Editing Wilhelm Gustloff (section)

==Aftermath==

Gustloff was given a [[state funeral]] in his birthplace of [[Schwerin]] in [[Mecklenburg]], with [[Adolf Hitler]], [[Joseph Goebbels]], [[Hermann Göring]], [[Heinrich Himmler]], [[Martin Bormann]] and [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]] in attendance. Thousands of [[Hitlerjugend|Hitler Youth]] members lined the route. His coffin, transported on a special train from [[Davos]] to Schwerin, made stops in [[Stuttgart]], [[Würzburg]], [[Erfurt]], [[Halle, Saxony-Anhalt|Halle]], [[Magdeburg]] and [[Wittenberg]]. Gustloff's widow, mother and brother attended the funeral and received personal condolences from Hitler. [[Ernst Wilhelm Bohle]] was the first at Gustloff's funeral to recite a few lines in his honour.

Gustloff was proclaimed a ''[[Blutzeuge]]'' of the Nazi cause. His murder became part of the propaganda that served as pretext for the 1938 [[Kristallnacht]] [[pogrom]]. His wife Hedwig, who had been Hitler's secretary, received from Hitler personally a monthly "honorary pay" of {{Reichsmark|400|link=yes}}, the equivalent of some US$13,000 today.

Unlike the [[assassination]] of the German diplomat [[Ernst vom Rath]] by [[Herschel Grynszpan]] in Paris in 1938, Gustloff's death was not immediately politicized to incite ''Kristallnacht''. Hitler did not want to risk any domestic bouts of [[antisemitism]] to cause Germany to lose the recently awarded right to host the [[1936 Summer Olympics]]. His antisemitic policies had already led to some calls to relocate the games. Nevertheless, an editorial on the front page of ''[[Völkischer Beobachter]]'' demanded Frankfurter's execution.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Times |first=Otto D. Tolischus wireless To the New York |date=1936-02-07 |title=NAZIS URGE SWISS TO EXECUTE KILLER; Hitler's Paper Demands Death Penalty for Gustloff's Slayer, but Berne Law Bars It. PROTEST RALLIES IN REICH Party Orders Those Engaging in Anti-Semitic Violence Be Expelled on the Spot. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/02/07/archives/nazis-urge-swiss-to-execute-killer-hitlers-paper-demands-death.html |access-date=2023-10-01 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

===Namesakes===

The German cruise ship [[MV Wilhelm Gustloff|MV ''Wilhelm Gustloff'']] was named for Gustloff by the [[Nazi Germany|Nazi regime]]. The ship was sunk by the [[Soviet submarine S-13|Soviet submarine ''S-13'']] on 30 January 1945 (coincidentally the 50th anniversary of her namesake's birth) in the [[Baltic Sea]] while carrying civilian refugees and military personnel fleeing from the advancing [[Red Army]]. About 9,400 people died, the greatest death toll from the sinking of a single vessel in human history. The disaster remains relatively unknown.

In 1933{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} the [[Nazism|Nazi Party]] created the ''Wilhelm-Gustloff-Stiftung'' ("The Wilhelm Gustloff Foundation"), a national corporation funded by properties and wealth confiscated from Jews. It ran the ''Gustloff Werke'' ("Gustloff Factories"), a group of businesses that had been confiscated from their Jewish owners or partners.

The small arms factory [[Simson (company)#1934–48|Berlin Suhler Waffen und Fahrzeugwerke]] was renamed [[Simson (company)#1934–48|Wilhelm Gustloff Werke]] in Gustloff's honour in 1939.