He rightly plays almost no role in the historiography of the Dunera’s journey: Wolfgang Kittel was the only one to be released en route, much to everyone’s surprise. During the stopover in Cape Town, he was brought ashore and disappeared from the sight of the internees. So he is not a Dunera Boy. Nevertheless, his biography seems to be of interest. After all, it is a perfect example of how the Nazi era and its functionaries were dealt with in the Federal Republic of Germany. This biography therefore contains critical tones that are rooted in the anti-fascist stance of the operators of dunera.de.
Peter Dehn January 2025.
The man who was allowed to disembark
Wolfgang Hellmut Alexander Kittel[1] Charlottenburg registry office, entry no. 1169 dated 15 November 1899. was born on 11 November 1899 in Charlottenburg[2] Charlottenburg was a suburb and independent town until its incorporation into Greater Berlin in 1920.. His parents were Miesko Kittel (1856 – 1923), a specialist in gouty rheumatic diseases, and his first wife Auguste Juliane Alice Reschke (1869 – 1925). After general school, Wolfgang Kittel attended an officer’s school in Innsbruck[3] For further biographical details, see Wikipedia on Kittel (German), accessed on 2 August 2023. and served in the Austrian army[4] Denazification files Wolfgang Kittel, curriculum vitae, in the State Archive of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland Department, NW 1007 (SBE Hauptausschuss Landkreis Grevenbroich), no. 2149, page 46, accessed via archivportal-d.de on 20 May 2024. during the First World War until 30 November 1918. He joined the Freikorps in Agepril 1919.
As mercenary with the murderers of Liebknecht and Luxemburg
Some of these mercenary units were instrumental in crushing attempts to establish grassroots democratic political structures after the First World War and the end of the German Empire. “During the fighting in Bavaria, I served briefly in the field. Art. Reg. 21 and then in the Graf Keller Corps”, Kittel confirmed his participation in the crushing of the Munich Council Republic[5] Ibid. Cf. Wikipedia about Freikorps and the Munich Council Republic, retrieved Dec 10, 2023.. founded in April 1919.
The murderers of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg[6] Wikipedia about the assassination of Liebknecht and Luxemburg, accessed 20 Aug 2024, abgerufen 20.8.2023. were recruited from the ranks of the Freikorps. Kittel is said to have later boasted[7] Cf. Francois Lafitte, „The Internment of Aliens“, London 1940, page 139. of his membership of this gang of murderers while in British internment.
The ultra-right-wing Freikorps initially fought against the Soviet Union in the Baltic states, among other places. They regarded the left-wing workers’ and soldiers’ councils, which had taken power in many places in Germany following the abdication of the Kaiser’s government, as their main enemy (with public support from the SPD-led Reich government). This did not prevent the Freikorps from staging a coup against the Weimar Republic of their previous employers as early as 1920 – in some cases under the swastika[8] The swastika was used by the so-called Ehrhardt Brigade during the Kapp Putsch. Cf. German Historical Museum LeMo, accessed 25 May 2024..
Numerous leading Nazis[9] Cf. Wikipedia on Freikorps, accessed 24 May 2024. emerged from the Freikorps.
Studies, career
After various jobs, Kittel studied at the TH Munich and the TU Berlin without obtaining a degree. He married Carola Mathilde Elfriede Remy in 1922. The marriage remained childless and they divorced in 1939.
“The approximately 400,000 members of the 120 or so Freikorps that can be traced by name had primarily anti-revolutionary and anti-democratic views[10] Arnulf Scriba, "Freikorps", DHM, Lemo, abgerufen am 10.5.2024..” With their help, the SPD government got rid of the left-wing opposition, which was forced to barricade itself against the Freikorps in Munich, Berlin and Hamburg, among other places, in order to defend itself against the monarchists. Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were murdered by Freikorps officers[11] Wikipedia about Waldemar Pabst. The officer who played a key role in the murders of Luxemburg and Liebknecht was protected in the Federal Republic. On 8 February 1962, the Bulletin of the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government legitimised the murders as "summary executions" in order to "end the civil war and save Germany from communism". on 15 January 1919, a few days after the publication of the Reich government’s call for hatred.
Above: Call for murder on Berlin advertising pillars in December 1918 (source unclear). Below: Publication by the Ebert government in the Reichsanzeiger of 9 January 1919 (public domain).
According to his Wikipedia entry, Kittel worked in an unknown function for the Lohmann Group[12] Wikipedia about W.A. Kittel loc.cit. and Lufthansa media release "Wolfgang A. Kittel 65 Jahre" from 5 November 1964. from 1924 to 1928, “which, among other things, rebuilt the German flying schools”, Deutsche Lufthansa[13] Lufthansa, founded in 1926, "fulfilled tasks in the secret rearmament", historian Lutz Budrass in "Adler und Kranich", cited by J. Flottau "Die Lufthansa nähert sich ihrer Nazi-Geschichte", Süddeutsche Zeitung 14 March 2016, accessed 24 May 2024. trivialised the machinations of the naval officer Lohmann in a tribute to Kittel[14] Lufthansa media release loc.cit.. This does not rule out Kittel’s involvement in the company’s activities for the illegal secret rearmament[15] Cf. Wikipedia about Lohmann affair, accessed 5 Aug 2023. of Germany, which were co-financed by the Reich government. Lohmann maintained relationships with the aircraft manufacturers Junkers and Heinkel, among others.
