Editing Josef Terboven

{{short description|German Nazi politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Josef Terboven
| image               = Terboven statsakten.jpg
| imagesize           = 
| smallimage          = 
| caption             = Terboven in 1942
| order               = ''[[Reichskommissar]]'' for the [[Reichskommissariat Norwegen|Occupied Norwegian Territories]]
| term_start          = 24 April 1940
| term_end            = 7 May 1945
| appointed           = [[Adolf Hitler]]
| predecessor         = ''Position created''
| successor           = [[Franz Böhme]] (acting)
| order2              = ''[[Gauleiter]]'' of [[Gau Essen]]
| term_start2         = 1 August 1930
| term_end2           = 8 May 1945
| appointed2          = [[Adolf Hitler]]
| predecessor2        = ''Position created''
| successor2          = ''Position abolished''
| order3              = ''[[Oberpräsident]]'' of [[Rhine Province]]
| term_start3         = 5 February 1935
| term_end3           = 8 May 1945
| predecessor3        = [[Hermann von Lüninck]]
| successor3          = ''Position abolished''
| title4              = Additional positions
| suboffice4          = ''[[Reichstag (Nazi Germany)|Reichstag]]'' Deputy
| subterm4            = 1930–1945
| suboffice5          = Provincial ''[[Landtag]]'' Deputy
| subterm5            = 1930–1933
| suboffice6          = Essen City Councilor
| subterm6            = 1930–1933
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1898|05|23|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Essen]], [[Rhine Province]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]], [[German Empire]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1945|05|08|1898|05|23|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Asker]], [[Akershus]], [[Norway]]
| birth_name          = Josef Antonius Heinrich Terboven
| constituency        = 
| party               = [[Nazi Party]] (NSDAP)
| spouse              = 
| children            = 
| alma_mater          = [[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]]<br />[[University of Freiburg]]
| profession          = [[Bank clerk]]
| awards              = [[Golden Party Badge]]
| religion            = 
| signature           = <!--Military service-->
| allegiance          = {{flag|German Empire}}
| branch              = [[Imperial German Army]]
| serviceyears        = 1915–1918
| rank                = [[Leutnant]]
| unit                = ''Feldartillerie Regiment'' 9<br />''[[Luftstreitkräfte]]''
| commands            = 
| battles             = [[World War I]]
| mawards             = [[Iron Cross]], 1st and 2nd class
| footnotes           = 
}}

'''Josef Antonius Heinrich Terboven''' (23 May 1898 – 8 May 1945) was a German [[Nazi Party]] official and politician who was the long-serving ''[[Gauleiter]]'' of [[Gau Essen]] and the ''[[Reichskommissar]]'' for [[Reichskommissariat Norwegen|Norway]] during the [[occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany|German occupation]].

Terboven was born in [[Essen]], [[Germany]], and attended ''[[Volksschule]]'' and ''[[Realschule]]'' before he volunteered for military service during the [[First World War]]. After the war, he studied law and political science at the University of Munich and the University of Freiburg, where he first got involved in politics. Terboven joined the [[Nazi Party]] in 1923, participated in the [[Beer Hall Putsch]] and eventually rose through the ranks to become the ''Gauleiter'' of Essen and the editor of various Nazi newspapers. After the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, Terboven was promoted to ''[[SA-Gruppenführer]]'' and was made a member of the [[Prussian State Council (Nazi Germany)|Prussian State Council]].

In 1940, he was appointed ''Reichskommissar'' for Norway, a position that granted him significant power and control. Terboven established multiple concentration camps in Norway, ruthlessly persecuted the Jewish population and focused on crushing the Norwegian resistance movement. His actions led to numerous atrocities, such as the [[Beisfjord massacre]] in which hundreds of Yugoslavian political prisoners and prisoners-of-war were murdered.

As the tide of the war turned against Germany, Terboven implemented a scorched earth policy in northern Norway that resulted in the forced evacuation of 50,000 Norwegians and widespread destruction. He hoped to turn Norway into a fortress for the Nazi regime's last stand. However, after [[Adolf Hitler]]'s suicide, his successor, ''Großadmiral'' [[Karl Dönitz]], dismissed Terboven from his post as ''Reichskommissar'' on 7 May 1945.

On 8 May 1945, the day of Germany's surrender, Terboven died of suicide by detonating 50 kg of dynamite in a bunker on the [[Skaugum]] compound in Norway. His family survived in [[West Germany]], and his wife, Ilse (Stahl) Terboven died in 1972.

