Nazi corruption

Out of the Foxholes Questions
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Dear Indy & Co.

How common was corruption among Nazi military?, Bureaucracy? Once bribed how often did a particular Offical remain bought?

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Re submit your question as an Out of the Foxholes Questions. It will have a better chance to be seen by the TG crew then.

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im not sure on the Wehrmacht but I do know that the NSDAP was horrendously corrupt. One of the most notorious examples of this was Martin Bormann who was hitlers personal secretary, no one was allowed to see Hitler without first getting approval by Bormann and he used this to his advantage to gain favors and prestige even though it did hurt the German high command as even Albert Speer would have trouble at times visiting Hitler because Bormann did not like him. Himmler was just about as bad as Bormann

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Albert Speer goes into quite a bit of detail on nazi corruption in his autobiography ‘Inside the Third Reich’. Aside from a lot of information on Goering (obviously) he goes into the corruption of the entire hierarchy, specifically the Gauleiter (provincial governors). Here’s a quote from chapter 16 (p.217):

After only nine years of rule the leadership was so corrupt that even in the critical phase of the war it could not cut back on its luxurious style of living. For “representational reasons” the leaders all needed big houses, hunting lodges, estates and palaces, many servants, a rich table, and a select wine cellar.* They were also concerned about their lives to an insane degree. Hitler himself, wherever he went, first of all issued orders for building bunkers for his personal protection. The thickness of their roofs increased with the caliber of the bombs until it reached sixteen and a half feet. Ultimately there were veritable systems of bunkers in Rastenburg, in Berlin, at Obersalzberg, in Munich, in the guest palace near Salzburg, at the Nauheim headquarters, and on the Somme. And in 1944 he had two underground headquarters blasted into mountains in Silesia and Thuringia, the project tying up hundreds of indispensable mining specialists and thousands of workmen.

Hitler’s obvious fear and his exaggeration of the importance of his own person inspired his entourage to go in for equally exaggerated measures of personal protection. Goering had extensive underground installations built not only in Karinhall, but even in the isolated castle of Veldenstein near Nuremberg, which he hardly ever visited.6 The road from Karinhall to Berlin, forty miles long and leading mostly through lonely woods, had to be provided with concrete shelters at regular intervals. When Ley saw the effect of a heavy bomb on a public shelter, he was interested solely in comparing the thickness of the ceiling with that in his private bunker in the rarely attacked suburb of Grunewald. Moreover, the Gauleiters—on orders from Hitler, who was convinced of their indispensability—had additional shelters built outside the cities for their personal protection.

If I recall correctly all war production came secondary to self-enrichment and toady-bribes for party leaders. Its a pattern you see in most dictatorships even today. I don’t have specific information on military or industrial leaders. But I think it safe to assume that if this goes on at the central government’s level it is the norm in other aspects of a civilization as well.

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I forgot to paste in the footnote to ‘wine cellar’ in the text above:

  • For propaganda reasons, Goebbels tried to change the life style of the prominent men in government and the party, but in vain. See his diary, February 22, 1942: “Bormann has issued a directive to the party regarding the need for greater simplicity in the conduct of the leaders, particularly with respect to banquets—a reminder to the party that it should provide a good example for the people. This directive is most welcome. I hope it will be taken to heart. In this connection I have become rather skeptical.” Bormann’s directive had no effect. On May 22, 1943, more than a year later, Goebbels wrote in his diary: “Because of the tense situation domestically the people naturally have been keeping a sharp eye on the life style of our so-called celebrities. Unfortunately many of the prominent people pay no heed; some of them are living a life which can in no way be called suitable under current conditions.”
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