Jump to content

Draft:Fritz Fabritius

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fritz Fabritius
Chairman of the Association of German Minorities in Europe
In office
February 1939 – November 1939
MonarchCarol II of Romania
Chairman of the German Party of Romania
In office
29 June 1935 – 10 January 1939
MonarchCarol II of Romania
Chairman of the National-Socialist Party of Romanian Germans
In office
22 May 1932 – July 1934
MonarchCarol II of Romania
Personal details
Born(1887-03-27)March 27, 1887
Sibiu, Transylvania, Austria-Hungary (now Sibiu, Sibiu County, Romania)
DiedOctober 20, 1957(1957-10-20) (aged 70)
Rimsting, Bavaria, West Germany
Political partyGerman Party
NSDAP
Spouse
Hermine Promper
​
(m. 1907)​
AwardsIron Cross, Third Class
Military service
Allegiance
Branch/service
Years of service1903-1907; 1914-1918
RankRittmaster
UnitUhlan Regiment No. 7 Galicia (1903-1907)
Battles/warsWorld War I

Fritz Fabritius (27 March 1883 - 20 October 1957) was a Transylvanian-Saxon politician, ethnic group leader, and military officer. He served in numerous ethnic group roles embracing Nazism, including as Chairman of the National-Socialist Party of Romanian Germans from 1932 to 1934, the party it merged into called the German Party of Romania from 1935 to 1939, and as Chairman of the Association of German Minorities in Europe for a few months during 1939.

Born in Sibiu into a military family, he transferred to active military serving in 1903 serving in the Uhlan Regiment No. 7 Galicia until 1907, when he switched to the reserves after achieving the rank of Rittmaster. He joined the military again on the outbreak of World War I. He was sent on a trip to Germany after, whereupon he returned to Romania "full of enthusiasm" for then-unknown Adolf Hitler. Inspired by this, he founded the building society called Self-Help (Selbsthilfe) in 1922, which advocated for a home nation for Transylvanian Saxons, and of which heavily embraced many Nazi Party sentiments. Although the society closed within the year, Fabritius refounded it in 1927, where it group rapidly but due to the influence of youth organizations became more political. In 1932 it was transformed into the National Socialist Self-help Movement for Germans in Romania (NSDR), which was explicitly pro-Nazi. The organization was banned multiple times by Ion G. Duca, a fierce opponent of far-right extremism, but still continued.

In 1935, he was elected Chairman of the German Party of Romania as a moderate, opposing Alfred Bonfert and Waldemar Gust. However, a split occurred that year between the radicals Nazis, led by Bonfert and Gust, and the moderates Nazis, led by Fabritius and Otto Jickeli. This effectively paralyzed the party, as Romanian Germans were heavily divided. The dispute was finally resolved in October 1938 by Edith von Coler, Germany's Special Representative, who after talks established Fabritius as chairman and the radical group merged into the party. However, just a few months later in December 1938 King Carol II founded the Frontul Renașterii Naționale, which Fabritius's party joined and Fabritius was cast aside because he did not have good relations with the current regime and for having sought autonomy. In February 1939, however, Fabritius became Chairman of the Association of German Minorities in Europe. Within just a few months into this role, he started endorsing a German empire, and Armand Călinescu accused him of forming paramilitary units loyal to him and endorsing the expansion of Germany into Romania. Fabritius was recalled after nearly being charged with high treason to Germany, but he returned to Romania a few months later but resigned from his roles. This effectively ended his political career: although he was rehabilitated, he never sought political power again.

Early life

[edit]
Fabritius attended the Theresian Military Academy for secondary school.

Fritz Fabritius was born on 27 March 1883 in Sibiu, Transylvania, Austria-Hungary.[1] He was the son of a military sub-intendant and his wife Viktorine née Bielz, who was part of a patrician family.[2] He was part of the ethnic minority of Transylvanian Saxons in Romania.[2]

Fabritius first attended military schools in Košice and Hranice, before attending the Theresian Military Academy for secondary school.[3] At the academy he received the rank of lieutenant on 18 August 1903 and was transferred to the military.[4] He then served in the Uhlan Regiment No. 7 Galicia, and also served twice in brigade officer schools.[2] In 1907 he transferred to the reserves after reaching the rank of Rittmaster and moved back to Hermannstadt after marrying Hermine Promper.[5] After moving to the reserves, he worked at the Hermannstädter Sparkasse, a credit bank, for 7 years.[6]

