Baldur Benedikt von Schirach (; 9 May 1907 – 8 August 1974) was a German politician who was the leader (Reichsjugendführer) of the Hitler Youth from 1931 to 1940. From 1940 to 1945, he was the Gauleiter (district leader) and Reichsstatthalter (Reich governor) of Vienna.
A member of the Nazi Party from the age of 18, Schirach was named national youth leader of the party in 1931. In 1932, he was elected as a deputy to the Reichstag. After Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, he was appointed Jugendführer (Youth Leader) of the German Reich, responsible for all youth organizations in the nation. In 1940, Schirach saw action as an infantryman in the French Campaign, for which he was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd Class. In 1940, Schirach was appointed Gauleiter of the Reichsgau Vienna; Artur Axmann succeeded him as leader of the Hitler Youth. A virulent antisemite, he was responsible for deporting 65,000 Viennese Jews to various Nazi concentration camps in German-occupied Poland.
In April 1945, facing Red Army advance, Schirach fled from Vienna to Tyrol, where he later surrendered to American forces. At the Nuremberg trials, he was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 20 years in prison. After completing his sentence at Spandau in 1966, Schirach retired to southern Germany. He died in 1974 at the age of 67.
Early life and family
Schirach was born in Berlin, the youngest of four children of theatre director, grand ducal chamberlain and retired captain of the cavalry Carl Baily Norris von Schirach and his American wife Emma Middleton Lynah Tillou, a descendant of Arthur Middleton, one of the founding fathers of the United States.Oliver Rathkolb and John Heath (trans.) "Baldur von Schirach: Nazi Leader and Head of the Hitler Youth", 2022. A member of the noble Schirach family, of Sorbian origins, three of his four grandparents were from the United States, chiefly from Pennsylvania.Michael H. Kater, Hitler Youth, Harvard University Press, 2009, p. 17, English was the first language he learned at home and he did not learn to speak German until the age of six. He had two sisters, Viktoria Benedikta and the opera singer Rosalind von Schirach, and a brother, Karl Benedict von Schirach. His brother committed suicide in 1919 at the age of 19.
Schirach was educated at the Wilhelm-Ernst-Gymnasium from 1916 to 1917, followed by the "Forest Pedagogium" boarding school at Bad Berka. This was inspired by a similar school founded by Hermann Lietz. He then returned to Weimar where he attended the Realgymnasium at Museumplatz 3.
On 31 March 1932 Schirach married the 19-year-old Henriette Hoffmann, the daughter of Heinrich Hoffmann, Adolf Hitler's personal photographer and friend. Schirach's family was at first vehemently opposed to this marriage, but Hitler insisted. Otto Strasser dismissively described Schirach as "a young effeminate". Through this relationship, Schirach became part of Hitler's inner circle. The young couple were welcome guests at Hitler's "Berghof" holiday home. Henriette von Schirach gave birth to four children: Angelika Benedikta von Schirach (born 1933), lawyer Klaus von Schirach (born 1935), businessman Robert Benedict Wolf von Schirach (1938–1980) and sinologist Richard von Schirach (1942–2023). Robert had a son, the lawyer and best-selling German crime-fiction writer Ferdinand von Schirach."Von Schirach: Der verschrobene Star hinter 'Schuld'", Focus, 21 February 2015 Richard had children Ariadne von Schirach, philosopher and critic, and Benedict Wells, a novelist.Interview mit Ariadne von Schirach: Spross einer bekannten Familie, Stuttgarter Zeitung, 2 May 2014
Nazi Party career Reich youth leader Schirach joined a Wehrjugendgruppe (paramilitary youth group) at the age of seventeen, the youth division of the . He first met Hitler aged seventeen, when Hitler gave a speech in Weimar and Schirach was assigned guard duty. Schirach considered this the strongest speech he ever heard from Hitler, and paid attention to the sound of his voice, "deep and raw, resonant like a cello." Schirach wrote a poem about the encounter, which was published in Hans Severus Ziegler's newspaper Der Nationalsozialist. It was set to music by Gerhard Pallman and published in several songbooks. Schirach later described it as one of his "many bad poems". In October 1924, Hitler again visited Weimar, and visited the home of Schirach's father.
Schirach became a member of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) on 29 August 1925 (membership number 17,251). In 1925, he also joined the Sturmabteilung (SA) in Weimar. He followed Hitler to Munich, to attend university, and also attended the salons of Elsa and Hugo Bruckmann, with whom he lived for a time. In November 1927 Schirach first demonstrated his talents for organisation, packing a room with students for a speech by Hitler. In February 1928 he became a university group leader of the National Socialist German Students' League (Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund; NSDStB), and on 20 July 1928, he became the national leader (Reichsführer). He worked to broaden the Nazi Party's appeal to the bourgeoisie. Schirach was supported by Hitler in internal elections, who also wanted the Nazi Party to have a broad social base. During this period Schirach was twice challenged to a duel, and was given a conditional prison sentence for accepting one of them.
Schirach was skilled at bureaucratic power struggles. He founded the School Children's Leagues (Schülerbünde) to create competition to the Hitler Youth. He made an ally of Joseph Goebbels. In 1929 he defeated Kurt Gruber in an internal election, and later convinced Hitler to sideline Gruber.
