Karl Gerland

Karl Gerland (14 July 1905 in Gottsbüren – 21 April 1945) was a Nazi Gauleiter of Kurhessen and Oberpräsident of the Prussian Province of Kurhessen. On 21 April 1945 Gerland was killed during the fighting against the Soviet Red Army at Frankfurt (Oder).

Karl Gerland.

Biography

Gerland was born in Gottsbüren (now a part of Trendelburg) near Kassel. He joined the Nazi Party in 1929. As of 1930, he was district leader in Kreis Hofgeismar, and beginning in 1932, he was acting propaganda leader in the Gau of Kurhessen. From 1933 he was leader of the provincial post in Kurhessen of the Propagandaministerium and worked as office leader from October 1934 in the Party Chancellery.

In March 1936, Gerland was elected a member of the Reichstag, and from 1 June 1938 until November 1943, he was Deputy Gauleiter in Reichsgau Niederdonau. In November 1943, he became an SS Brigadeführer.

From 6 November 1943, Gerland served as Gauleiter in Kurhessen. He succeeded the former Gauleiter Karl Weinrich, who had been removed from his post for abandoning the city of Kassel during an air raid on 22 October. Gerland served as acting Gauleiter from 6 November 1943 until being named permanent on 13 December 1944. From 1 July 1944 Gerland was also Oberpräsident ('High President') of the newly formed Prussian Province of Kurhessen. Previously it had been part of the Province of Hesse-Nassau. Gerland thus united under his control the highest party and governmental offices in the province.[1] On 1 August 1944 he was promoted to SS-Gruppenführer. In the spring of 1945 Gerland received high praise from Joseph Goebbels. In his diary entry of 2 April 1945 Goebbels noted that Gerland was conducting himself "superbly," adding, "I would have expected this from [him] anyway." On 21 April, Gerland was killed at Frankfurt (Oder) during fighting on the Eastern Front.

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References
  1. Miller & Schulz, 2012 & pp.223-228.

Sources
  • Michael D. Miller and Andreas Schulz. Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders Of The Nazi Party And Their Deputies, 1925-1945, Volume 1: (Herbert Albrecht - H. Wilhelm Huttmann), R. James Bender Publishing, 2012, ISBN 1-932970-21-5.


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