It is interesting, however, that Kittel concealed the Lohmann job during his denazification. After the war, he declared that he had been „head of the Berlin test field for Deutsche Huragan G.m.b.H.[16] Denazification files Kittel loc.cit., page 46. from 1925 until its dissolution in 1928. According to Kittel, the shipping company Norddeutscher Lloyd[17] Cf. Wikipedia about Norddeutscher Lloyd and Deschima, retrieved Sep 10, 2024. (co-founder of Deutsche Luft Hansa AG in 1926) and its shipyard service provider Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG (Deschima) were also involved in the company. Kittels denazification file contains a copy of a power of attorney[18] Ibid page 57. granted to Kittel by the managing director. However, entries in the commercial register (directories from 1928 to 1931) show that this company, which was only founded in 1927, existed in Berlin at least until 1931[19] The business purpose of Deutsche Huragan GmbH was machines for grinding and crushing. Cf. commercial registers , entries 1928, 1931, via ZLB and Index of Trademarks of the US Patent Office 1927, page 65..
At the same time, Kittel played ice hockey successfully for the Berlin Ice Skating Club (German champion in 1927) and the national team (Bronze Medal, 1928 Olympics).
In Colombia
In 1928, Kittel went to Colombia to work for the Scadta[20] Wikipedia about Scadta, accessed 25 May 2024. (Sociedad Colombo Alemana de Transportes Aéreos). The German-Colombian company was founded in 1919 and was the second in the world to operate a scheduled air service. At its headquarters in Baranquilla, former fighter pilots and technicians from Germany worked alongside the management. Junkers and Dornier aeroplanes were used for mail and freight transport.
Kittel worked there continuously in various management positions[21] Kittel denazification files loc.cit., page 61.. Among other things, he was the manager of Girardot Airport and, from 1930, office manager in Colón (Panama). He then researched new business opportunities within Colombia and was later head of the transport department in Bogota and then office manager in Cartagena. From 1 March 1935 he acted as works inspector and from September 1936 as head of the technical secretariat for the whole of Scadta.
The establishment of Scadta’s aerial photography department[22] Scadta.de, website about Scadta by Bernd Wöhlbrandt, accessed 24 June 2024. in 1925 could fit into a political and economic concept of circumventing the armaments ban of the Treaty of Versailles abroad. Shortly afterwards, 1,800 photos were taken in the border area between Colombia and Venezuela. The military orientation of a survey of such a border area seems obvious. A cooperation between Scadta, Lufthansa’s predecessor Aero Lloyd and a Hamburg-based company from 2024 could also be seen as having a certain flavour: The intention was to “promote sales of German aircraft[23] Ibid. abroad” via a joint airline.
Last but not least, aircraft could be tested under comparatively extreme climatic conditions in everyday flight. Pilots and technicians were trained. From 1932, several Junkers F13s were converted to train military pilots for the Colombian war against Peru; two German pilots[24] Ibid, 1929f. were seconded to the military.
A Junkers W34 of the Scadta on the Rio Magdalena.
It is not known what role this Colombian connection played together with manufacturers, the Reichswehr and the German government in the evasion of the rearmament ban (see Lohmann affair) and what part Kittel may have played in this.
Airmail letter from W. Kittel to Dr Scheibe dated 7 May 1929, sent with “Servicio Postal Aero Scadta” from Medellin. Source: Scadta collection B. Wöhlbrandt.
For Lufthansa in Africa
After ten years, Wolfgang Kittel returned to Nazi Germany for health reasons, “where he initially focussed on collecting documents relating to his non-Jewish ancestry[25] Wikipedia about Kittel loc.cit.“. Such “Ariernachweis” (proof of Aryan ancestry) was a prerequisite for further foreign assignments on behalf of the state or company. His NSDAP membership[26] Bundesarchiv, BArch_R_9361-IX_KARTEI_20340433,_Kittel,_Wolfgang. (number 3280718) issued in Colombia on 1 June 1933 alone was not sufficient. Kittel “joined Lufthansa[27] Kittel denazification files loc.cit., page 46. in 1939″ which sent him to Bathurst[28] Today Banjul, the capital of the Republic of the Gambia Cf. Wikipedia on The Gambia, accessed on 20 August 2023. in August 1939. In the port city of the then British colony of West Gambia, he was to “relocate the Lufthansa flight base[29] Lufthansa media release loc.cit. on the planned South American route from Bathurst to Dakar”. The German consul in West Gambia (today: Sierra Leone) appointed him as his vacation representative, which gave Kittel diplomatic status. According to Kittel, this was only to “take care of passport matters[30] Denazification files Kittel loc.cit., page 47. for DLH staff”. The appointment did not reach the British quickly enough. At the beginning of the war, Kittel, like all Germans in the British colonies, was immediately interned by the British and taken to England.
Later, Kittel was one of the internees and prisoners of war who survived the sinking of the prisoner ship Arandora Star on 2 July 1940 by the U-47 submarine under the command of the German “naval hero” Prien. This did not prevent the British from sending him and 450 other survivors to the next ship just eight days later: The Dunera set sail from Liverpool on 10 July 1940, bound for Australia.