==Early life==
Terboven was born in [[Essen]], the son of minor [[landed gentry]] of [[Dutch people|Dutch]] descent. The family name comes from the [[Low German]] ''daar boven'' ("up there"), referring to a farmstead on a hill.<ref>[https://www.namenforschung.net/dfd/woerterbuch/liste/?tx_dfd_names%5Bname%5D=35703&tx_dfd_names%5BcurrentSelectedFacets%5D=&tx_dfd_names%5Bquery%5D=Terboven&tx_dfd_names%5Boffset%5D=&tx_dfd_names%5Baction%5D=show&tx_dfd_names%5Bcontroller%5D=Names&cHash=a986ffc387d96c6ac815e43b745846ef Terboven] in Digitales Familiennamenwörterbuch Deutschlands</ref> Josef Terboven attended ''Volksschule'' and ''Realschule'' in Essen until 1915 and then volunteered for military service in the [[First World War]]. He served with ''Feldartillerie Regiment'' 9 and then with the nascent [[Luftstreitkräfte|air force]]. He was awarded the [[Iron Cross]], 1st and 2nd class, and attained the rank of ''[[Leutnant]]'' before being discharged on 22 December 1918. He studied law and political science at the [[University of Munich]] and the [[University of Freiburg]], where he first got involved in politics. He dropped out of the university in 1922 without earning a degree and trained as a bank official in Essen, working as a bank clerk through June 1925.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2021|pp=437-438}}

==Nazi Party career==
Terboven joined the [[Nazi Party]] in November 1923 with membership number 25,247 and participated in the abortive [[Beer Hall Putsch]] in [[Munich]]. As an early Party member, he later would be awarded the [[Golden Party Badge]]. When the Party subsequently was outlawed, he continued to work at the bank until after the ban was lifted in February 1925. In August 1925 Terboven went to work full-time for the Party, becoming the head of a small Nazi newspaper and book distributorship in Essen. At this time he also founded the ''Ortsgruppe'' (Local Group) in Essen, becoming its first ''[[Ortsgruppenleiter]]''. He also joined the ''[[Sturmabteilung]]'' (SA) becoming the SA-''Führer'' in Essen. He formally re-enrolled in the Party on 15 December 1925. By 1927, he had advanced to ''[[Bezirksleiter]]'' (District Leader) of the Essen district in the ''Großgau'' Ruhr. From 1927 to December 1930, Terboven was the editor of the weekly Nazi newspaper ''The New Front: The Weekly Sheet of the Working People.'' In 1929, he was sentenced to three months imprisonment for continuing to publish the proscribed paper. In the 20 May 1928 election, Terboven failed in his attempt to be elected to the [[Prussian Landtag]].{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2021|p=438}}
 
On 1 October 1928 upon the dissolution of the ''Großgau'' Ruhr, the Essen district became an independent unit subordinated to the central Party headquarters in Munich.  However, on 1 August 1930 the Essen district officially was raised to [[Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany|Gau]] status and Terboven was named ''[[Gauleiter]]''. He would retain this post throughout the Nazi regime.{{sfn|Orlow|1969|pp=140, 206}}

In 1930, Terboven also became a City Councilor in Essen and a member of the Provincial ''[[Landtag]]'' of the [[Rhine Province]] until it was [[Dissolution of parliament|dissolved]] in 1933. On 14 September 1930, Terboven was elected to the ''[[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]]'' from electoral constituency 23, Dusseldorf-West; he would serve as a ''Reichstag'' deputy until the end of the Nazi regime. From 15 December 1930, Terboven was also the editor of the ''National-Zeiting in Essen''.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2021|p=439}}