In 1912, Fabritius helped founded the "Transylvanian-Saxon Youth Brigade" in order to revive völkisch life.[7] In August 1914, Fabritius left his job at the credit bank and returned to active duty in a lancers regiment during the start of World War I, and was then transferred to the dragoons where he was awarded the Militärverdienstmedaille am Bande des Militärverdienstkreuzes two months later.[5] In October 1916 he was awarded the Iron Cross in Third Class, alongside being awarded with a "swords" to his Militarverdienstkreuz in February 1917.[5] After he left, he rejoined Hermannstädter Sparkasse and worked closely with his client and confidant Carl Wolff, who shared his opposition to the state of Romania.[8]

In 1918 he joined the genealogical association Deutscher Roland, which promoted Völkisch nationalism and anti-semitism.[3] Alongside this, in 1921, he became a patron of Schirmherrschaft der deutschen Bauernhochschule, a German farmers' organization.[3]

Political career

[edit]

Self-help movement (1922-1930)

[edit]

In 1922, he traveled to Germany on behalf of Wolff to inform Wolff about the new economic conditions in Germany.[8] He returned from the trip full of enthusiasm for a then-unknown politician named Adolf Hitler[9] and proposed building a new society.[10]

After his confidant Wolff's death in 1922, Fabritius lost his position at the bank since they only kept him due to his association with Wolff, so he lived off income from a farm until the end of 1922.[8][11] Returning back that year, he founded a building society called Self-Help (Selbsthilfe) in Sibiu.[12] The goal, as explained by distributed leaflets from the society, was to build a home nation that was economically stable, achieve economic freedom and independence for Transylvanian Saxons, and not to become tributary by providing cheap credit to them.[12][13] In fall 1922 construction of the first housing project began for the society.[12] The organization also, heavily embraced Nazi Party sentiments, although it never directly mentioned the movement.[9]

The society was closed that same year after his newspaper for the society was unable to find printing.[8] During this time, starting in 1926, he became an editor of the magazine Sachs halte Wacht, which was created for Transylvanian Saxons that were friends with the Reich.[14] However, after a few years of absence, Fabritius refounded the self-help society in 1927.[15] The organization rapidly grew after its refounding, and by 1931 had capital of about 121 million lei.[16] By 1930 the self-help organization had moved away from a business association for Transylvanian Saxons and became prominently political.[17] This was in part to the influence of youth organizations who advocated for voluntary labor service and rural service.[2] The most prominent of these organizations, the Good Templars (Guttempler), was an association of the Good Templars of Romania.[18]

Renewal movement (1930-1935)

[edit]
Ion G. Duca, who was a fierce opponent to Nazism, banned the NSDR multiple times.

In 1930, he renamed his self-help movement to the renewal movement.[19] "Renewal" to him and many Saxons meant an effort to generate internally the power needed to confront danger from outside sources, and it was a word he commonly repeated to describe his goals.[20]

On 22 May 1932 Fabritius officially founded the National Socialist Self-help Movement for Germans in Romania (Nationalsozialistische Selbsthilfebewegung der Deutschen in Rumänien; NSDR), with a twenty-five point program oriented towards the Nazi model.[21] Although it experienced a temporary setback of being banned by the government because of its rhetoric on 29 November 1933, the movement continued.[22] Ion G. Duca, the Prime Minister, had previously declared a "revolutionary state" to tackle far-right extremism, citing NSDR's acts of homage to Germany, their influence by Nazis, their marches of uniforms, and vocal disagreement about the German Party's moderate electoral agreements.[23] Just ten days later, however, it was re-formed as the National Movement for Renewal of the Germans in Romania (Nationale Erneuerungsbewegung der Deutschen in Rumänien; NEDR), allowing it to exist until it was banned again in July 1934.[5]

German People's Community in Romania (1935-1938)

[edit]
Edith von Coler in 1931. In 1938 she reconciled the moderate and radical groups of the Romanian Germans.