No mutiny and its source
“There was a mutiny on board the Dunera off Cape Town, which, according to his second wife Ingeborg Kittel, Kittel put down[31] Wikipedia about Kittel loc.cit. on the side of the crew.” This is not true; a mutiny is neither officially documented nor proven by press reports or Dunera Boys‘ memoirs and research. Nor does it seem fitting for an NSDAP member to make a pact with the enemy against his own comrades while in captivity.
However, at least one report points to such a plan: Kittel did not reveal the plan, but is said to have been an author himself. According to this, he appeared unexpectedly on one of the decks of the Jewish internees.
“My name is Kittel. I’m the deck speaker,” he is said to have introduced himself there. If they wanted to survive the voyage, they would have to “work together to a certain extent, despite all the differences. (…) Headless confusion like the other day,” Kittel alluded to the panic following the torpedoing of the Dunera, “endangers us all and makes it impossible to break out of the barbed wire. That’s my point. (…) We have an escape plan.”
The only reference to this is the memoir novel “Das Gefangenenschiff” (The Prison Ship) by Dunera Boy Klaus Wilczynski[32] Klaus Wilczynski, „Das Gefangenenschiff“ (Prison Ship), Berlin 2001, page 104f. This is the only known source that records both events concerning Kittel in this way.. His book was published in 2001, but the Wikipedia article citated was only created in 2012. The editing chronology[33] The biography for Wikipedia German was created on Nov 11, 2012 by the author Vicente2782. The mutiny reference does not appear until Dec 22, 2015. This was added by an anonymous author who only dealt with the biographies of Kittel and his father-in-law Gerlach on Wikipedia. A family member? shows that the wife’s claim was not added to WIkipedia until 2015, along with other biographical details by an anonymous author. Wilczynski’s account can therefore in no way have been a reaction to the incorrect Kittel bio on Wikipedia.
According to Wilczynski, Kittel had developed the following plan for a mutiny[34] Ibid, page 105f.:
“First step: My people break down the fence. Second step: your people follow. Together we overpower the guards. Third step: My sailors take over the boats and lower them.” His men had an axe and a sidearm. “The first guard gets it between the ribs“. Then they also have a rifle „and that’s half the wedding”.
If this was the case, Kittel was acting quite selfishly in the interests of the 250 or so Germans on his deck – mainly businessmen and merchant navy sailors. The 20 lifeboats of the Dunera were approved for 368 passengers plus crew in civilian traffic[35] Cf. Wikipedia about Dunera, accessed 20 Aug 2023. and were already rather short of space for the 1,167 military personnel on the war licence. There was certainly not enough capacity for 2,500 prisoners plus 300 guards and crew. Either way, the Jewish prisoners did not want to go along with Kittel’s plan.
Another aspect seems interesting: there was obviously more “common ground” between Kittel and Lt Col Scott, the commander of the guards, than that with which Kittel wanted to make a name for himself with the Jewish internees. Scott made no secret of his sympathies with the Nazis and his anti-Semitism[36] Lt.Col. W.P. Scott, Commander of the Guards on HMT Dunera on 31 August 1940 to the Australian Prisoner of War Command. Quoted from. Paul R. Bartrop/Gabrielle Eisen "The Dunera Affair", page 53.. On 31 August 1940, he sent a statement to an Australian officials that makes this clear.
About the Nazis on board, he says: “Their behaviour was exemplary, they are of a fine nature, honest and sincere and extremely disciplined.” About the Jews, he states, among other things: “They can only be described as subversive liars, demanding and arrogant … and they are definitely not to be trusted in word or deed.”
A farewell in brown style?
On 8 August 1940, the Dunera arrived in the port of Cape Town (South Africa). There, the internees experienced something astonishing: Wolfgang Kittel was able to leave the Dunera. Dunera Boy Erich Lewinsky introduced his short text with the remark that there are rumours that Kittel is a Nazi spy. Lewinsky[37] "Cape Town Incident" by Erich Lewinsky, Dunera News no. 26, page 17. describes his farewell rather matter-of-factly:
“While I cannot vouchsafe any of the foregoing , having been on the aft-deck, where it all happened,! can vividly recall the ‚fare we ll ceremony‘ with some of the Nazi seamen prisoners giving th e Nazi salute and singing the Horst Wessel song as Kitte l was led away.”
Dunera Boy George Chodziesner described the event in a similarly detached way.
“The ship had already cast off, but suddenly makes fast again and the gangway is pushed out. The leader of the German seamen on the rear deck, Kittel, who is supposed to have been a representative of the German Luft Hansa and German Vice-consul in South Africa, is suddenly called before the Commander. After a short while he returns, assembles his men, makes a short speech, in which he states that he hast o leave the ship immediately. He is escorted off the ship; reasons cannot be ascertained.”
The communist Wilczynski describes the incident far more dramatically[38] Wilczynski loc.cit, page 162.:
“He gives a short speech in which he talks a lot about victory and perseverance, and at the end raises his right hand in the Nazi salute and shouts ’Heil Hitler, comrades! A rather weak ‘Heil Hitler’ comes back in response to the ‘German’ farewell. Kittel angrily raises his arm a second time: ‘I said Heil Hitler, comrades! That has an effect. There is nothing more to criticise about the thunderous Heil that resounds back at him.”
