| Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrkorps | |
 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1931 |
| Dissolved | 8 May 1945 |
| Superseding agency |
|
| Type | Paramilitary |
| Jurisdiction |  Germany |
| Agency executives |
|
| Parent agency |  Nazi Party (NSDAP) |
TheNational Socialist Motor Corps (German:Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrkorps,NSKK)[1] was aparamilitary organization of theNazi Party (NSDAP) that officially existed from May 1931 to 1945. The group was a successor organisation to the olderNational Socialist Automobile Corps (German:Nationalsozialistisches Automobilkorps, NSAK), which had existed since April 1930.
The NSKK served as a training organization, mainly instructing members in the operation and maintenance of high-performance motorcycles and automobiles. The NSKK was further used to transport NSDAP andSA members, and also served as aroadside assistance group in the mid-1930s. The outbreak ofWorld War II in Europe led to recruitment among NSKK ranks to serve in the transport corps of various German military branches. A French section of the NSKK was also organised after theGerman occupation of France began in 1940. The NSKK was the smallest of the Nazi Party organizations.
The National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK) was a successor organization to the older National Socialist Automobile Corps (NSAK), which had been formed on 1 April 1930.[2] Legends about the actual emergence of the NSKK go back as far as 1922, whenDietrich Eckart,Völkischer Beobachter publisher and founding member of theGerman Workers' Party (DAP), allegedly purchased trucks so theSA could perform their missions and transport propaganda materials.[3]Martin Bormann founded the NSAK, itself the successor to the SA Motor Squadrons (Kraftfahrstaffeln).[2][4] Hitler made the NSAK an official Nazi organization on 1 April 1930.[3] The NSAK was responsible for coordinating the use of donated motor vehicles belonging to party members, and later expanded to training members in automotive skills.[4]Adolf Hühnlein was appointedKorpsführer (Corps Leader) of the NSAK, which was to serve primarily as a motorized corps of theSturmabteilung (SA).[2] Hühnlein became the organization's "nucleus".[5]
The organization's name was changed to the National Socialist Motor Corps (Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrkorps; NSKK),[6] and it was officially formed on 1 May 1931.[2] It was essentially a paramilitary organization with its ownsystem of paramilitary ranks and the smallest of the NSDAP organizations. Yet despite its relatively small size, when the Nazis celebratedBraunschweiger SA-day on 18 October 1931, the NSKK had upwards of 5,000 vehicles at its disposal to move men and materials.[7]
The primary aim of the NSKK was to teach its members in motoring skills, or "fitness in motoring skills" (Motorische Ertüchtigung),[8] but it also transported NSDAP and SA officials.[2] In the mid-1930s, the NSKK also served as a roadside assistance group, comparable to the modern-dayAmerican Automobile Association or the BritishAutomobile Association.
Membership in the NSKK did not require any prior automotive knowledge; training in the organization was to make up for any lack of knowledge. However, the NSKK adhered to Nazi racial doctrine and screened its members forAryan traits. Under the guidance of the police, numerous NSKK men were stationed at traffic junctions and trained intraffic control.[9]
On 20 July 1934, weeks after the major purge of the SA during theNight of the Long Knives, the NSKK was separated and promoted into an independent NSDAP organization, with Hühnlein still at its head.[10] From 1935 onward, the NSKK also provided training forPanzer crews and drivers of theHeer (German Army).[1] The NSKK had two sub-branches, the Motor-Hitler Youth (Motor-Hitlerjugend; Motor-HJ) and Naval NSKK (Marine-NSKK).[2] The Motor-HJ branch, formed byReichsjugendführer (Hitler Youth Leader)Baldur von Schirach after he became an NSKK member, operated 350 of its own vehicles for educational and training purposes.[9] The Naval NSKK provided training in boat operation and maintenance.[2]
During the1936 Summer Olympics inBerlin, the NSKK assumed responsibility for a variety of transport tasks, proving themselves effective at political propaganda by taking foreign visitors on designated tours.[11] By 1938, NSKK members were undergoing mechanical and operational training for both civilian and military vehicles.[2] Over time, training at NSKK schools became primarily focused on military related tasks.[12] For his NSKK service and due in part to the general success of the organization, Hühnlein was promoted NSDAPReichsleiter in 1938.[11] He remained NSKKKorpsführer until his death in 1942, and was succeeded by Erwin Kraus.[13]
Sometime in August 1938, the NSKK began courier services forOrganization Todt (OT) during construction of theSiegfried defensive line. Members of the NSKK transported classified documents, important reports and announcements, construction plans, and routine papers to and from the organization's headquarters. Exemplary service provided to the organization resulted in Hühnlein being given oversight for the transportation needs related to the task.[14] Over 15,000 trucks went into operation, delivering building materials to the 22,000 individual construction sites of the Siegfried Line. Every day, over 5,000 buses were used to transport 200,000 workers to construction sites.[15]