On 29 June 1935, after having headed the NEDR, Fabritius was elected Chairman of the German Party of Romania. This was prompted by Fabritius realizing that the more radical Romanian Germans wished to remove him from power, so he joined the moderate group around Otto Fritz Jickeli when the NEDR collapsed with moderates around Fabritius and Jickeli and radicals around Alfred Bonfert and Waldemar Gust.[4][24] Thus, due to his more moderate stances, Fabritius was elected in a general meeting in Bucharest with the support of the deputies of the People's Council of Bukovina, Bessarabia, a majority of the Saxon deputies, and one-third of the Swabian deputies.[18] Upon being elected he renamed the organization to Volksgemeinschaft der Deutschen in Rumänien.[25]

Only a few months before Fabritius was elected, the split between the moderates and radicals had gotten worse. Bonfert founded the German People's Party (PPGR) on 10 February 1935, which included most of Fabritius's opponents, leading to disorganization and a split within the Nazi Romanian Germans.[26] With the quarrel, Romanian German families were divided, children shouted in the streets that either Fabritius or Bonfert should rule, and battles occurred in cities.[27] According to Tudor Georgescu, the "next three years descended into bitter feuding between the movement's moderate and radical wing", paralyzing the party.[5]

Until 1938, the party remained divided. However, on 26 October 1938 when Germany's Special Representative in Romania, Edith von Coler, responded the problem was finally reconciled. Coler invited him and Helmut Wolff, Chairman of the People's Council for Transylvania, to her apartment to talk to the legation councilor Stelzer.[28] Then on the next day, Coler invited Bonfert, Gust, and Hans Kaufmes, the regional farmer's leader, to the apartment of Artur Konradi who was regional group leader of the NSDAP's foreign organization in Romania.[28] That evening, on 27 October, an agreement was concluded where Fabritius was affirmed as chairman of the organization, and the German People's Party was dissolved and incorporated into Volksgemeinschaft.[29] Due to this unity, the new organization met in a massive rally on 6 November 1938 in Timișoara, with an attendance of 10,000, where he announced that the organization now disavowed autonomy but demanded some concessions from the Romanian government.[30]

Eventually, on 15 December 1938, King of Romania Carol II founded the National Renaissance Front (Frontul Renașterii Naționale; FRN), and Volksgemeinschaft attempted to negotiate entry into the organization which was denied by the government which insisted on individual entry.[31][32] Fabritius then resisted this, believing it was intented to divide the minority, despite pressure from the government. The group formally joined the FRN on 10 January 1939 alongside receiving state recognition.[33] Fabritius was then recalled to Germany and was replaced by Wolfgang Bruckner and after a transitional period Andreas Schmidt because he did not have good relations with the regime of Carol and the fact that he had sought autonomy as opposed to unity.[21]

Association of German Minorities in Europe (1939)

[edit]

In February 1939, Fabritius was elected Chairman of the Association of German Minorities in Europe (Verband der deutschen Minderheiten in Europa), succeeding Sudeten German Konrad Henlein.[34]

Early in July 1939, he gave a speech in Munich calling for a future German empire.[35] This culminated in a report of a meeting on 13 July 1939 with Armand Călinescu, who accused him of forming paramilitary units who took an oath of allegiance to him and endorsing the expansion of Germany into Romania.[34]. Only the intervention of the plenipotentiary minister, Fabricius, prevented an indictment of Fabritius for high treason.[36] Perhaps the most incriminating thing that he mentioned was Fabritius had adopted the unconstitutional title of Landesführer, which was viewed as reminiscent of "head of state".[36]

On 14 August 1939, Fabritius arrived in Berlin where he was informed that the Romanian government was preparing for his arrest, and he was ordered to stay in Germany as he was endangering Germany and Romania's relationship.[37] In November 1939 he returned to Romania where he was criticized for his "spa stay" in Berlin, and then continued to resume his duties.[34] However, on 5 December 1939, a statement appeared in the press that Fabritius had resigned as Chairman of the German Party and of the Association of German Minorities in Europe.[34]

Arrest and rehabilitation

[edit]

For the next few years, with his career effectively having ended, he played no role besides being rehabilitated by Andreas Schmidt.[38] He lived on an estate in Jaszczurowa, which is near Bielsko.[2] After the war, he was sent to the Deggendorf internment camp, but was rehabilitated before a court in Nuremberg.[2] He spent the last few years of his life in the "Transylvanian Home" in Rimsting, where he died.