Wilczynski may be picking up on a sentence by Francois Lafitte. He had linked the statement that in the British Warner’s Camp near Seaton “there were Gestapo men and Nazi murderers” with the remark that Kittel and another had boasted there that they had been among the murderers of Rosa Luxemburg[39] Cf. Lafitte loc.cit..
The fact that such a Nazi gathering on board a British prisoner ship could have been possible seems to indicate the above-mentioned ideological sympathies of the commander of the guards Scott with the Nazis.
The reports on his farewell, which agree in general, if not in detail, also speak against the assertion that Kittel had acted on the side of the guards against the prisoners
Documents from the German Foreign Office confirm the actual reason[40] German Foreign Office to Peter Dehn, email of Jan 2, 2023. for Kittel’s move from the Dunera via Cape Town to England.
“Wolfgang Kittel was not actually a member of the diplomatic or consular service. The office of electoral consul in Bathurst in what was then West Gambia was held by Ernst Klaube, the Lufthansa representative there. When he announced in the spring of 1939 that he would be taking a five-month vacation in late summer after several years in Africa, Wolfgang Kittel, who was employed by Lufthansa, was appointed to represent Mr. Klaube in both of his functions during this time.”
The British had been informed of this in July 1939. The start of the war postponed the necessary approval from the British government, so that Kittel was initially treated as an “ordinary foreigner”. There is no mention of a reward for suppressing a mutiny or any cooperation with the guards. Rather, it appears that the British, having established his status as a consular representative, wanted to use Kittel for a diplomatic exchange.
From Cape Town to the Isle of Man
By his own admission, Kittel was initially housed in Wynberg Prison in Cape Town. He was then able to travel to England unguarded ‘on his word of honour’ and first class by ship. After just under five weeks, he found himself in the Oratory Central School in London. He “had a kind of box seat for the night attacks”, he wrote from there[41] Transcript in the archive of the Federal Foreign Office, RAV 26-1_4102. on 14 September 1940 to an employee of the Nazi embassy in Paris. He complained about the lack of clothing and money and praised the supply of cigarettes. The Foreign Office file quotes a telegram dated 12 September 1940 about the visit of Swiss diplomats[42] Ibid. to Kittel: he “has recovered well from the ordeal he went through”. He was now detained in London with a group from the German consulate in Reykjavik (see below) and was awaiting the exchange.
It is not known exactly when Alexander Kittel and the others had been brought to the Isle of Man. Jewish refugees and Nazi opponents like Heinz Dehn had been accommodated in May and June 1940 in a number of locations in flats that were empty except for straw sacks. In contrast to that Kittel enjoyed comparative luxury as a diplomat from December 1940[43] Wikipedia about Kittel loc.cit.. His quarters were Dunluce House[44] Manx National Heritage to Peter Dehn from 17 Dec 2021. on the southern edge of Ramsey. A small group of Nazi celebrities lived in the villa, which had its own bathing beach. Two of these people would have a lasting impact on Kittel’s life.
Internment friendships 1: Werner Gerlach
Werner Gerlach[45] Wikipedia about Werner Gerlach (German), accessed 10 Aug 2023. (1891 – 1963) was a doctor and pathologist and NSDAP member no. 1,780,666 since 1 July 1933. From 1929 he taught at the University of Basel, where he was dismissed in 1936 for “National Socialist activities contrary to discipline”. However, the cancellation of the dismissal by a court was “unjustified, as Gerlach, according to his own – later – statement, was part of the “shock troop” that prepared the “incorporation of German Switzerland into the Reich[46] Biography of Werner Gerlach at Martin Luther University Halle, accessed 15 June 2024.“.
He was then appointed as Professor to the national socialist model university[47] Wikipedia über die Uni Jena, abgerufen am 20.8.2023. Jena, where from April 1937 he replaced a colleague who had to flee because of his Jewish wife. In 1937, he was appointed an honorary SS-Hauptsturmführer in Himmler’s personal staff (!). After the pogroms of November 1938, he is said to have denounced the forensic doctor Ernst Giese[48] Cf. files of the Jena University Archives, cf. Wikipedia on Ernst Giese loc.cit. because he had treated Jews. In 1939, the Nazis made Gerlach a diplomat and Consul General in Iceland. He was interned there with his wife and two daughters after the start of the war, first in London and then in Dunluce House on the Isle of Man in autumn 1940. On 24 September 1941, the family was exchanged via Lisbon for the British ambassador to Belgium, Sir Lancelot Oliphant.
The exchange of the Gerlach family in 1941 is referred to in a note in a local Isle of Man newspaper[49] Ramsey Courier from Sep 26, 1941, Archives of Manx National Heritage.: “Some official German diplomats, including one staying at Dunluce, Ramsey, are involved in an exchange for British diplomats in enemy hands. The group left the island on Wednesday; their luggage is labeled ‘Berlin’.”
Kittel shared the comparatively luxurious quarters in Dunluce House with six people. Source: Manx Museum.
