Editing Hans Fritzsche

{{Short description|German Nazi official}}
{{Redirect|Hans Fritsche|the German Wehrmacht officer|List of Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipients (F)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = 
| name                = Hans Fritzsche
| honorific-suffix    = 
| image               = Hans Fritzsche.jpg
| imagesize           = 
| caption             = Fritzsche in 1940
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1900|04|21|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Bochum]], [[Province of Westphalia]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]], [[German Empire]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=y|1953|09|27|1900|04|21}}
| death_place         = [[Cologne]], [[North Rhine-Westphalia]], [[West Germany]]
| nationality         = German
| party               = [[Nazi Party]]
| otherparty          = [[German National People's Party]]
| spouse              = Hildegard Fritzsche
| relations           = 
| children            = 
| alma_mater          = [[University of Greifswald]]<br />[[Humboldt University of Berlin]]
| occupation          = ''Ministerialdirektor'' in the [[Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda]]
| profession          = Journalist, Government Official
<!--Military service-->
| allegiance          = {{flag|German Empire}}
| branch              = [[Imperial German Army]]
| serviceyears        = 1917–1918
| rank                = ''[[Soldat (rank)|Soldat]]''
| unit                = 
| commands            = 
| battles             = [[World War I]]
| mawards             = 
}}

'''August Franz Anton Hans Fritzsche''' (21 April 1900 – 27 September 1953)<ref name="EoR">[https://books.google.com/books?id=-UeveLMilioC&dq=anton+hans+fritzsche&pg=PA1038 Christopher H. Sterling: Encyclopedia of Radio. Routledge, 2003]</ref> was a German journalist and broadcaster who was the ''Ministerialdirektor'' at the [[Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda]] of [[Nazi Germany]]. He was the preeminent German broadcaster of his time, as part of efforts to present a more popular and entertaining side of the Nazi regime, and his voice was recognised by the majority of Germans.<ref name="EoR" />

After serving in the [[Imperial German Army]] in the [[World War I|First World War]], Fritzsche joined [[Alfred Hugenberg]]'s [[German National People's Party]]. He began his broadcasting career in 1932, and a year later his agency was incorporated into [[Joseph Goebbels]]'s Propaganda Ministry, upon which he also became a member of the [[Nazi Party]]. He became head of the ministry's Press Division in 1938, and head of the Radio Division in 1942. Despite his prominence in German radio, Fritzsche played no significant role in the formulation of policy.

Fritzsche was present in the Berlin ''[[Führerbunker]]'' during the last days of [[Adolf Hitler]]. After Hitler's death, he surrendered to the [[Red Army]]. He was indicted for war crimes in the [[Nuremberg trials]] before the International Military Tribunal but was acquitted of all charges. In January 1947, a German [[denazification]] court sentenced him to nine years of hard labour. He was released under an amnesty in 1950 and died three years later.

== Biography ==
Fritzsche was born in [[Bochum]] (a city in the [[Ruhr]] region) to a Prussian postal clerk. He volunteered in the [[German Army (German Empire)|German Army]] in 1917 as a private soldier,<ref name="Davidson">Eugene Davidson: The Trial of the Germans. University of Missouri Press, 1997. [https://books.google.com/books?id=kN-mc0QxyhYC&pg=RA1-PT11]</ref> and served in Flanders. After the war, he studied at the universities of [[University of Greifswald|Greifswald]] and [[Humboldt University of Berlin|Berlin]], but did not pass his examinations.<ref name=RW>{{cite book |last=Wistrich |first=Robert|title= Who's Who in Nazi Germany |publisher=Macmillan Publishing Co. |year=1982 |page=85 |isbn=0-02-630600-X}}</ref> In 1923 he joined the conservative [[German National People's Party]] headed by [[Alfred Hugenberg]] and also became a journalist for the Hugenberg Press, which promoted nationalistic opinions not very different from the Nazis.<ref name="Davidson" /> In September 1932, he began his broadcasting career as head of the ''Drahtloser Dienst'' (the Wireless News service, a government agency), and started his first broadcast, a daily program called "Hans Fritzsche speaks" (''Es spricht Hans Fritzsche'').<ref name="Britannica">{{Cite web|title=Hans Fritzsche {{!}} German journalist|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hans-Fritzsche|access-date=2021-04-21|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref>

Following the [[Nazi seizure of power]], the Wireless News service with Fritzsche as its head, was incorporated into [[Joseph Goebbels]]' [[Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda|Propaganda Ministry]] on 1 May 1933. Fritzsche joined the Nazi Party that same day.<ref name=RW /> He later joined the ''[[Sturmabteilung]]'' (SA). He also was made a member of the [[Academy for German Law]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Hans Fritzsche, 53, Hitler Radio Chief |work=New York Times |date=29 September 1953 |page=29}}</ref> In 1938, Fritzsche became head of the Press Division. In November 1942, he became head of the Radio Division.  Fritzsche had no involvement in creating policy.<ref name="Britannica" /> During the war, Fritzsche was Germany's most prominent radio commentator.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1207/s15506843jrs0801_8|title = "This is Hans Fritzsche": A Nazi Broadcaster and His Audience|year = 2001|last1 = Gassert|first1 = Philipp|journal = Journal of Radio Studies|volume = 8|pages = 81–103|s2cid = 144590782}}</ref>

