German National Socialist German Workers' Party politician and SS-Obergruppenführer

Friedrich Alpers (25 March 1901 – 3 September 1944) was a German National Socialist German Workers' Party politician and SS-Obergruppenführer. He was also a Minister of the Free State of Brunswick, and Generalforstmeister (General forest supervisor). Alpers was responsible for numerous political crimes in Brunswick.

Alpers's grave

Contents

• 1 Life and career
  • 1.1 NSDAP and SS
  • 1.2 Minister of the Free State of Brunswick
  • 1.3 World War II
• 2 Awards
• 3 See also
• 4 References
  • 4.1 Citations
  • 4.2 Bibliography

Life and career

Born in 1901, Alpers studied law and political science at the Heidelberg University, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and University of Greifswald. He became a lawyer in 1929.

NSDAP and SS

In June 1929, Alpers joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party Party (NSDAP membership number 132,812). In May 1930 he joined the Sturmabteilung (SA). On 1 March 1931 he joined the SS (membership number 6,427). He was an active member in the SS, rising to the rank of Obergruppenführer. Since October 1930, he was Minister of the Brunswick State Parliament. Alpers was twice temporarily suspended from the SS in 1933 following complaints of excessive violence made against him during the National Socialist German Workers' Party takeover of Brunswick.

Minister of the Free State of Brunswick

After the National Socialist German Workers' Party seizure of power, Alpers became Finance and Justice Minister of Brunswick on 8 May 1933 (a position in which he served until 1934) under the Ministerpräsident Dietrich Klagges. Along with Klagges and Friedrich Jeckeln, Alpers was one of the main persons responsible for the Gleichschaltung and persecution of political opponents in the Free State of Brunswick.

Subordinated to Alpers was Klagges "Hilfspolizei" ("Auxiliary Police"). This force was directly answerable to Klagges and consisted of SA, SS and Der Stahlhelm men. On 4 July 1933, Alpers was directly involved in the Rieseberg Murders of eleven communists and labor organizers in Rieseberg, about 15 miles (24:km) east of Braunschweig.

World War II

From 1941, Alpers served as a military officer, being made a battalion commander of paratroops in February 1944. After having been badly wounded in battle near Mons, he died on 3 September 1944, either by suicide or by being shot.

Awards

• German Cross in Gold on 9 April 1942 as Hauptmann in the 3.(F)/Aufklärungs-Gruppe 121
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 14 October 1942 as Major and commander of Fernaufklärungs-Gruppe 4

See also

• List SS-Obergruppenführer

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Browder, George C. (2004). Foundations of the National Socialist German Workers' Party Police State: The Formation of Sipo and SD. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN:978-0-8131-9111-9.
• Humphrey, Richard D. (1951). Georges Sorel, prophet without honor: a study in anti-intellectualism. Harvard University Press.
• Kay, Alex J. (2011). Exploitation, Resettlement, M* Murder: Political and Economic Planning for German Occupation Policy in the Soviet Union, 1940–1941. Berghahn Books. ISBN:978-0-85745-165-1.
• Kreis, Georg (2000). Switzerland and the Second World War. Routledge. ISBN:978-0-7146-5029-6.
• Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN:978-3-931533-45-8.
• Patzwall, Klaus D. (2004). Das Goldene Parteiabzeichen und seine Verleihungen ehrenhalber 1934–1944 (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN:3-931533-50-6.
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag. ISBN:978-3-938845-17-2.

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