As thanks for the generous accommodation in the five-room villa, Gerlach gave the Nazis a show of hatred[50] "Hakenkreuzbanner", NSDAP newspaper, Mannheim from 11 November 1941. Via Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. accessed 20 Aug 2023. and propaganda: Great Britain had “renounced all international law without any reservations”. “British barbarism” had put the diplomat “in prison, as even Negroes who recognise the right of envoys would not have dared to treat him” the rassist synchronised[51] Among others, "Westfälische Zeitung" 11 November 1941. Via Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, accessed on 20 August 2023. Nazi press rushed.
After returning to the Reich, Gerlach continued to work in Nazi diplomacy, including in Paris. He was appointed SS Brigadeführer (equivalent to the military rank of general) in 1942. After the war, he was interned by the USA until 1948 and questioned in the war crimes trial, among other things. In 1949, he founded a private pathological institute[52] Wikipedia about Gerlach loc.cit. in Kempten.
Internment friendships 2: Werner T. Schaurte
Another resident of Dunluce House was Werner T. Schaurte[53] Wikipedia about Werner T. Schaurte, accessed on 20 Aug 2023. (1893 – 1978), who ran the Bauer & Schaurte[54] The company headquartered in Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia, became known for its Bauer and Schaurte hexagon socket screws (hex key, German: Innensechskantschrauben Bauer und Schaurte - Inbus for short). metal goods factories from 1917. Schaurte and his companion Count Lothar von Hoensbroech had been interned while travelling in Canada. Coming from there, they arrived at Dunluce House in December 1940 at the latest.
On May 1, 1933, Schaurte had already made a declaration of loyalty to Hitler in front of the company’s workforce and welcomed the fact “that 115 members of staff had joined together to form an SA storm”. Schaurte was a member of the NSDAP and SA, a friend of Hermann Göring and held positions in industrial organisations. The company, which was important to the war effort, benefited from as around 2,000 women[55] „Verbrechen der Wirtschaft am Beispiel der Firma Bauer & Schaurte (Neuss)“ (Crimes of the economy using the example of the Bauer & Schaurte company), by researches of the association of the persecuted VVN NRW, accessed on 20 Aug 2023. as forced labourers in three camps at the main site in Neuss alone as well as from 10,000 workers in the annexed territories.
During denazification, Schaurte was categorised as a “follower[56] Wikipedia about Schaurte loc.cit.“.
Relationships from internment
A British secret telegram[57] National Achives of Australia, NAA_ItemNumber781825, pages 14/15. from April 1941 proves that Wolfgang Kittel was active on behalf of the Nazis – and in the direction of Australia – during the war and even during his internment: “A letter intercepted by the censor to Wolfgang Kittel, interned on the Isle of Man shows that he is receiving from Germany number of names and addresses of persons in Australia.” This telegram from London is preceded by the note that the letter was addressed to an “Kittel self confessed Nazi”.
Wolfgang Kittel was only exchanged via Portugal on May 25, 1943 and arrived in Berlin soon. In September, he travelled to Paris to Gerlach’s place of employment. There he married Gerlachs younger daughter Ingeborg in his second marriage. Until then, Lufthansa had paid him 2,500 Reichsmarks[58] Kittel denazification files loc.cit., page 11. a year, even though he was interned.
Back in Germany, he was employed by his internment friend Werner Schaurte. In 1945, he was promoted to deputy “Betriebsführer” at Bauer & Schauerte. Among other things, he was responsible for securing the machinery against attacks and preseverve it for the time after the military defeat of the Nazi empire. This was “passive resistance against the Ministry of Armaments”, Kittel claimed[59] Ibid page 66, cv from 15 April 1947. during his denazification.
Kittel receives addresses of contacts in Australia from Germany. Source: National Archives of Australia, NAA_781825.
The British index card notes: “Repatriated on 25 May 1943”. Source: ancestry.de.
“I am not an extremist”
In his denazification file, he describes his NSDAP membership as a misstep. “I regret having had the political short-sightedness in 1933 to consider the NSDAP a political panacea and to have joined it because I am not an extremist[60] Ibid, page 67.” In Colombia, he was mainly informed by holidaymakers about what was happening in and around Germany. “They were the unconscious carriers of the propaganda. (…) It was only later that I realised just how much the ship’s atmosphere was ‘promoted’ by impeccable party members in the crew.” Last but not least, the NSDAP had been a platform for demonstrating the cohesion of the German colony to foreign countries.
As early as June 1945 he was accused of having betrayed a company employee to the Gestapo for “defeatism”. He was arrested and was imprisoned in a camp in Recklinghausen until November 1946. There he worked temporarily as an interpreter and head of the post office. In the course of his denazification, he regrets that he cannot refute this himself because his private files in the company were destroyed against his orders. Other people named in the incident all confirmed that Kittel had no more to do with the incident than they did themselvemos.
After Wolfgang Kittel presented himself as ignorant and manipulated by third parties, he was denazified as a follower.
Back in aviation
After his dismissal, he worked for a metal company from 1945 to 1947. When preparations began for the reestablishment of Deutsche Lufthansa, he joined the company immediately. He was head of the materials sector at the predecessor company “AG für Luftverkehrsbedarf”, which was founded in 1953. With the start of Lufthansa AG’s scheduled flight operations, he was in charge of ticket sales for North and Central America from New York from May 1955. In 1959 he became a member of the Executive Board with responsibility for sales, PR and Air Union negotiations for the Group. He retired in 1964.