After the [[Nazi seizure of power]], Terboven was promoted to SA-''[[Gruppenführer]]'' on 1 March 1933 and made a member of the [[Prussian State Council (Nazi Germany)|Prussian State Council]] on 10 July 1933. On 28 June 1934, Terboven married Ilse Stahl, [[Joseph Goebbels]]'s former secretary and mistress. [[Adolf Hitler]] was a witness at the wedding, and while in Essen put into play preparations for the [[Night of the Long Knives]]. On 5 February 1935, Terboven was appointed ''[[Oberpräsident]]'' (High President) of Prussia's Rhine Province which included Gau Essen and three other Gaue. He thus united under his control the highest party and governmental offices within his jurisdiction. On 27 April 1935 Terboven received the [[Golden Party Badge]]. He was promoted to the rank of SA-''[[Obergruppenführer]]'' on 9 November 1936. On the outbreak of war on 1 September 1939, he was named [[Reich Defense Commissioner]] for ''[[Wehrkreis]]'' (Military District) VI, which included his Gau together with [[Gau Dusseldorf]], [[Gau Cologne-Aachen]], most of [[Gau Westphalia-North]] and [[Gau Westphalia-South]] and part of [[Gau Weser-Ems]]. On 16 November 1942, the jurisdiction of the Reich Defense Commissioners was changed from the ''Wehrkreis'' to the Gau level and Terboven remained Commissioner for only his Gau of Essen.{{sfn|Höffkes|1986|p=346}}

==Reichskommissar of Norway==
{{Main|Reichskommissariat Norwegen}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101III-Moebius-029-12, Norwegen, Besuch Himmler, Terboven und Quisling.jpg|thumb|left|Terboven (seated 2nd from right) with [[Vidkun Quisling|Quisling]], [[Heinrich Himmler|Himmler]] and [[Nikolaus von Falkenhorst|von Falkenhorst]].]]
Terboven was named ''[[Reichskommissar]]'' for [[Norway]] on 24 April 1940 even before the [[Operation Weserübung|military invasion]]'s completion on 10 June. He moved into [[Skaugum]], the official residence of [[Olav V of Norway|Crown Prince Olav]], in September 1940 and made his headquarters in the [[Storting building|Norwegian Parliament building]]. Nothing in Terboven's background and training particularly qualified him for that post, but he had Hitler's full confidence. He was responsible to no one but Hitler, and within the Nazi governmental hierarchy, his office stood on the same level as the Reich Ministries. Terboven regarded himself as virtually an autonomous viceroy with what he termed "limitless power of command". His conception of his role resulted in his attempting to ignore any directives not issued by Hitler himself.{{sfn|Orlow|1973|pp=299-300}}

''Reichskommissar'' Terboven had supervisory authority over only the German civilian administration, which was very small and did not rule Norway directly. Day-to-day governmental affairs were managed by the existing seven-member [[Administrative Council (Norway)|Norwegian Administrative Council]], which had been set up by the [[Norwegian Supreme Court]] after the king and cabinet fled into exile. On 25 September 1940, Terboven dismissed the Administrative Council and appointed a thirteen-member Provisional State Council to administer affairs. All the members were Terboven's hand-picked appointees and worked under his control and supervision. A proclamation was issued deposing King [[Haakon VII of Norway|Haakon VII]], outlawing the government-in-exile, disbanding the [[Storting]] and banning all political parties except [[Vidkun Quisling]]’s [[Nasjonal Samling]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Oslo's Old Regime Ended by Germany |work=New York Times |date=26 September 1940 |page=4}}</ref> Terboven therefore remained in ultimate charge of Norway until the end of the war in 1945, even after he had permitted the formation of a Norwegian [[puppet regime]] on 1 February 1942 under Quisling as [[minister-president]], the so-called [[Quisling government]].{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2021|pp=444-445}}

Terboven also did not have authority over the 400,000 regular [[Wehrmacht|German Army forces]] that were stationed in Norway which were under the command of ''[[Generaloberst]]'' [[Nikolaus von Falkenhorst]], but he commanded a personal force of around 6,000 men of whom 800 were part of the secret police. In contrast to the military forces commanded by Falkenhorst, which aimed to reach an understanding with the Norwegian people and were under orders by Falkenhorst to treat Norwegians with courtesy, Terboven behaved in a petty and ruthless way and was widely disliked not only by the Norwegians but also by many Germans. [[Goebbels]], the [[Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda|Reich Minister of Propaganda]], expressed annoyance in [[Goebbels Diaries|his diaries]] about what he called Terboven's "bullying tactics" against the Norwegians, as they alienated the population against the Germans. Terboven's relations with the army commander were strained, but his relations with the [[Higher SS and Police Leader]], [[Wilhelm Rediess]], were very good, and he co-operated in providing Rediess's staff a free hand with their policies of repression.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2021|p=446}}