Personal life

[edit]

While serving in the Uhlan regiment, Fabritius met Hermine Promper in Stockerau.[2] He married Promper in 1907, when he had moved to the reserves.[5]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Buruiana, Ovidiu; Blasen, Philippe Henri (12 August 2024). Rumänisch-deutsche Spiegelungen: Die diskursive Darstellung Deutschlands und der Deutschen in Rumänien (1918-1940). Verlag Friedrich Pustet. p. 191. ISBN 978-3-7917-7532-6. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Fabritius, Fritz". www.biolex.ios-regensburg.de. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
  3. ^ a b c Böhm, Johann (1999). Die Deutschen in Rumänien und das Dritte Reich, 1933-1940 (in German). Peter Lang. p. XI. ISBN 978-3-631-34371-5. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
  4. ^ a b Böhm, Johann (2008). Nationalsozialistische Indoktrination der Deutschen in Rumänien 1932-1944 (in German). Peter Lang. pp. 7, 83. ISBN 978-3-631-57031-9. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Georgescu, Tudor (10 October 2016). The Eugenic Fortress: The Transylvanian Saxon Experiment in Interwar Romania. Central European University Press. p. 168. ISBN 978-963-386-139-4. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
  6. ^ Bendel, Rainer; Pech, Robert; Spannenberger, Norbert (2015). Kirche und Gruppenbildungsprozesse deutscher Minderheiten in Ostmittel- und Südosteuropa 1918-1933 (in German). LIT Verlag Münster. p. 191. ISBN 978-3-643-11806-6. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
  7. ^ Glass, Hildrun (1996). Zerbrochene Nachbarschaft: das deutsch-jüdische Verhältnis in Rumänien, 1918-1938 (in German). R. Oldenbourg. p. 324. ISBN 978-3-486-56230-9. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
  8. ^ a b c d Miege, Wolfgang (1972). Das Dritte Reich und die deutsche Volksgruppe in Rumänien 1933-38. Ein Beitrag zur nationalsozialistischen Volkstumpspolitik. Bern: Herbert Lang. p. 77. ISBN 978-3-261-00761-2. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  9. ^ a b Campana, Alexandra (10 August 2020). Violent Waters: Literary Border Crossings in a Global Age. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 27. ISBN 978-3-11-067860-4. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  10. ^ Milata, Paul (2007). Zwischen Hitler, Stalin und Antonescu: Rumäniendeutsche in der Waffen-SS (in German). Böhlau. p. 27. ISBN 978-3-412-13806-6. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  11. ^ Böhm, Johann (1985). Das Nationalsozialistische Deutschland und die deutsche Volksgruppe in Rumänien, 1936-1944: das Verhältnis der deutschen Volksgruppe zum Dritten Reich und zum rumänischen Staat sowie der interne Widerstreit zwischen den politischen Gruppen (in German). Lang. p. 36. ISBN 978-3-8204-7561-6. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  12. ^ a b c Roth, Harald (2006). Hermannstadt: kleine Geschichte einer Stadt in Siebenbürgen (in German). Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar. p. 196. ISBN 978-3-412-05106-8. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  13. ^ Buruiana, Ovidiu; Blasen, Philippe Henri (12 August 2024). Rumänisch-deutsche Spiegelungen: Die diskursive Darstellung Deutschlands und der Deutschen in Rumänien (1918-1940). Verlag Friedrich Pustet. p. 36. ISBN 978-3-7917-7532-6. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  14. ^ Südostdeutsche Vierteljahresblätter (in German). Südostdeutsches Kulturwerk. 1980. p. 277. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  15. ^ Böttcher, Bernhard (2009). Gefallen für Volk und Heimat: Kriegerdenkmäler deutscher Minderheiten in Ostmitteleuropa während der Zwischenkriegszeit (in German). Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar. p. 318. ISBN 978-3-412-20313-9. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  16. ^ Glass, Hildrun (1996). Zerbrochene Nachbarschaft: das deutsch-jüdische Verhältnis in Rumänien, 1918-1938 (in German). R. Oldenbourg. p. 323. ISBN 978-3-486-56230-9. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  17. ^ Kroner, Michael (2007). Geschichte der Siebenbürger Sachsen: Von der Ansiedlung bis Anfang des 21. Jahrhunderts (in German). Verlag Haus der Heimat Nürnberg. p. 174. ISBN 978-3-00-021583-4. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  18. ^ a b Schiel, Ingrid (14 May 2018). Frei – Politisch – Sozial: Der Deutsch-Sächsische Frauenbund für Siebenbürgen 1921–1939 (in German). Böhlau Köln. pp. 409, 436. ISBN 978-3-412-50445-8. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  19. ^ Kroner, Michael (2007). Geschichte der Siebenbürger Sachsen: Von der Ansiedlung bis Anfang des 21. Jahrhunderts (in German). Verlag Haus der Heimat Nürnberg. p. 174. ISBN 978-3-00-021583-4. