Alf Meyerhöffer

Alf Roar Dag Meyerhöffer (16 December 1891 – 29 April 1962) was a Swedish Army officer and politician. Meyerhöffer is mostly known for the Meyerhöffer affair which began in 1947, where the question was whether a skilled, well-qualified, Nazi-influenced officer could be promoted. In this case, there was great disagreement within both the officer corps and the government. This case also received a lot of attention in the press. In parallel with his political activities, he made a career as an officer. He was generally perceived as a rare skilled troop commander who was more interested in the pedagogical part of the profession than in the purely strategic issues. He never served as an officer in the General Staff but only as an aspirant. Meyerhöffer's political appearance constituted a burden for him in his professional career.[1]

Alf Meyerhöffer
Meyerhöffer (left) with Birger Steckzén in 1930.
Birth nameAlf Roar Dag Meyerhöffer
Born(1891-12-16)16 December 1891
Luleå, Sweden
Died29 April 1962(1962-04-29) (aged 70)
Stockholm, Sweden
AllegianceSweden
Service/branchSwedish Army
Years of service1913–1952
RankColonel
Commands held

Early life

Meyerhöffer was born on 16 December 1891 in Luleå, the son of Major Teodor Meyerhöffer and his wife Ida Ekman.[2] It is likely that Meyerhöffer was deeply influenced by the sentiments prevailing in the officer corps in the decade before the World War I; moods characterized by distrust of Russia - the Red Scare - and a nationalism that was often combined with the worship of Charles XII and the dream of a new era of Swedish heyday.[1] He passed studentexamen at Luleå högre allmänna läroverk on 4 June 1910 and became a volunteer in Norrbotten Regiment on 6 May 1911 and he was commissioned as an officer on 20 December 1913.[1]

Career

Military career

Meyerhöffer became an Underlöjtnant in Norrbotten Regiment on 31 December 1913 and was promoted to Lieutenant on 1 January 1917. Meyerhöffer served as a regimental adjutant there från 1919 to 1922 and from 1922 to 1924 he was a student at the Royal Swedish Army Staff College. He then served as an aspirant in the General Staff from 15 October 1925 to 1927 and he became Captain in Norrbotten Regiment on 15 November 1928.[1] Meyerhöffer was a city council (stadsfullmäktige) member in Boden from 1930 to 1932 and was an agent of the King in Council in Norrbotten Shooting Association (Norrbottens skytteförbund) from 1930 to 1934 as well as a member of the Norrbotten County Council from 1930 to 1938. Meyerhöffer was a member of the Andra kammaren between 1933 and 1936 (member of Andra kammaren's third temporary committee in 1933, of Andra kammaren's first temporary committee from 1934 to 1936). He then became a Major of the Jämtland Ranger Regiment on 11 December 1936. He was promote to Lieutenant Colonel there and appointed contingency officer in the staff of the 2nd Army Division (II. arméfördelningen) on 1 October 1939. Meyerhöffer was head of this staff from 1941 to 1942 and commanding officer of the I 35 field regiment from 8 May to September 1942. On 1 October 1942, Meyerhöffer was promoted to Colonel and appointed regimental commander of the Life Regiment Grenadiers.[1]

Meyerhöffer affair

In 1947 he became the centerpiece in the so-called Meyerhöffer affair. The Meyerhöffer affair became the second major, internal settlement (after the Nils Rosenblad affair) with the pro-German sentiments within the Swedish officer corps. Unlike the Rosenblad affair, to persuade a pro-German officer, who had become a burden for the corps, to resign, it was now a question of whether a skilled, well-respected, Nazi-influenced officer could be promoted.[3] As an avid friend of a strong Swedish defence, Meyerhöffer viewed the Defence Act of 1925 with disbelief. Unlike the circle of mainly young officers, who gathered around Helge Jung and Ny Militär Tidskrift to work within the framework of their own organization for a different and more modern defence, he chose to work politically.[3] Meyerhöffer joined the National Youth League of Sweden (SNU) and came to belong to the group within SNU, which pushed for a break with the The Right, largely due to the defence issue. Meyerhöffer was elected to the Riksdag for Norrbotten in 1932 but was not re-elected in 1936. Within the SNU, a combat organization was formed modelled after a Nazi organization and Meyerhöffer was appointed union leader for the groups. They began to appear in uniform at mass meetings, where Meyerhöffer was the leading speaker. Uniform meetings were prohibited by a Riksdag decision. In the Riksdag, Meyerhöffer exercised several times to have the uniform ban lifted. After Meyerhöffer was appointed Colonel and Executive Commander of the Life Regiment Grenadiers in 1942, his political activities came to an end.[3]