===Repression and crimes against humanity===
Terboven established multiple [[concentration camp]]s in Norway, including [[Falstad concentration camp]] near [[Levanger (town)|Levanger]] and [[Bredtvet concentration camp]] in [[Oslo]] in late 1941. At one of those camps on 18 July 1942 the [[Beisfjord massacre]] took place, the murder of hundreds of Yugoslavian political prisoners and prisoners-of-war by German and Norwegian concentration camp guards. Some 288 prisoners were shot to death, and many others were burned to death when the barracks were set on fire. Terboven had ordered the massacre a few days earlier. In July 1942, at least one German guard assigned to the [[Korgen]] prison camp was killed. The commandant ordered retribution: execution by gunfire for "39 prisoners at Korgen and 20 at [[Vefsn Municipality|Osen]]";. In the days that followed, Terboven also ordered retribution, and around 400 prisoners shot and killed in various camps.<ref>{{Cite web | date=26 October 2016 | title=Da nordmenn myrdet fanger i Korgen &#124; Tekster og slikt | url=https://finnbakk.wordpress.com/2016/10/26/myrdetkrigsfanger/ | website=Finnbakk.Wordpress.com | access-date=25 September 2017 | quote="Da to fanger i Korgen drepte en tysk vokter og rømte, ga kommandant Hesse ordre om at det som hevn skulle skytes 39 fanger i Korgen og 20 i Osen. Dette var 17. juli 1942. Hesse startet myrderiene med sjøl å skyte flere fanger. De nærmeste dagene ble det på Reichskommissar Terbovens personlige ordre skutt om lag 400 krigsfanger i forskjellige leire"}}</ref>{{self-published source|date=April 2025}}

From 1941, Terboven increasingly focused on crushing the [[Norwegian resistance movement]], which engaged in acts of [[sabotage]] and [[assassination]] against the Germans. On 17 September, Terboven decreed that special SS and Police Tribunals would have jurisdiction over Norwegian citizens who violated his decrees. They were summary proceedings with the accused provided no adequate defense. The trials were not open to the public, and the proceedings were not published. Sentences were carried out shortly after they were pronounced with no right of appeal. It is estimated that some 150 individuals were sentenced to death by these tribunals. Many more were sentenced to long terms of hard labour.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2021|pp=450-451}}

On 26 April 1942, the Nazis learned that two members of the resistance were being sheltered by the inhabitants of [[Telavåg]], a small fishing village. When the [[Gestapo]] arrived, shots were exchanged, and two Gestapo agents were killed. Terboven was outraged and personally led a reprisal raid on 30 April that was quick and brutal. All buildings were burned to the ground, all boats were sunk or confiscated and all livestock taken away. All men in the village were either executed or sent to the [[Sachsenhausen concentration camp]], in Germany. Of the 72 who were deported from Telavåg, 31 were murdered in captivity. The women and the children were imprisoned for two years. Another 18 Norwegian prisoners unrelated to Telavåg, who were held at the Trandum internment camp, were also executed as reprisals. In another incident, the shooting of two German police officials on 6 September 1942 led to Terboven personally declaring [[martial law in Trondheim in 1942|martial law in Trondheim]] from 5 to 12 October 1942. He imposed a curfew from 8:00&nbsp;p.m. to 5:00&nbsp;a.m. and suppressed all newspapers, public assemblies and railroad transportation. On Terboven's orders, ten prominent citizens were executed in reprisal, and their assets were confiscated. In addition, Terboven set up an [[ad hoc]] extrajudicial tribunal to try Norwegians considered "hostile to the state". An additional 24 men were tried and summarily executed over the next three days.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2021|pp=451-453}}

Despite the small number of Jews in Norway's population (around 1,800), Terboven persecuted them relentlessly. Some 930 managed to escape to neighboring [[Sweden]], but some 770 were rounded up and deported to Germany. The main deportation occurred on 26 November 1942, when 532 Jews were shipped to [[Stettin]] aboard the ''[[SS Donau (1929)|SS Donau]]''. From there, they were transported to the [[Auschwitz concentration camp]], and only 9 survived the war. On 25 February 1943, another 158 were similarly deported aboard the [[MS Gotenland|M''S Gotenland'']], and only six survived.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2021|p=446}}

