Josef Terboven | |
|---|---|
 Terboven in 1942 | |
| Reichskommissar for theOccupied Norwegian Territories | |
| In office 24 April 1940 – 7 May 1945 | |
| Appointed by | Adolf Hitler |
| Preceded by | Position created |
| Succeeded by | Franz Böhme (acting) |
| Gauleiter ofGau Essen | |
| In office 1 August 1930 – 8 May 1945 | |
| Appointed by | Adolf Hitler |
| Preceded by | Position created |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Oberpräsident ofRhine Province | |
| In office 5 February 1935 – 8 May 1945 | |
| Preceded by | Hermann von Lüninck |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Additional positions | |
| 1930–1945 | Reichstag Deputy |
| 1930–1933 | ProvincialLandtag Deputy |
| 1930–1933 | Essen City Councilor |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Josef Antonius Heinrich Terboven (1898-05-23)23 May 1898 |
| Died | 8 May 1945(1945-05-08) (aged 46) |
| Party | Nazi Party (NSDAP) |
| Alma mater | Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich University of Freiburg |
| Profession | Bank clerk |
| Civilian awards | Golden Party Badge |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  German Empire |
| Branch/service | Imperial German Army |
| Years of service | 1915–1918 |
| Rank | Leutnant |
| Unit | Feldartillerie Regiment 9 Luftstreitkräfte |
| Battles/wars | World War I |
| Military awards | Iron Cross, 1st and 2nd class |
Josef Antonius Heinrich Terboven (23 May 1898 – 8 May 1945) was a GermanNazi Party official and politician who was the long-servingGauleiter ofGau Essen and theReichskommissar forNorway during theGerman occupation.
Terboven was born inEssen,Germany, and attendedVolksschule andRealschule before he volunteered for military service during theFirst 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 theBeer Hall Putsch and eventually rose through the ranks to become theGauleiter of Essen and the editor of various Nazi newspapers. After the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, Terboven was promoted toSA-Gruppenführer and was made a member of thePrussian State Council.
In 1940, he was appointedReichskommissar 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 theBeisfjord 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, afterAdolf Hitler's suicide, his successor,GroßadmiralKarl Dönitz, dismissed Terboven from his post asReichskommissar on 7 May 1945.
On 8 May 1945, the day of Germany's surrender, Terboven died of suicide by detonating 50 kg (110 lbs) of dynamite in a bunker on theSkaugum compound in Norway. His family survived inWest Germany, and his wife, Ilse (Stahl) Terboven died in 1972.
Terboven was born inEssen, the son of minorlanded gentry ofDutch descent. The family name comes from theLow Germandaar boven ("up there"), referring to a farmstead on a hill.[1] Josef Terboven attendedVolksschule andRealschule in Essen until 1915 and then volunteered for military service in theFirst World War. He served withFeldartillerie Regiment 9 and then with the nascentair force. He was awarded theIron Cross, 1st and 2nd class, and attained the rank ofLeutnant before being discharged on 22 December 1918. He studied law and political science at theUniversity of Munich and theUniversity 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.[2]
Terboven joined theNazi Party in November 1923 with membership number 25,247 and participated in the abortiveBeer Hall Putsch inMunich. As an early Party member, he later would be awarded theGolden 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 theOrtsgruppe (Local Group) in Essen, becoming its firstOrtsgruppenleiter. He also joined theSturmabteilung (SA) becoming the SA-Führer in Essen. He formally re-enrolled in the Party on 15 December 1925. By 1927, he had advanced toBezirksleiter (District Leader) of the Essen district in theGroßgau Ruhr. From 1927 to December 1930, Terboven was the editor of the weekly Nazi newspaperThe 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 thePrussian Landtag.[3]
On 1 October 1928 upon the dissolution of theGroßgau 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 toGau status and Terboven was namedGauleiter. He would retain this post throughout the Nazi regime.[4]
In 1930, Terboven also became a City Councilor in Essen and a member of the ProvincialLandtag of theRhine Province until it wasdissolved in 1933. On 14 September 1930, Terboven was elected to theReichstag from electoral constituency 23,Düsseldorf West and would continue to hold this seat until the end of the Nazi regime. From 15 December 1930, Terboven was also the editor of theNational-Zeiting in Essen.[5]
After theNazi seizure of power, Terboven was promoted to SA-Gruppenführer on 1 March 1933 and made a member of thePrussian 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 theNight of the Long Knives. On 5 February 1935, Terboven was appointedOberpräsident (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 namedReich Defense Commissioner forWehrkreis (Military District) VI, which included his Gau together withGau Dusseldorf,Gau Cologne-Aachen, most ofGau Westphalia-North andGau Westphalia-South and part ofGau Weser-Ems. On 16 November 1942, the jurisdiction of the Reich Defense Commissioners was changed from theWehrkreis to the Gau level and Terboven remained Commissioner for only his Gau of Essen.[6]