In 1947 he was proposed by the Chief of the Army, Lieutenant General Archibald Douglas, as Inspector of the Infantry and Cavalry. The Minister of Defence Allan Vougt had no objections, but the former Minister of Defence Per Edvin Sköld, together with several other ministers, was against the appointment. A politically awkward situation threatened because both Vougt, Douglas and Meyerhöffer wanted to resign from their respective posts if an appointment did not take place. The issue soon attracted the attention of the press. A compromise was reached which meant that Meyerhöffer only became acting inspector. Only a couple of years later did the final appointment come.[1] Political and personal contradictions (in many ways by Douglas' cousin, the new Chief of the Army since 1948, Lieutenant General Carl August Ehrensvärd[3]) led, however, that he prematurely requested to leave his post in 1951.[1] He was transferred to the reserve in 1952.[2]

Personal life

On 15 November 1919 in Umeå, he married Mabel Amanda Falkman (16 November 1890 in Great Falls, Montana, USA – 6 August 1968 in Stockholm), the daughter of Frans Edward Falkman and Olinda Pettersson.[1]

Death

Meyerhöffer died on 29 April 1962 in Sankt Matteus Parish in Stockholm.[4]

Dates of rank

Honours

Bibliography
  • Meyerhöffer, Alf (1957). Svensk motståndsrörelse (in Swedish) (2nd ed.). Karlskrona. SELIBR 3262045.
  • Meyerhöffer, Alf (1957). Det fria Europas försvar (in Swedish). Stockholm: Folkförsvaret. SELIBR 660660.
  • Meyerhöffer, Alf (1959). Svensk krigsmakt vid rymd- och kärnvapenkrig (in Swedish). Stockholm: Folkförsvaret. SELIBR 1887825.
  • Meyerhöffer, Alf (1955). Svensk motståndsrörelse (in Swedish). Stockholm: Folkförsvarets förlag. SELIBR 1192476.
  • Meyerhöffer, Alf (1954). Sverige och Västeuropas försvar (in Swedish). Stockholm: Folkförsvaret. SELIBR 1443768.
  • Meyerhöffer, Alf (1956). Sveriges försvar och atomvapnet (in Swedish). Stockholm: Folkförsvarets förlag. SELIBR 1192473.
  • Meyerhöffer, Alf (1958). Sveriges viktigaste försvarsfråga: alliansfrihet eller atlantpaktsanslutning (in Swedish). Stockholm: Folkförsvarets förlag. SELIBR 1192467.
  • Meyerhöffer, Alf (1953). venskt invasionsförsvar (in Swedish). [Stockholm]: Folkförsvaret. SELIBR 1443767.
  • Meyerhöffer, Alf (1953). Hur kan Sverige militärt försvaras? (in Swedish). [Stockholm]: Folkförsvaret. SELIBR 1443764.
  • Meyerhöffer, Alf (1954). Generalstab och trupp (in Swedish). [Stockholm]: Folkförsvaret. SELIBR 1443763.
  • Meyerhöffer, Alf (1952). Infanteriets stridsutbildning (in Swedish). Stockholm: Folkförsvaret. SELIBR 1443765.
  • Meyerhöffer, Alf (1952). Det svenska infanteriet (in Swedish). [Stockholm]: Folkförsvaret. SELIBR 1443766.
gollark: ösmarks autocommunism™ engine 4.0.2
gollark: LARRY POTTER
gollark: But fewer than Trump.
gollark: He is VARIOUS apioforms.
gollark: I haven't seen anything do better than markets for this.

References
  1. Thullberg, Per (1985–1987). "Alf R D Meyerhöffer". Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (in Swedish). 25. National Archives of Sweden. p. 477. Retrieved 2020-08-05.CS1 maint: date format (link)
  2. Burling, Ingeborg, ed. (1956). Vem är det: svensk biografisk handbok. 1957 [Who is it: Swedish biographical handbook. 1957] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Norstedt. p. 672.
  3. Övervakningen av nazister och högerextremister: forskarrapporter till Säkerhetstjänstkommissionen [The monitoring of Nazis and right-wing extremists: research reports to the Security Service Commission]. Statens offentliga utredningar, 0375-250X ; 2002:94 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 2002. pp. 23–27. ISBN 91-38-21775-9.
  4. Sveriges dödbok 1901-2009 [Swedish death index 1901-2009] (in Swedish) (Version 5.0 ed.). Solna: Sveriges släktforskarförbund. 2010. ISBN 9789187676598. SELIBR 11931231.
Military offices
Preceded by
Manne Brandel		 Life Regiment Grenadiers
1942–1947		 Succeeded by
Anders Engelbrekt Flodström
Preceded by
Gunnar Berggren		 Inspector of the Infantry and Cavalry
1947–1951		 Succeeded by
Gustaf Aschan
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.