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  20. ^ "Corporate Christian Nationalism: Konrad Möckel and the Saxon National Socialists of Romania. An Interpretative Essay. Part One". Zeitschrift für Siebenbürgische Landeskunde. 33 (1): 63–88. 2010. ISSN 0344-3418. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  21. ^ a b Cattaruzza, Marina; Dyroff, Stefan; Langewiesche, Dieter (1 December 2012). Territorial Revisionism and the Allies of Germany in the Second World War: Goals, Expectations, Practices. Berghahn Books. pp. 61–62. ISBN 978-0-85745-739-4. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  22. ^ Maser, Peter (2005). "Kirchengeschichte in Lebensbildern": Lebenszeugnisse aus den evangelischen Kirchen im östlichen Europa des 20. Jahrhunderts (in German). Verein für Ostdeutsche Kirchengeschichte in Verbindung mit dem Ostkirchen-Institut. p. 157. ISBN 978-3-9808538-2-8. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  23. ^ Schuster, Oskar (1984). Epoche der Entscheidungen: die Siebenbürger Sachsen im 20. Jahrhundert (in German). Böhlau. p. 28. ISBN 978-3-412-07384-8. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  24. ^ Turda, Marius (27 August 2015). The History of East-Central European Eugenics, 1900-1945: Sources and Commentaries. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 576. ISBN 978-1-4725-3136-0. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  25. ^ Haynes, R. (20 January 2016). Romanian Policy Towards Germany, 1936-40. Springer. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-230-59818-8. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  26. ^ Schlarb, Cornelia (2007). Tradition im Wandel: die evangelisch-lutherischen Gemeinden in Bessarabien 1814-1940 (in German). Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar. p. 218. ISBN 978-3-412-18206-9. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  27. ^ Weber, Georg; Weber, Renate (1985). Zendersch: eine siebenbürgische Gemeinde im Wandel. Munich: Delp. p. 265.
  28. ^ a b Picard, Jacques (2010). Edit von Coler: als Nazi-Agentin in Bukarest (in German). Schiller Verlag. p. 64. ISBN 978-3-941271-31-9. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  29. ^ Banatica (in German). Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn-Gesellschaft. 1989. p. 28. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  30. ^ "GERMANS IN RUMANIA DEMAND CONCESSIONS; Disavow Autonomy Aim, but Ask Schools and Judges". The New York Times. 9 November 1938. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  31. ^ Beer, Mathias; Dyroff, Stefan (2013). Politische Strategien nationaler Minderheiten in der Zwischenkriegszeit (in German). Oldenbourg Verlag. p. 233. ISBN 978-3-11-035148-4. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  32. ^ Revista istorică (in Romanian). Institutul. 2002. p. 362. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  33. ^ Jahrbuch für Geschichte der sozialistischen Länder Europas (in German). Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften. 1960. p. 374. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  34. ^ a b c d Reinerth, Karl; Cloos, Fritz (1988). Zur Geschichte der Deutschen in Rumänien, 1935-1945: Beiträge und Berichte (in German). Verlag der Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Südostdeutsche Volks- und Heimatforschung. pp. 69, 77, 86. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  35. ^ Jahrbuch für Geschichte der sozialistischen Länder Europas (in German). Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften. 1960. p. 374. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  36. ^ a b Blasen, Philippe Henri (1 January 2022). La "primauté de la nation roumaine" et les "étrangers": Les minorités et leur liberté du travail sous le cabinet Goga et la dictature royale (décembre 1937 – septembre 1940) (in French). Casa Cărții de Știință. p. 161. ISBN 978-606-17-1890-0. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  37. ^ Beer, Mathias; Dyroff, Stefan (2013). Politische Strategien nationaler Minderheiten in der Zwischenkriegszeit (in German). Oldenbourg Verlag. p. 237. ISBN 978-3-11-035148-4. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  38. ^ Balling, Mads Ole (1991). Von Reval bis Bukarest: statistisch-biographisches Handbuch der Parlamentarier der deutschen Minderheiten in Ostmittel- und Südosteuropa 1919-1945 (in German). Dokumentation-Verlag. p. 625. ISBN 978-87-983829-1-1. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Draft:Fritz_Fabritius&oldid=1281070310"