Terboven was namedReichskommissar forNorway on 24 April 1940 even before themilitary invasion's completion on 10 June. He moved intoSkaugum, the official residence ofCrown Prince Olav, in September 1940 and made his headquarters in theNorwegian 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.[7]
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-memberNorwegian Administrative Council, which had been set up by theNorwegian 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 KingHaakon VII, outlawing the government-in-exile, disbanding theStorting and banning all political parties exceptVidkun Quisling'sNasjonal Samling.[8] 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 Norwegianpuppet regime on 1 February 1942 under Quisling asminister-president, the so-calledQuisling government.[9]
Terboven also did not have authority over the 400,000 regularGerman Army forces that were stationed in Norway which were under the command ofGeneraloberstNikolaus 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.Joseph Goebbels, theReich Minister of Propaganda, expressed annoyance inhis 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 theHigher 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.[10]
Terboven established multipleconcentration camps in Norway, includingFalstad concentration camp nearLevanger andBredtvet concentration camp inOslo in late 1941. At one of those camps on 18 July 1942 theBeisfjord 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 theKorgen prison camp was killed. The commandant ordered retribution: execution by gunfire for "39 prisoners at Korgen and 20 atOsen";. In the days that followed, Terboven also ordered retribution, and around 400 prisoners shot and killed in various camps.[11][self-published source]
From 1941, Terboven increasingly focused on crushing theNorwegian resistance movement, which engaged in acts ofsabotage andassassination 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.[12]
On 26 April 1942, the Nazis learned that two members of the resistance were being sheltered by the inhabitants ofTelavåg, a small fishing village. When theGestapo 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 theSachsenhausen 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 declaringmartial law in Trondheim from 5 to 12 October 1942. He imposed a curfew from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 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 anad 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.[13]
Despite the small number of Jews in Norway's population (around 1,800), Terboven persecuted them relentlessly. Some 930 managed to escape to neighboringSweden, but some 770 were rounded up and deported to Germany. The main deportation occurred on 26 November 1942, when 532 Jews were shipped toStettin aboard theSS Donau. From there, they were transported to theAuschwitz concentration camp, and only 9 survived the war. On 25 February 1943, another 158 were similarly deported aboard theMS Gotenland, and only six survived.[10]
On 25 September 1944, Terboven, in his capacity asGauleiter of Essen, was named commander of theVolkssturm units in the Gau. In reality, it was his DeputyGauleiter,Fritz Schlessmann, who executed those duties as he had been ActingGauleiter in Essen during Terboven's absence in Norway since 1940. In October 1944, in response to theRed Army advance in to theFinnmark region of northern Norway, Terboven instituted ascorched earth policy that resulted in the forced evacuation of 50,000 Norwegians and widespread destruction, including the burning of 10,000 homes, 4,700 farms and hundreds of schools, churches, shops and industrial buildings.[14]
As the tide of the war turned against Germany, Terboven wanted to organiseFestung Norwegen (Fortress Norway) for the Nazi regime's last stand. After Hitler's suicide, his successor,GroßadmiralKarl Dönitz, summoned Terboven to his headquarters inFlensburg on 3 May 1945 and ordered him to cooperate with winding down hostilities. Terboven expressed his desire to continue fighting and Dönitz dismissed Terboven from his post asReichskommissar on 7 May and transferred his powers toGeneral der GebirgstruppeFranz Böhme.[15]
With the announcement of theGerman surrender, Terboven committedsuicide on 8 May 1945 by detonating 50 kg (110 lb) ofdynamite in a bunker on the Skaugum compound.[16] He died alongside the body of SS-Obergruppenführer Rediess, who had shot himself earlier. Terboven's family survived inWest 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.[17]
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
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| Prime ministers, 1873–1905 | ||
| Prime ministers, 1905–1940 | ||
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| Prime ministers, 1945– | ||
