Artur Axmann (18 February 1913 in
HagenHagen is the 37th-largest city in Germany, located in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the eastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne, Volme and Ennepe meet the river Ruhr...
– 24 October 1996 in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
) was leader of the Hitler Youth from 1940 through war's end in 1945.
Early life
Axmann was born in
HagenHagen is the 37th-largest city in Germany, located in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the eastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne, Volme and Ennepe meet the river Ruhr...
on 18 February 1913. He studied law and in 1928, founded the first Hitler Youth group in
WestphaliaWestphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Bochum, Detmold, Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen, Hagen, Minden and Münster and included in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia....
.
Nazi career
In 1932, he was called to be a Reich Leader (
ReichsleiterReichsleiter , was the second highest political rank of the NSDAP next only to the office of Führer. Reichsleiter also served as a paramilitary rank, for the Nazi Party and was the highest position attainable in any Nazi-Organisation....
) of the Nazi Party (
Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) to carry out a reorganization of Nazi youth cells and in 1933, became Chief of the Social Office of the Reich Youth Leadership. Axmann gained a place for the Hitler Youth in the direction of state vocational training and succeeded in raising the status of Hitler Youth agricultural work. He was on active service on the western front until May 1940. In August of the same year he succeeded
Baldur von SchirachBaldur Benedikt von Schirach was a Nazi youth leader later convicted of being a war criminal. Schirach was the head of the Hitler-Jugend and Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of Vienna....
as Reich Youth Leader (
ReichsjugendführerReichsjugendführer was the highest paramilitary rank of the Hitler Youth. It was held first by Baldur von Schirach and later Artur Axmann. Originally, there was no insignia for the rank, and von Schirach can be seen in documentary evidence as wearing a Nazi Party brown jacket with Hitler Youth...
) of the Nazi Party. In 1941, he was severely wounded on the eastern front, losing an arm.
During the last weeks of the war, Axmann commanded units of the
Hitler YouthThe Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung .-Origins:The first NSDAP-related organization of German youth was the Jugendbund...
(
Hitlerjugend), which had been incorporated into the Home Guard (
VolkssturmThe Volkssturm was a German national militia of the last months of World War II...
). His units consisted mostly of children and adolescents. They primarily fought in the Battle of Seelow Heights (
Seelower Höhen), which was a part of the larger
Battle of BerlinThe Battle of Berlin was the final major offensive of the European Theatre of World War II and was designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union.
[The last offensive of the European war was the Prague Offensive on 6–11 May 1945, when the Red Army, with the help...]
(
Endkampf um Berlin). Many of the young people fighting for Axmann died having received neither military training nor equipment.
On 4 January 1944, Axmann was awarded the
German OrderThe German Order was the most important award that the Nazi Party could bestow on an individual for "duties of the highest order to the state and party". This award was first made by Adolf Hitler posthumously to Reichsminister Fritz Todt at his funeral in February, 1942...
, the highest decoration that the Nazi Party could bestow on an individual, for his services to the Reich. He and one other recipient,
K. HierlKonstantin Hierl was a major figure in the administration of Nazi Germany. He was the head of the Reichsarbeitsdienst and an associate of Adolf Hitler before he came to power.Hierl was born in Parsberg, Bavaria...
, were the only holders of the award to survive the war and its consequences. All other recipients were either awarded it posthumously, or were killed in the war or its aftermath.
During 1945, Axmann was continually pressured into letting young women be conscripted into combat roles for the last defense of Germany. Although Axmann had permitted young boys to fight in the final days, he refused to allow girls to fight. He stated, "Women bring life into the world, they do not take it."
During Hitler's last days, Axmann was among those present in the
FührerbunkerThe Führerbunker was located beneath Hitler's New Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany...
. On 30 April 1945, just before committing suicide, Hitler signed the order to allow a breakout. On 1 May (the day after Hitler's suicide), Axmann left the Führerbunker with SS doctor
Ludwig StumpfeggerSS-Obersturmbannführer Ludwig Stumpfegger was a German SS doctor in World War II and Adolf Hitler's personal surgeon from 1944.-Biography:...
and
Martin BormannMartin Ludwig Bormann was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery and private secretary to Adolf Hitler...
as part of a group attempting to break out of the Soviet encirclement. Their group managed to cross the River Spree at the
Weidendammer BridgeThe Weidendammer Bridge is an 82.5 m long bridge where the Friedrichstrasse crosses the River Spree in Berlin, Germany. It is notable for its ornate wrought-iron railings and imperial eagles.-History:...
.
Leaving the rest of their group, Bormann, Stumpfegger, and Axmann walked along railroad tracks to
Lehrter station', or Berlin Central Station, is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany and the largest crossing station in Europe. It began full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is now Europe's largest two-level railway station...
. Bormann and Stumpfegger followed the railway tracks towards Stettiner Station. Axmann decided to go alone in the opposite direction of his two companions. When he encountered a
Red ArmyThe Red Army The Red Army The Red Army was the Soviet government’s revolutionary militia beginning in the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the USSR. Since 1946, after the Second World War, it was called the Soviet Army.The 'Red...
patrol, Axmann doubled back and later insisted he had seen the bodies of Bormann and Stumpfegger near (Stettiner Bahnhof) at the railroad switching yard with moonlight clearly illuminating their faces. He did not check the bodies, so he did not know how they were killed.
He avoided capture by Soviet troops and disappeared. Axmann, presumed dead, lived under the alias of "Erich Siewert" for several months.
Axmann was arrested in December 1945 when a Nazi underground movement which he had been organizing was uncovered. A
NurembergNuremberg is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. It is situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal and is Franconia's largest city. It is located about 170 kilometres north of Munich, at 49.27° N 11.5° E. The population is...
de-Nazification court sentenced him in May 1949 to a prison sentence of three years and three months as a 'major offender'.
Post-Nazi life
After his release, Axmann worked as a sales representative in
GelsenkirchenGelsenkirchen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the Ruhr area. Its population in 2006 was c. 267,000....
and
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
. On 19 August 1958 a
West BerlinWest Berlin was the name given to the western part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors established in 1945. It was in many ways integrated with, although legally not a part of, West Germany...
de-Nazification court fined the former Hitler Youth leader 35,000 marks (approximately 3,000
poundsThe pound sterling , often simply called the pound, is the currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and British Antarctic Territory...
, or $23,876.97 USD), about half the value of his property in Berlin. The court found him guilty of indoctrinating German youth with National Socialism right until the end of the Third Reich, but concluded that he had been a Nazi from inner conviction rather than base motives. During his trial, Axmann told the court that he had heard the shot by which Hitler committed suicide. He also stated that he had attempted to escape from central Berlin along with
Martin BormannMartin Ludwig Bormann was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery and private secretary to Adolf Hitler...
, who he said had died during the attempt.
Portrayal in the media
Artur Axmann has been portrayed by the following actors in film and television productions.
- Harry Brooks Jr in the 1973 British
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
television production The Death of Adolf Hitler.