Wolfgang Kittel. Photo: Lufthansa Group.
Wolfgang Hellmut Alexander Kittel died on 27 February 1967, leaving behind his wife Ingeborg and two sons.
Addendum: Federal Cross of Merit with Star
Wolfgang Kittel was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany with Star on 22 January 1965. The reason given publicly was his contribution to the reconstruction of Lufthansa and its further development.
The documents that accompanied and justified Kittel’s award of the Federal Cross of Merit are interesting. After all, they are quite prototypical of the way former Nazis[61] Among others, Hans Globke, co-author of the Nazi racial laws and head of Adenauer's Federal Chancellery, or the Baden-Württemberg Prime Minister Hans Filbinger, who passed judgements as a naval judge in captivity, should be remembered. Both were honoured with Federal Crosses of Merit. were dealt with, who were launched into top positions[62] Up to 77% of senior civil servants in the Federal Ministry of Justice were former NSDAP members. So the Rosenburg file in 2016 - with a maximum of delay. Federal Justice Minister Buschmann (Liberal party) understoond "why the prosecution of the Nazi crimes was evaded for so long and the suffering of the victims ignored for so long", absolving politicians of responsibility. Accessed on 10 Aug 2023. in the Federal Republic of Germany and many of whom were honored with the highest decorations.
Kittel’s NSDAP membership was of little consequence. This was known to the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia, where the award proposal came from. However, he would have something like “mitigating circumstances”, although it was not known[63] Internal NSDAP correspondence dated 7 and 15 September 1936, cf. archive of the Office of the Federal President in the Federal Archives. B 122_38621_Kittel. why he had been “disqualified from holding a party position for a period of two years” in 1936. This sanction applied to the period up to mid-1938 at the latest and therefore did not prevent Kittel from immediately receiving the foreign assignment for Lufthansa and being appointed as a diplomat for Nazi Germany. According to a self-declaration for denazification, he had been punished because he had signed a letter with others criticizing the dismissal[64] Denazification files Kittel loc.cit., page 48. of Scadta boss Kühl[65] Wöhlbrandt (loc.cit.) attributes this to pilots sent by the Nazis who had complained to Luftwaffe chief Göring about Kühl, accessed on 24 May 2024.. German Pilots had complained about this to the Luftwaffe chief Göring. This seems to confirm that they were German military personnel who were trained abroad, contrary to the Treaty of Versailles. And that the Nazi government obviously had considerable influence on the activities of the Scadta.
Those responsible for the Cross of Merit concluded that “must be assumed that the decision of the party court was essentially preventative in nature[66] Archive of the Office of the Federal President, AZ B 122_38621_Kittel.“. This is how the Düsseldorf State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westfalia responded to a corresponding enquiry from the Office of the Federal President of Germany. Does official ignorance like that (or: not willing to know?) protect against punishment?
Kittel’s involvement in the founding and as member of the board of the “Soziales Hilfswerk für Zivilinternierte e.V.”, which was banned in 1959 as anti-constitutional, was not an obstacle either. The organisation had been officially founded in 1952 to support ex-POWs and their surviving dependants. Kittel had “relinquished his membership of the board at around the time” when the association changed its “political direction” to “a radical right-wing political direction”.
It can therefore be “assumed (emphasis pd) that he distanced himself from this development of the aid organisation” and “no longer participated”. Admittedly, the North Rhine-Westfalia (NRW) State Chancellery conceded that the founding board “without exception included former members of the NSDAP”. However, because they were not prominent Nazis, the radical right-wing intention[67] Archive of the Office of the Federal President loc.cit. behind the founding of the association was not recognisable. Dr Julius Seeger (CDU), Head of the NRW State Chancellery, wrote this to the Office of the Federal President on November 25, 1964, referring to the NRW-branch of domestic intelligence services.
Incidentally, the award was also justified internally[68] Archive of the Office of the Federal President loc.cit., page 237. by the fact that the Chairman of the Executive Board Bongers of the then state-owned company[69] Lufthansa AG was almost 100 percent owned by the Federal Republic of Germany until 1963 and was not fully privatized until 1997. Cf. Wikipedia about Lufthansa AG, retrieved Aug 20, 2023. Lufthansa also had the medal and that Kittels’ “position (regardless of pay) corresponds to that of a ministerial director.” Did Kittel’s “merits” therefore exist quasi “by virtue of nomenclature”?
Commentary
The most prominent example of the continuity with which Nazis gained posts and decorations in the Federal Republic of Germany ist he following: Hans Globke[70] Wikipedia about Hans Globke, the „Mann behind Adenauer“ (German), retrieved Aug 1, 2024. (1898-1973) was co-author of the racial laws and responsible for the naming of Jews with additional first names. He made the seamless leap to the top of Adenauer’s Federal Chancellery. There he had a decisive influence on the CDU and West German politics. In 1963, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The study “The Rosenburg File[71] Christoph Safferling, Manfred Görtemaker, „Die Akte Rosenburg – Das BMJ und die NS-Zeit“, 600 pages. Complete version (ISBN 978-3-406-69768-5) C.H. Beck editors 2016. A short version of 48 pages can be downloaded from the Ministry's website.” was published in 2016. In it, historians commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Justice established that 170 lawyers in leading positions there were former Nazis until 1973. In a short version published in April 2024, the then Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) commented: “These figures help us to understand why the prosecution of Nazi crimes was suppressed for so long, why the suffering of the victims was ignored for so long and why many victim groups – such as homosexuals or Sinti and Roma – were once again discriminated against in the Federal Republic of Germany”. This was “dismaying”.
