Alfred Freyberg

{{Short description|German Nazi politician & SS-Gruppenführer}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Alfred Freyberg | image = Alfred Freyberg.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Freyberg, ({{circa}} 1938) | order = | office1 = ''Ministerpräsident'' Free State of Anhalt | status = | term_start1 = 21 May 1932 | term_end1 = 8 January 1940 | deputy1 = | predecessor1 = Heinrich Deist | successor1 = Rudolf Jordan | office2 = ''Oberbürgermeister'' of Leipzig | term_start2 = 21 August 1939 | term_end2 = 18 April 1945 | predecessor2 = Rudolf Haake (Acting) | successor2 = Wilhelm Johannes Vierling | prior_term = | pronunciation = | birth_name = Bruno Erich Alfred Freyberg | birth_date = {{Birth date|1892|07|12|df=y}} | birth_place = Harsleben, Province of Saxony, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire | death_date = {{Death date and age|1945|4|18|1892|07|12|df=y}} | death_place = Leipzig, Nazi Germany | death_cause = Suicide by cyanide poisoning | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | party = Nazi Party | other_party = | spouse = Magdalena Schwannecke (1896–1945) | relations = | children = Wilhelm Friedrich (1923–1944) Barbara (1925–1945) | parents = | mother = | father = | education = | alma_mater = | profession = Lawyer | awards = Golden Party Badge | signature =  | sports_nickname = | allegiance = German Empire Nazi Germany | branch = Imperial German Army ''Schutzstaffel'' | service_years = 1914–1917 1933–1945 | rank = ''Leutnant'' SS-''Gruppenführer'' | unit = | commands = | battles = World War I | mawards = Iron Cross, 2nd class }}

'''Bruno Erich Alfred Freyberg''' (12 July 1892 – 18 April 1945) was a German lawyer, Nazi Party politician and SS-''Gruppenführer'' who served as the ''Ministerpräsident'' of the Free State of Anhalt from 1932 to 1940 and the ''Oberbürgermeister'' (Lord Mayor) of Leipzig from 1939 to 1945. He committed suicide together with his family in the closing days of the Second World War in Europe.

== Early life == Freyberg was born the son of a farmer in Harsleben in the Harz district. He attended ''volksschule'' there and then went to the ''realgymnasium'' in Halberstadt. Beginning in 1911, he studied law at the University of Geneva, University of Königsberg, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich) and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. At the beginning of the First World War, he left school and entered the German Imperial Army as a ''Kriegsfreiwilliger'' (war volunteer). He served in an artillery regiment and was promoted to ''Leutnant'' of reserves in March 1917. That same year he was seriously wounded near Verdun, was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd class, and was discharged after his recovery.<ref name="Peschel">{{cite web |last1=Peschel |first1=Andreas |title=Alfred Freyberg |url=https://saebi.isgv.de/biografie/Alfred_Freyberg_(1892-1945) |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506202240/https://saebi.isgv.de/biografie/Alfred_Freyberg_(1892-1945) |archive-date=May 6, 2023 |access-date=28 April 2023 |website=Saxon Biography |language=German}}</ref>

Freyberg then returned to his studies and in 1918 passed the preliminary state law exam in Naumburg. Between 1918 and 1922 he worked as a ''Referendar'' (legal apprentice) in Wernigerode, Halberstadt and Naumburg and passed the final state law examination in Berlin in 1922. From 1923 he worked as a court assessor, first in the Reich tax administration office in Berlin, then transferring to the tax office in Halberstadt, the tax court in Magdeburg and the tax office in Quedlinburg. On 1 August 1924 he was appointed a ''Regierungsrat'' (Government Counselor).<ref name="Peschel" />

== Nazi Party career == Freyberg joined the Nazi Party in Quedlinburg on 27 May 1925 (membership number 5,880) and founded the ''Ortsgruppe'' (Local Group) there, which he led until 1927 as ''Ortsgruppenleiter''. As an early member of the Party, he would later be awarded the Golden Party Badge.{{sfn|Schiffer Publishing Ltd.|2000|p=12}} Dismissed from the tax office in 1926 for his political activism, he went into private practice as a lawyer in Quedlinburg. From 1927 to 1929 he was a Party ''Bezirksleiter'' (District Leader).{{sfn|Klee|2007|p=164}} In 1929, he became a notary at the Higher Regional Court in Naumburg. In November 1929 he was elected a City Councilor and became the leader of the Nazi faction in the council.<ref name="Peschel" /> At the state election on 24 April 1932, the Nazis became the largest party in the ''landtag'' of the Free State of Anhalt, increasing their representation from one to fifteen seats. The Nazis formed a coalition government with the conservative German National People's Party (DNVP) on 21 May 1932 and Freyberg became the first Nazi ''Ministerpräsident'' of a state in the Weimar Republic. Following the Nazi seizure of power, Freyberg served as the sole Minister of State in Anhalt from April 1933 to January 1940.<ref>{{cite web |title=Der Freistaat Anhalt Die Landesregierungen 1918–1933 |url=http://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Anhalt/Ueberblick_Reg.html |access-date=28 April 2023}}</ref>