==Last months of the war and death==
On 25 September 1944, Terboven, in his capacity as ''Gauleiter'' of Essen, was named commander of the ''[[Volkssturm]]'' units in the Gau. In reality, it was his Deputy ''Gauleiter'', [[Fritz Schlessmann]], who executed those duties as he had been Acting ''Gauleiter'' in Essen during Terboven's absence in Norway since 1940. In October 1944, in response to the [[Red Army]] advance in to the [[Finnmark]] region of northern Norway, Terboven instituted a [[scorched earth]] policy that resulted in the forced evacuation of 50,000 Norwegians and widespread destruction, including the burning of 10,000 homes; 4700 farms; and hundreds of schools, churches, shops and industrial buildings.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2021|p=454}}

As the tide of the war turned against Germany, Terboven's personal aspiration was to organise [[Festung Norwegen]] (Fortress Norway) for the Nazi regime's last stand. However, after Hitler's suicide, his successor, ''[[Großadmiral]]'' [[Karl Dönitz]], summoned Terboven to his headquarters in [[Flensburg]] on 3 May 1945 and ordered him to cooperate with winding down hostilities. Terboven expressed his desire to continue fighting. Consequently, Dönitz dismissed Terboven from his post as ''Reichskommissar'' on 7 May and transferred his powers to ''[[General der Gebirgstruppe]]'' [[Franz Böhme]].{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2021|p=455}}

With the announcement of [[German Instrument of Surrender|Germany's surrender]], Terboven committed [[suicide]] on 8 May 1945 by detonating {{convert|50|kg|0}} of [[dynamite]] in a bunker on the [[Skaugum]] compound.<ref>{{citation |first1=Christian |last1=Goeschel |title=Suicide in Nazi Germany |page=152 |publisher=OUP Oxford |year=2009 |isbn=978-0191567568 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EIjccRg7_UYC&pg=PA152 |postscript=.}}</ref> He died alongside the body of SS-''[[Obergruppenführer]]'' Rediess, who had shot himself earlier. Terboven's family survived in [[West Germany]], although his daughter, Inga, in an event in 1964 unrelated to her father's history, killed her two-year-old daughter by strangulation. Terboven's wife, Ilse, died in 1972.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2021|p=456}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* [http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/biografien/TerbovenJosef/index.html Biography] from [[Deutsches Historisches Museum]]
* [http://www.historisches-centrum.de/index.php?id=287 Biography] from [[Historisches Centrum Hagen]]
*{{cite book |last= Höffkes  |first= Karl |title= Hitlers Politische Generale. Die Gauleiter des Dritten Reiches: ein biographisches Nachschlagewerk |publisher= Grabert-Verlag |location= Tübingen |year= 1986 |isbn=3-87847-163-7}}
*{{cite book |last1= Miller |first1=  Michael D. |last2= Schulz |first2= Andreas |title= Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925–1945 |volume= 3 (Fritz Sauckel - Hans Zimmermann) |publisher= Fonthill Media |year= 2021 |isbn= 978-1-781-55826-3}}
*{{cite book |last= Orlow |first= Dietrich |title= The History of the Nazi Party: 1919-1933 |publisher= University of Pittsburgh Press |year= 1969 |isbn= 0-8229-3183-4}}
*{{cite book |last= Orlow |first= Dietrich |title= The History of the Nazi Party: 1933-1945 |publisher= University of Pittsburgh Press |year= 1973 |isbn= 0-822-9-3253-9}}
* [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Norway.htm#German%20and%20Allied%20Occupation WorldStatesmen- here Norway]
{{Commons category|Josef Terboven}}

==External links==
* {{ReichstagDB|118621343}}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/033146}}

{{NorwegianPrimeMinisters}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Terboven, Josef}}
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1945 suicides]]
[[Category:1945 deaths]]
[[Category:Gauleiters]]
[[Category:German Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:German mass murderers]]
[[Category:German newspaper editors]]
[[Category:German people of Dutch descent]]
[[Category:German people of World War II]]
[[Category:Holocaust perpetrators in Norway]]
[[Category:Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni]]
[[Category:Luftstreitkräfte officers]]
[[Category:Members of the Prussian State Council (Nazi Germany)]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1930–1932]]
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[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1933]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1933–1936]]
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[[Category:Military personnel from Essen]]
[[Category:Nazis who died by suicide]]
[[Category:Nazis who participated in the Beer Hall Putsch]]
[[Category:Politicians from the Rhine Province]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Germany]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 2nd class]]
[[Category:SA-Obergruppenführer]]
[[Category:Suicides by explosive device]]
[[Category:Suicides in Norway]]
[[Category:University of Freiburg alumni]]
[[Category:Volkssturm personnel]]