He does not comment on the responsibility of the political leadership of the Federal Republic for placing ex-Nazis in leading positions. That can probably be described as “dismaying”.
Peter Dehn
By the way: Austria[72] Cf. Süddeutsche Zeitung online, reports from 28.4.2024 and 29.12.2023 (walled garden). stripped Hans Globke of his Order of Merit with Ribbon in 2023. Switzerland[73] Cf. Entry for Globke on Lebendiges Museum Online, retrieved Aug 1, 2024. denied him the right of residence in 1963. The GDR[74] The wording of the court judgement can be found on fragdenstaat.de (download, German), retrieved Sep 8, 2024. Supreme Court sentenced him to life imprisonment in 1963.
Footnotes
show
- [1]↑Charlottenburg registry office, entry no. 1169 dated 15 November 1899.
- [2]↑Charlottenburg was a suburb and independent town until its incorporation into Greater Berlin in 1920.
- [3]↑For further biographical details, see Wikipedia on Kittel (German), accessed on 2 August 2023.
- [4]↑Denazification files Wolfgang Kittel, curriculum vitae, in the State Archive of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland Department, NW 1007 (SBE Hauptausschuss Landkreis Grevenbroich), no. 2149, page 46, accessed via archivportal-d.de on 20 May 2024.
- [5]↑Ibid. Cf. Wikipedia about Freikorps and the Munich Council Republic, retrieved Dec 10, 2023.
- [6]↑Wikipedia about the assassination of Liebknecht and Luxemburg, accessed 20 Aug 2024, abgerufen 20.8.2023.
- [7]↑Cf. Francois Lafitte, „The Internment of Aliens“, London 1940, page 139.
- [8]↑The swastika was used by the so-called Ehrhardt Brigade during the Kapp Putsch. Cf. German Historical Museum LeMo, accessed 25 May 2024.
- [9]↑Cf. Wikipedia on Freikorps, accessed 24 May 2024.
- [10]↑Arnulf Scriba, "Freikorps", DHM, Lemo, abgerufen am 10.5.2024.
- [11]↑Wikipedia about Waldemar Pabst. The officer who played a key role in the murders of Luxemburg and Liebknecht was protected in the Federal Republic. On 8 February 1962, the Bulletin of the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government legitimised the murders as "summary executions" in order to "end the civil war and save Germany from communism".
- [12]↑Wikipedia about W.A. Kittel loc.cit. and Lufthansa media release "Wolfgang A. Kittel 65 Jahre" from 5 November 1964.
- [13]↑Lufthansa, founded in 1926, "fulfilled tasks in the secret rearmament", historian Lutz Budrass in "Adler und Kranich", cited by J. Flottau "Die Lufthansa nähert sich ihrer Nazi-Geschichte", Süddeutsche Zeitung 14 March 2016, accessed 24 May 2024.
- [14]↑Lufthansa media release loc.cit.
- [15]↑Cf. Wikipedia about Lohmann affair, accessed 5 Aug 2023.
- [16]↑Denazification files Kittel loc.cit., page 46.
- [17]↑Cf. Wikipedia about Norddeutscher Lloyd and Deschima, retrieved Sep 10, 2024.
- [18]↑Ibid page 57.
- [19]↑The business purpose of Deutsche Huragan GmbH was machines for grinding and crushing. Cf. commercial registers , entries 1928, 1931, via ZLB and Index of Trademarks of the US Patent Office 1927, page 65.
- [20]↑Wikipedia about Scadta, accessed 25 May 2024.
- [21]↑Kittel denazification files loc.cit., page 61.
- [22]↑Scadta.de, website about Scadta by Bernd Wöhlbrandt, accessed 24 June 2024.
- [23]↑Ibid.
- [24]↑Ibid, 1929f.
- [25]↑Wikipedia about Kittel loc.cit.
- [26]↑Bundesarchiv, BArch_R_9361-IX_KARTEI_20340433,_Kittel,_Wolfgang.
- [27]↑Kittel denazification files loc.cit., page 46.
- [28]↑Today Banjul, the capital of the Republic of the Gambia Cf. Wikipedia on The Gambia, accessed on 20 August 2023.
- [29]↑Lufthansa media release loc.cit.
- [30]↑Denazification files Kittel loc.cit., page 47.
- [31]↑Wikipedia about Kittel loc.cit.
- [32]↑Klaus Wilczynski, „Das Gefangenenschiff“ (Prison Ship), Berlin 2001, page 104f. This is the only known source that records both events concerning Kittel in this way.