In April 1945, he was present in the [[Battle of Berlin|Berlin]] ''[[Führerbunker]]'' during the last days of [[Adolf Hitler]] and Goebbels. After [[Death of Adolf Hitler|Hitler's suicide]] on 30 April 1945, Goebbels assumed Hitler's role as chancellor.<ref>Kershaw, Ian (2008). ''Hitler: A Biography'', pp. 949–950, 955.</ref> On 1 May, Goebbels completed his sole official act as chancellor. He dictated a letter to Soviet Army General [[Vasily Chuikov]], requesting a temporary ceasefire and ordered German General [[Hans Krebs (Wehrmacht general)|Hans Krebs]] to deliver it. Chuikov commanded the Soviet forces in central Berlin.<ref>Fest, Joachim (2004) [2002]. ''Inside Hitler's Bunker'', pp. 135–137.</ref> After this was rejected, Goebbels decided that further efforts were futile.<ref>Vinogradov, V. K. (2005). ''Hitler's Death: Russia's Last Great Secret from the Files of the KGB'', p. 324.</ref> Goebbels then launched into a tirade berating the generals, reminding them Hitler forbade them to surrender. Fritzsche left the room to try to take matters into his own hands. He went to his nearby office on Wilhelmplatz and wrote a surrender letter addressed to Soviet Marshall [[Georgy Zhukov]]. An angry and drunk General [[Wilhelm Burgdorf]] followed Fritzsche to his office.<ref>Fest (2004) [2002]. ''Inside Hitler's Bunker'', p. 137.</ref> There he asked Fritzsche if he intended to surrender Berlin. Fritzsche replied that he was going to do just that. Burgdorf shouted that Hitler had forbidden surrender and as a civilian he had no authority to do so. Burgdorf then pulled his pistol to shoot Fritzsche, but a radio technician knocked the gun and the bullet misfired, hitting the ceiling. Several men then hustled Burgdorf out of the office and he returned to the bunker.<ref name="Fest pp. 137–139.">Fest (2004) [2002]. ''Inside Hitler's Bunker'', pp. 137–139.</ref> Fritzsche then left his office and went over to the Soviet lines and offered to surrender the city.<ref name="Fest pp. 137–139."/>

=== Military tribunal ===
[[Image:1946-10-08 21 Nazi Chiefs Guilty.ogv|thumb|left|180px|17 October 1946 newsreel of [[Nuremberg Trials]] sentencing]]
Fritzsche was taken prisoner by Soviet [[Red Army]] soldiers. At first he was held prisoner in a basement and then sent to Moscow for interrogation at [[Lubyanka Prison]] where, according to his own account, three gold teeth were yanked from his mouth upon arrival. He was confined to a "standing coffin", a {{convert|3|sqft|adj=on}} cell where it was impossible to sleep, and placed on a bread and hot water diet. He eventually signed a confession.<ref name=LIFE>"[https://books.google.com/books?id=cU4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA92 Why They Confess: The remarkable case of Hans Fritzsche]", Konrad Heiden, ''Life Magazine'', 20 June 1949, pp. 92–94, 96, 99–100, 102, 105. Retrieved 2012-04-16.</ref> Later, he wrote his account of Soviet prison while on trial at Nuremberg,<ref>''Hier spricht Hans Fritzsche'', Zurich: Interverlag.</ref> which was published in Switzerland.<ref name=LIFE/>

Fritzsche was sent to Nuremberg, and tried before the [[Nuremberg Trials|International Military Tribunal]]. He was charged with conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, [[war crime]]s and [[crimes against humanity]]. In his positions in the propaganda apparatus of the Nazi State, Fritzsche played a role to further the conspiracy to commit atrocities and to launch the war of aggression. According to journalist and author [[William L. Shirer]], it was unclear to the attendees why he was charged. Shirer remarked that "no-one in the courtroom, including Fritzsche, seemed to know why he was there – he was too small a fry – unless it were as a ghost for Goebbels".<ref>[[William L. Shirer|Shirer, William L.]] (1960). ''[[The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich]]''. [[New York City]]: [[Simon & Schuster]].</ref>  According to the IMT prosecution, he "incited and encouraged the commission of War Crimes by deliberately falsifying news to arouse in the German People those passions which led them to the commission of atrocities". Fritzsche was acquitted because the court was "not  prepared  to  hold  that  [his  broadcasts]  were  intended  to incite  the  German  people  to  commit  atrocities  on  conquered  peoples".{{sfn|Timmermann|2006|p=828}}  He was one of only three defendants to be acquitted at Nuremberg (along with [[Hjalmar Schacht]] and [[Franz von Papen]]).<ref>[http://www.tercer-reich.com/represion_politica_y_racial/los-argumentos-de-la-defensa-de-hans-fritzsche-durante-el-juicio-de-nurenberg/ Fritzsche case for the defence at Nuremberg trials] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229112156/http://www.tercer-reich.com/represion_politica_y_racial/los-argumentos-de-la-defensa-de-hans-fritzsche-durante-el-juicio-de-nurenberg/ |date=2017-12-29 }} {{in lang|es}}</ref>