In 1929, he was selected as a Reichsredner (national speaker) and was active in Party propaganda activities. In 1931, he was prosecuted for an anti-Versailles demonstration, and used his court appearance to attack the Weimar Republic. He was given a three-month suspended prison sentence. On 30 October 1931, he was named as Reichsjugendführer (National Youth Leader) of the Nazi Party.
On 31 March 1932, Schirach married Henriette Hoffmann. Hitler and Ernst Röhm were witnesses to the marriage, and the reception was held in Hitler's apartment. Henriette's wealthy father, Heinrich Hoffmann, paid for them to move into a luxurious apartment by the Englischer Garten. With Heinrich Hoffmann, Schirach produced several propaganda books of Hoffmann's photographs, including "Hitler As No One Knows Him", "Youth Around Hitler", and "Hitler in His Mountains". Schirach wrote the captions. The books sold hundreds of thousands of copies, earning Schirach and Hoffmann substantial royalties.
In May 1932, Schirach was made Reichsleiter for Youth Education (Reichsleiter für Jügenderziehung). Reichsleiter was the second highest political rank in the Nazi Party.
On 16 June 1932, he was made Reichsführer of the Party's Hitler Youth organization, and resigned from the Student League. Under Schirach, the Hitler Youth stewarded NSDAP events, and 21 members died in 1932. Schirach described these deaths as "blood sacrifice" for propaganda purposes. One example was Herbert Norkus, a fifteen-year-old boy who was stabbed to death by Communists. In a 31 May 1932 speech, Schirach recounted Norkus's death and called for a "National Socialist dictatorship". Schirach gave a memorial speech on the third anniversary of Norkus's death in January 1935.
Schirach became a member of the Reichstag as a representative of the Party electoral list at the 31 July 1932 election. He would continue to serve in that body until the end of the Nazi regime, from November 1933 as a deputy from electoral constituency 7, Breslau, and from March 1936 as a deputy from electoral constituency 6, Pomerania. He moved the Hitler Youth headquarters to Berlin in 1933 to stay close to Hitler. The building was purchased by an anonymous industrialist.
As leader of the Hitler Youth, Schirach helped to build the "Führer myth", using his speeches to communicate an emotional connection to Hitler, with themes of laying down one's life for Hitler. He wrote the lyrics to many songs, including the "song of the Hitler Youth flag", which was used in the film Der Hitlerjunge Quex. Schirach organised a "Reich Youth Day" on 1 October 1932, with between 50,000 and 70,000 adolescents of the Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls attending the (Potsdam Airship Port). It was financed by sales of badges and other propaganda materials. The Hitler Youth also published various magazines, and organised leisure excursions including militaristic activities such as flying, reconnaissance, motorised and mounted "units". On 17 May 1938, Schirach said, "The real, great educational act for a people lies in ingraining in youth blind obedience, unshakeable loyalty, unconditional comradeship and absolute reliability."
On 5 April 1933, the offices of the Reich Committee of German Youth Leagues were occupied by a unit of the Hitler Youth. From the records they obtained detailed knowledge of all youth groups including their key figures. In a second surprise raid they took control of the Reich League for German Youth Hostels (Reichsverband fuer deutsche Jugendherbergen). On 10 June 1933, Schirach was named Reichsjugendführer (Youth Leader of the German Reich), with responsibility for all youth organizations in the nation. His permission was required to found youth organisations. Also on that date, he was made a State Secretary in the Reich Interior Ministry. On 23 June 1933, all other youth organisations were retroactively dissolved from 17 June 1933.
Under Schirach, the Hitler Youth was nominally run by self-organising youth, with the motto "youth leads youth". This echoed Goethe's line "Youth educates itself in youth". However, strict ideological boundaries were imposed. Schirach rejected the idea that Goethe was a "prophet of humanity", "above the fatherland and the nation", and linked to "individualistic education". In a speech to students on 5 November 1941, Schirach alluded to individualism, saying "The idea is lonely", but argued "Academic freedom is not a catchword of liberalism. It is an achievement of the German spirit."
Schirach became a member of the Academy for German Law upon its formation in October 1933.
Schirach appeared frequently at rallies, such as the Nuremberg rally of 1934, when he appeared with Hitler in rousing the Hitlerjugend audience. The event was filmed for Triumph of the Will, the propaganda film made by Leni Riefenstahl for the Nazi Party. Schirach set the militaristic tone of the youth organisation, which participated in military-style exercises, as well as practising use of military equipment such as rifles. In July 1940, when a new play by Hans Baumann was staged at Veste Oberhaus in Passau, Schirach insisted that 2,000 local Hitler Youth members be part of that
In 1936, the Hitler Youth was declared the only legal youth organisation. At this point it had approximately six million members. Membership became compulsory in March 1939, with almost eight million members aged 10 and older. On 1 December 1936, Schirach was given the position of State Secretary to the Reich Government, as head of a Supreme Reich Authority (Oberste Reichsbehörde).
Some sections of the church scouts and Bundische Jugend resisted forced incorporation. For example, in 1934, in the small town of Wassenberg, Catholic Boy Scouts disrupted the transmission of a speech by Schirach. As a result, their scout uniforms were confiscated by the Aachen State Police Office. Contempt for Schirach was expressed in various songs, such as "Baldur, darling, be clear about this: When a new spirit stirs you will be dumped as soon as possible." (Baldur, Liebling, sei dir darüber im klaren: Wenn ein neuer Geist sich rührt, wirst du schleunigst abserviert.")