), for his sympathy for reintroducing monarchy, and for his extremely anti-communist ideology. The Kreisau Circle (German: Kreisauer Kreis) was the name the Gestapo gave to a group of Germans centering around the Kreisau estate of Helmuth James Graf von Moltke in order to envision an alternative to Nazism. ... For other uses, see Capitalism (disambiguation). ... Socialism refers to a broad array of doctrines or political movements that envisage a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to social control. ... German cavalry and motorized units entering Poland from East Prussia during the Polish Defensive War of 1939 Wehrmacht (help· info) (Defence force) was the name of the armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. ... The Kreisau Circle (German: Kreisauer Kreis) was the name the Gestapo gave to a group of Germans centering around the Kreisau estate of Helmuth James Graf von Moltke in order to envision an alternative to Nazism. ... Places where monarchies maintain rule appear in blue. ... Anti-communism is opposition to communist ideology, organization, or government, on either a theoretical or practical level. ...

On July 17, 1944, a warrant for Goerdeler's arrest was issued. Goerdeler managed to escape but he was apprehended on August 12 of the same year after being denounced by an innkeeper. On September 9, after a trial at the Volksgerichtshof, he was sentenced to death. He was tortured for months by the Gestapo, which hoped to find out the names of other conspirators. He was finally executed on February 2, 1945 by decapitation at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin. While awaiting his death sentence, Goerdeler wrote a farewell letter, which ended with "I ask the world to accept our martyrdom as penance for the German people"^[6]. July 17 is the 198th day (199th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 167 days remaining. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ... August 12 is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... September 9 is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years). ... The Volksgerichtshof (German for Peoples Court) was a court established by Hitler after the Reichstag fire to handle those accused of political criminal offences, such as treason. ... The Deaths Head emblem similar to Skull and crossbones, often used as the insignia of the Gestapo The (contraction of Geheime Staatspolizei; secret state police) was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. ... February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... Plötzensee is a lake in Berlin with an area of 7. ... For other uses, see Berlin (disambiguation). ...

Footnotes

1. ↑  Rothfels, Hans The German Opposition To Hitler London: Oswald Wolff, 1961 pages 60-61.
2. ↑  page 102.
3. ↑  Ibid page 106.
4. ↑  Ibid pages 103-104.
5. ↑  Ibid page 86.
6. ↑  Ibid page 152.

Hans Rothfels (April 12, 1891-June 22, 1976) was a conservative German nationalist historian. ...

References

• Ritter, Gerhard The German Resistance : Carl Goerdeler's Struggle Against Tyranny, translated by R.T. Clark, Freeport, N.Y. : Books for Libraries Press, 1970.