At the time, the NSKK was also used by Hitler's chief architect,Albert Speer, who founded a unit known as theTransportbrigade Speer; it primarily provided support to Organization Todt air base construction and was organized under military considerations, divided into regiments, divisions, companies and platoons. On 27 January 1939, Hitler made the NSKK the sole authority for motor-vehicle related military training.[11] Shortly thereafter, it was divided into five main groups and 23 subordinate motor groups. NSKK manpower reached nearly half a million men, its leadership operating primarily out ofMunich and Berlin.[16]
With the outbreak ofWorld War II on 1 September 1939, the National Socialist Motor Corps became a target for army recruitment, since NSKK member knowledge of motorized transport was a coveted skill at a time when the bulk of German ground forces relied onhorses. The NSKK was used to transport German army troops, supplies and ammunition.[2] By the outbreak of the war, the NSKK had already trained approximately 200,000 men at its 21 training facilities.[8]
During field operations on theEastern Front, NSKK members of the Speer Transport Brigade followedArmy Group South, providing infrastructure support and replenishment. Brigade members wore either theLuftwaffe gray-blue uniform or the brown uniform of Speer's staff. NSKK personnel working for Organization Todt became members ofTransportbrigade Todt, which was further divided into individual motor groups in the occupied territories.[17]
Major units of the NSKK were formed by 1944, operating throughout Germany. There were two full brigades of the NSKK supporting the Luftwaffe; aMotorobergruppe Alpenland in theAustrian Alps;Motorobergruppe Mitte (middle) which operated in Berlin,Franconia, and theLower Rhine;Motorobergruppe Nord (north) that coveredHamburg,Lower Saxony, the Baltic Sea andSchleswig-Holstein;Motorobergruppe Nordost (northeast) inDanzig,East Prussia, andWartheland;Motorobergruppe Ost (east) forLeipzig,Lower andUpper Silesia;Motorobergruppe Süd (south) which servedBavaria and Hochland;Motorobergruppe Südwest (southwest) for the Rhine-Moselle, andSwabian regions;Motorobergruppe Südost (southeast) covering the Upper and LowerDanube,Sudetenland; andMotorobergruppe West (west), which was responsible forHessen,Thuringia, andWestphalia. Moreover, there were also NSKK units assigned to Organization Todt, operating in France, Italy and Russia.[18] Historian Peter Longerich suggests that NSKK members, along with paramilitary police, theWaffen-SS, and the German Army were all culpable in varying degrees for large-scale arrests, torture, and mass executions during the war.[19]
The French section of the NSKK began shortly after theGerman occupation of France in 1940, though the section was not officially recognized until July 1942. The main office was in Paris, but recruitment took place across France. By the end of 1942, the section consisted of one company of 200 men; by the end of the war, seven companies had been raised.[20] The men had to sign up for two years of service. The French NSKK was originally attached to the Luftwaffe, although members wore the standard NSKK uniforms and used its rank system. Members wore their own arm badge with the colors of the French flag. The first version had "NSKK" in black letters across the top of the shield; the second bore the word "France" in black letters across the top of the shield.[21]
The original unit was officially known asNSKK Gruppe Luftwaffe and a second one was known asNSKK Transportgruppe Todt.[22] AtMelun, the NSKK had its own driving school for French recruits and those from other European countries. Before theSchutzstaffel (SS) began openly recruiting members into theWaffen-SS, Frenchmen used the NSKK as a "back door" to get into the Waffen-SS to fight on theEastern Front against theSoviet Union.[23] Some French NSKK men were sent to the Eastern Front in a group known asNSKK Einsatzgruppe Russland.[24]
In September 1944, theWaffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS "Charlemagne" was formed from theLegion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism (LVF) and theSS Volunteer Sturmbrigade France. Joining them were French collaborators fleeing the Allied advance in the west, as well as Frenchmen from theGerman Navy, the NSKK, theOrganisation Todt and the detestedMilice security police.[25] In February 1945, theWaffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS "Charlemagne" was officially upgraded to adivision and became known as the33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SSCharlemagne (1st French).[26]
The NSKK was disbanded in May 1945 and declared a "condemned organization" at theNuremberg Trials (though not acriminal one), due in part to the NSKK's origins in the SA and its racial membership requirements.
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