On 22 November 1933, Freyberg joined the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) with the rank of SS-''Obersturmbannführer'' (membership number 113,650).{{sfn|Schiffer Publishing Ltd.|2000|p=12}} On 29 March 1936, he was elected as a ''Reichstag'' deputy from electoral constituency 10 (Magdeburg), was reelected on 10 April 1938 and served until his death.<ref>{{cite web |title=Datenbank der deutschen Parlamentsabgeordneten |url=https://www.reichstag-abgeordnetendatenbank.de/selectmaske.html?name=Alfred+freyberg&geschlecht=&ort=&beruforg=&BERUF=&BERUFSFELDER%5B%5D=&KONFESSION%5B%5D=&WP%5B%5D=&PARTEI%5B%5D=&schlu=reichstag24&recherche=ja |website=Alfred Freyberg entry in the Reichstag Members Database |access-date=28 April 2023}}</ref> From 1938, he also worked in the headquarters of the ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD), the Nazi intelligence service headed by then SS-''Gruppenführer'' Reinhard Heydrich. On 21 August 1939 Freyberg was appointed the ''Oberbürgermeister'' of the city of Leipzig, then Germany's sixth most populous city. He left his post at the head of the Anhalt state government on 8 January 1940, being succeeded by the Anhalt ''Reichsstatthalter'' (Reich Governor) Rudolf Jordan.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2017|p=20}} Freyberg was a committed anti-Semite and his administration pursued policies of discrimination, exploitation and, ultimately, expulsion of Jews from Leipzig to the Auschwitz death camp. On his fiftieth birthday, 12 July 1942, Freyberg was promoted to SS-''Gruppenführer'' by Adolf Hitler.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gibas |first1=Monika |last2=Briel |first2=Cornelia |last3=Knöller |first3=Petra |last4=Held |first4=Steffen |title=Aryanization" in Leipzig. Driven out. Robbed. Murdered. |url=https://studylib.net/doc/8869458/aryanization%E2%80%9D-in-leipzig.-driven-out.-robbed.-murdered. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230504063601/https://studylib.net/doc/8869458/aryanization%E2%80%9D-in-leipzig.-driven-out.-robbed.-murdered. |archive-date=May 4, 2023 |access-date=28 April 2023 |page=18}}</ref>

== Death == On 18 April 1945, one day before elements of the U.S. Army entered Leipzig, Freyberg committed suicide by cyanide poisoning in the Leipzig town hall together with his wife and 20-year-old daughter. The City Treasurer, {{interlanguage link|Kurt Lisso|de}}, his wife and adult daughter also poisoned themselves there, as did former ''Oberbürgermeister'' Walter Dönicke.<ref>{{cite news |title=2 Leipzig Leaders, Families End Their Lives at Rathaus |work=New York Times |date=19 April 1945 |page=1}}</ref> thumb|Alfred Freyburg, suicided in his Leipzig office with his wife and daughter {| class="wikitable float-right" |- ! colspan="2"|SS ranks<ref>[https://www.dws-xip.com/reich/biografie/1937/1937.html SS Seniority List, 1 December 1937, pp.14-15, #92] Retrieved 28 April 2023.</ref> |- ! Date ! Rank |- | 22 November 1933 | SS-''Obersturmbannführer'' |- | 20 April 1934 | SS-''Standartenführer'' |- | 1 January 1935 | SS-''Oberführer'' |- | 19 November 1936 | SS-''Brigadeführer'' |- | 12 July 1942 | SS-''Gruppenführer'' |- |}

== References == {{reflist|30em}}

== Sources == *{{cite book |last= Klee |first= Ernst |title= Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945 |publisher= Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag |location= Frankfurt-am-Main |year= 2007 |isbn= 978-3-596-16048-8}} *{{cite book |last1= Miller |first1= Michael D. |last2= Schulz |first2= Andreas |title= Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925–1945 |volume= 2 (Georg Joel – Dr. Bernhard Rust) |publisher= R. James Bender Publishing |year= 2017 |isbn= 978-1-932-97032-6}} * Peschel, Andreas: [https://saebi.isgv.de/biografie/Alfred_Freyberg_(1892-1945) Alfred Freyberg] in [https://saebi.isgv.de/ Institute for Saxon History and Folklore: Saxon Biography] *{{cite book |editor-last=Schiffer Publishing Ltd. |title= SS Officers List: SS-Standartenführer to SS-Oberstgruppenführer (As of 30 January 1942) |publisher= Schiffer Military History Publishing |location= |year= 2000 |isbn= 0-7643-1061-5}}

== External links == * {{ReichstagDB|126529787}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freyberg, Alfred}} Category:1892 births Category:1945 deaths Category:1945 suicides Category:German Army personnel of World War I Category:Holocaust perpetrators in Germany Category:Joint suicides by Nazis Category:Lawyers in the Nazi Party Category:LMU Munich alumni Category:Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg alumni Category:Mayors of Leipzig Category:Members of the Reichstag 1936–1938 Category:Minister-presidents in Germany Category:Nazi Party officials Category:Nazis who died by suicide in Nazi Germany Category:People from Harz (district) Category:Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 2nd class Category:Reich Security Main Office personnel Category:SS-Gruppenführer Category:Suicides by cyanide poisoning Category:University of Geneva alumni Category:University of Königsberg alumni Category:Members of the Reichstag 1938–1945 Category:Male suicides