- For other people named Martin Luther see: Martin Luther (disambiguation)
Martin Luther, was a German monk, a theologian, and the father of Protestantism.Martin Luther may also refer to:* Martin Luther , German diplomat from 1940–1945 and a Nazi party member...
.
Martin Franz Julius Luther (1895–1945) was an early member of the Nazi Party. He served as an advisor to Foreign Minister
Joachim von RibbentropUlrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.- Early life :...
, first in the
Dienststelle Ribbentrop ("Ribbentrop Bureau"), and later in the
Auswärtiges Amt ("Foreign Ministry") as a diplomat when von Ribbentrop replaced
Konstantin von NeurathKonstantin Freiherr von Neurath was a German diplomat, Foreign Minister of Germany and Reichsprotektor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . Neurath remained titular Protector until 1943.- Early life :He was born in Vaihingen an der Enz, Kingdom of Württemberg, the son of minor Swabian...
. He is perhaps most remembered for having participated in the infamous
Wannsee ConferenceThe Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior officials of the Nazi German regime, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference was to inform administrative leaders of Departments responsible for various policies relating to Jews, that Reinhard Heydrich...
, in which the
Final SolutionThe Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II, resulting in the final, most deadly phase of the Holocaust...
was planned.
Luther ran a furniture removal and
interior decoratingInterior design is a multi-faceted profession in which creative and technical solutions are applied within a structure to achieve a built interior environment. These solutions are functional, enhance the quality of life and culture of the occupants, and are aesthetically attractive...
business.
- For other people named Martin Luther see: Martin Luther (disambiguation)
Martin Luther, was a German monk, a theologian, and the father of Protestantism.Martin Luther may also refer to:* Martin Luther , German diplomat from 1940–1945 and a Nazi party member...
.
Martin Franz Julius Luther (1895–1945) was an early member of the Nazi Party. He served as an advisor to Foreign Minister
Joachim von RibbentropUlrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.- Early life :...
, first in the
Dienststelle Ribbentrop ("Ribbentrop Bureau"), and later in the
Auswärtiges Amt ("Foreign Ministry") as a diplomat when von Ribbentrop replaced
Konstantin von NeurathKonstantin Freiherr von Neurath was a German diplomat, Foreign Minister of Germany and Reichsprotektor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . Neurath remained titular Protector until 1943.- Early life :He was born in Vaihingen an der Enz, Kingdom of Württemberg, the son of minor Swabian...
. He is perhaps most remembered for having participated in the infamous
Wannsee ConferenceThe Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior officials of the Nazi German regime, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference was to inform administrative leaders of Departments responsible for various policies relating to Jews, that Reinhard Heydrich...
, in which the
Final SolutionThe Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II, resulting in the final, most deadly phase of the Holocaust...
was planned.
History
Luther ran a furniture removal and
interior decoratingInterior design is a multi-faceted profession in which creative and technical solutions are applied within a structure to achieve a built interior environment. These solutions are functional, enhance the quality of life and culture of the occupants, and are aesthetically attractive...
business. When Ribbentrop was sent to
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
as
AmbassadorAn ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents their country. They are usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization, to serve as the official representative of their country....
in 1936, he hired Luther to move his furniture from Berlin and, later, to do the interior decorating of the new German Embassy in London. Luther was a master schemer and plotter, and these qualities led Ribbentrop to offer him a position in his own foreign policy organization, the Ribbentrop Bureau. Luther accepted, and henceforward became one of Ribbentrop's favorite
hatchet menA hatchet man was originally a pioneer or axeman serving in a US military unit. Towards the end of the 19th century the phrase was used to describe a Chinese assassin who carried a handleless hatchet...
.
In May 1940, he was appointed to the position of Foreign Ministry liaison to the SS. He represented the Foreign Ministry at the
Wannsee ConferenceThe Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior officials of the Nazi German regime, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference was to inform administrative leaders of Departments responsible for various policies relating to Jews, that Reinhard Heydrich...
, which was convened by SS-
ObergruppenführerObergruppenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA and until 1942 it was the highest SS rank inferior only to Reichsführer-SS...
Reinhard HeydrichReinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich was an SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
in order to work out the details of the "
Final Solution to the Jewish QuestionThe Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II, resulting in the final, most deadly phase of the Holocaust...
". At this conference, he voiced concern about the large-scale "resettlement" required throughout occupied
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
, which seemed to indicate that he did not fully understand what was being planned.
After January 1942, Luther's principal task was to persuade or pressure German satellites and allies to hand over their Jewish populations for deportation to the death camps, a job which he performed with considerable aplomb. Bizarrely enough, during this period Luther continued to work as an interior decorator for Ribbentrop's spouse, helping her with the design of her various houses, as well as her clothes. Luther resented having to work for Ribbentrop's wife, stating that she treated him like one of her household servants. This was the origin of the break between Luther and the Ribbentrops.
In 1943, with the aid of
Franz RademacherFranz Rademacher was an official in the Nazi government of the Third Reich during World War II, known for initiating action on the Madagascar Plan.-Nazi Beginnings:...
, he tried to supplant von Ribbentrop as Foreign Minister, but was thwarted and sent to Sachsenhausen
concentration campNazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps were greatly expanded in Germany after the Reichstag fire in 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
. He was freed by
SovietThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
troops in May 1945, but died shortly after of a heart attack.
A year after his death, Luther's copy of the
Wannsee ConferenceThe Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior officials of the Nazi German regime, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference was to inform administrative leaders of Departments responsible for various policies relating to Jews, that Reinhard Heydrich...
minutes was found by American investigators in the archives of the German Foreign Ministry. According to the film
Conspiracy, it is the only record of the conference that survived the war.
Portrayals in fiction
- He played an integral part in Robert Harris
Robert Dennis Harris is an English novelist. He is a former journalist and BBC TV reporter.-Early life:Harris spent his childhood in a small rented house on a Nottingham council estate. His ambition to become a writer arose at an early age, from visits to the local printing plant where his father...
's alternate historyAlternate history or alternative history is a subgenre of literary fiction, though it often uses the tropes of science fiction and historical fiction that is set in a world in which history has diverged from the actual history of the world. It is sometimes abbreviated AH. Another...
novel, FatherlandFatherland is a bestselling 1992 thriller novel by the English writer and journalist Robert Harris, which doubles as a work of alternate history...
.
- In the 2001 HBO film Conspiracy he was played by Kevin McNally
Kevin McNally is an English actor who has worked in theatre and radio extensively in film and television.Born in Bristol, McNally spent his early years in Birmingham, attending Redhill Junior School on Redhill Road in Hay Mills and Mapledene Junior School on Mapledene Road in Sheldon...
.