- [33]↑The biography for Wikipedia German was created on Nov 11, 2012 by the author Vicente2782. The mutiny reference does not appear until Dec 22, 2015. This was added by an anonymous author who only dealt with the biographies of Kittel and his father-in-law Gerlach on Wikipedia. A family member?
- [34]↑Ibid, page 105f.
- [35]↑Cf. Wikipedia about Dunera, accessed 20 Aug 2023.
- [36]↑Lt.Col. W.P. Scott, Commander of the Guards on HMT Dunera on 31 August 1940 to the Australian Prisoner of War Command. Quoted from. Paul R. Bartrop/Gabrielle Eisen "The Dunera Affair", page 53.
- [37]↑"Cape Town Incident" by Erich Lewinsky, Dunera News no. 26, page 17.
- [38]↑Wilczynski loc.cit, page 162.
- [39]↑Cf. Lafitte loc.cit.
- [40]↑German Foreign Office to Peter Dehn, email of Jan 2, 2023.
- [41]↑Transcript in the archive of the Federal Foreign Office, RAV 26-1_4102.
- [42]↑Ibid.
- [43]↑Wikipedia about Kittel loc.cit.
- [44]↑Manx National Heritage to Peter Dehn from 17 Dec 2021.
- [45]↑Wikipedia about Werner Gerlach (German), accessed 10 Aug 2023.
- [46]↑Biography of Werner Gerlach at Martin Luther University Halle, accessed 15 June 2024.
- [47]↑Wikipedia über die Uni Jena, abgerufen am 20.8.2023.
- [48]↑Cf. files of the Jena University Archives, cf. Wikipedia on Ernst Giese loc.cit.
- [49]↑Ramsey Courier from Sep 26, 1941, Archives of Manx National Heritage.
- [50]↑"Hakenkreuzbanner", NSDAP newspaper, Mannheim from 11 November 1941. Via Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. accessed 20 Aug 2023.
- [51]↑Among others, "Westfälische Zeitung" 11 November 1941. Via Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, accessed on 20 August 2023.
- [52]↑Wikipedia about Gerlach loc.cit.
- [53]↑Wikipedia about Werner T. Schaurte, accessed on 20 Aug 2023.
- [54]↑The company headquartered in Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia, became known for its Bauer and Schaurte hexagon socket screws (hex key, German: Innensechskantschrauben Bauer und Schaurte - Inbus for short).
- [55]↑„Verbrechen der Wirtschaft am Beispiel der Firma Bauer & Schaurte (Neuss)“ (Crimes of the economy using the example of the Bauer & Schaurte company), by researches of the association of the persecuted VVN NRW, accessed on 20 Aug 2023.
- [56]↑Wikipedia about Schaurte loc.cit.
- [57]↑National Achives of Australia, NAA_ItemNumber781825, pages 14/15.
- [58]↑Kittel denazification files loc.cit., page 11.
- [59]↑Ibid page 66, cv from 15 April 1947.
- [60]↑Ibid, page 67
- [61]↑Among others, Hans Globke, co-author of the Nazi racial laws and head of Adenauer's Federal Chancellery, or the Baden-Württemberg Prime Minister Hans Filbinger, who passed judgements as a naval judge in captivity, should be remembered. Both were honoured with Federal Crosses of Merit.
- [62]↑Up to 77% of senior civil servants in the Federal Ministry of Justice were former NSDAP members. So the Rosenburg file in 2016 - with a maximum of delay. Federal Justice Minister Buschmann (Liberal party) understoond "why the prosecution of the Nazi crimes was evaded for so long and the suffering of the victims ignored for so long", absolving politicians of responsibility. Accessed on 10 Aug 2023.
- [63]↑Internal NSDAP correspondence dated 7 and 15 September 1936, cf. archive of the Office of the Federal President in the Federal Archives. B 122_38621_Kittel.
- [64]↑Denazification files Kittel loc.cit., page 48.
- [65]↑Wöhlbrandt (loc.cit.) attributes this to pilots sent by the Nazis who had complained to Luftwaffe chief Göring about Kühl, accessed on 24 May 2024.
- [66]↑Archive of the Office of the Federal President, AZ B 122_38621_Kittel.
- [67]↑Archive of the Office of the Federal President loc.cit.
- [68]↑Archive of the Office of the Federal President loc.cit., page 237.
- [69]↑Lufthansa AG was almost 100 percent owned by the Federal Republic of Germany until 1963 and was not fully privatized until 1997. Cf. Wikipedia about Lufthansa AG, retrieved Aug 20, 2023.
- [70]↑Wikipedia about Hans Globke, the „Mann behind Adenauer“ (German), retrieved Aug 1, 2024.
- [71]↑Christoph Safferling, Manfred Görtemaker, „Die Akte Rosenburg – Das BMJ und die NS-Zeit“, 600 pages. Complete version (ISBN 978-3-406-69768-5) C.H. Beck editors 2016. A short version of 48 pages can be downloaded from the Ministry's website.
- [72]↑Cf. Süddeutsche Zeitung online, reports from 28.4.2024 and 29.12.2023 (walled garden).
- [73]↑Cf. Entry for Globke on Lebendiges Museum Online, retrieved Aug 1, 2024.
- [74]↑The wording of the court judgement can be found on fragdenstaat.de (download, German), retrieved Sep 8, 2024.