Nuremberg prosecutor [[Alexander Hardy (prosecutor)|Alexander Hardy]] later said that evidence not available to the prosecution at the time proved Fritzsche not only knew of the extermination of European Jews but also "played an important part in bringing [Nazi crimes] about," and would have resulted in his conviction and execution.{{sfn|Gordon|2014|p=579}} Fritzsche was classified as Group I (Major Offenders) by a [[denazification]] court, which sentenced him to nine years of hard labor in a labor camp on 31 January 1947.{{sfn|Gordon|2014|p=579}}{{sfn|Timmermann|2006|p=829}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=Schmidt |first=Dana Adams |date=1947-02-01 |title=Germans Give Fritzsche 9 Years; Hitler Photographer Receives 10; Germans Give Fritzsche 9 Years; Hitler Photographer Receives 10 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1947/02/01/archives/germans-give-fritzsche-9-years-hitler-photographer-receives-10.html |access-date=2022-09-21 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He was released under an amnesty in September 1950. He married his second wife, Hildegard Springer, in 1950.<ref name="EoR" /> Fritzsche died of cancer in 1953. His wife died by suicide the same year.

Fritzsche, along with [[Albert Speer]] and [[Baldur von Schirach]], were eventually communed by Lutheran Pastor [[Henry F. Gerecke]] and were administered the [[Eucharist]].<ref>Railton, Nicholas M. “Henry Gerecke and the Saints of Nuremberg.” Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte, vol. 13, no. 1, 2000, pp. 112–137. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43750887. Accessed 8 Feb. 2021.</ref>

According to British intelligence, Fritzsche was part of the [[Naumann Circle]] in the early 1950s, a group of ex-Nazis who aimed to infiltrate the [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party]] and eventually restore the Nazi state.<ref>''Fritzsche prüfte Werbekraft.'' In: ''[[Die Welt]].'' 7. Februar 1953.</ref>

==Publications==

*{{cite book |last=Fritzsche |first=Hans |editor=as told to Hildegard Springer-Fritzsche |title=The Sword in The Scales |year=1953 |location=London |translator=Diana Pyke, Heinrich Fraenkel |publisher=Allan Wingate}} Account of the Nuremberg trials.

==See also==
*''[[Downfall (2004 film)|Downfall]]'', 2004 German film where he was portrayed by actor [[Michael Brandner (actor)|Michael Brandner]]
*[[Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda]]

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
*{{cite journal |last1=Gordon |first1=Gregory S. |title=The Forgotten Nuremberg Hate Speech Case: Otto Dietrich and the Future of Persecution Law |journal=[[Ohio State Law Journal]] |date=2014 |volume=75 |pages=571–607 |ssrn=2457641 }}
*{{cite journal |last1=Timmermann |first1=Wibke Kristin |author-link=Wibke Kristin Timmermann|title=Incitement in international criminal law |journal=[[International Review of the Red Cross]] |date=2006 |volume=88 |issue=864 |url=https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/irrc_864_timmermann.pdf|pages=823–852|doi=10.1017/S1816383107000793 |s2cid=146648227 }}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last1=Gordon |first1=Gregory S.|author-link=Gregory Gordon (lawyer) |title=Atrocity Speech Law: Foundation, Fragmentation, Fruition |date=2017 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-061270-2 |language=en}}
*Hardy, Alexander G. (1967). ''Hitler's Secret Weapon: The "Managed" Press and Propaganda Machine of Nazi Germany''. New York: Vantage Press.

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline}}
*{{wikiquote-inline}}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/005642}}

{{Final occupants of the Führerbunker}}
{{Main Nuremberg defendants}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fritzsche, Hans}}
[[Category:1900 births]]
[[Category:1953 deaths]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Germany]]
[[Category:German Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:German Nazi propagandists]]
[[Category:German prisoners of war in World War II held by the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:German radio personalities]]
[[Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the Academy for German Law]]
[[Category:Naumann Circle members]]
[[Category:Nazi Party politicians]]
[[Category:Nazi propaganda radio]]
[[Category:Nazis convicted of crimes]]
[[Category:People acquitted by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg]]
[[Category:People from Bochum]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Westphalia]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Germany]]
[[Category:Sturmabteilung personnel]]
[[Category:University of Greifswald alumni]]