{{Short description|Early Nazi political rank}} {{Italic title|reason=[[:Category:German words and phrases]]}} [[File:EarlyNaziPartyRanks-NARA.jpg|thumb|right|275px|Early Nazi Party political insignia showing the political ranks of ''Landesinspekteur'' and ''Reichsinspekteur'']]
'''''Inspekteur''''' ([[inspector]]) was a Nazi political rank that existed briefly in 1932 in a reorganization promulgated by [[Gregor Strasser]], the ''Reichsorganisationsleiter'' (Reich Organizational Leader) of the [[Nazi Party]] since January 1928.
==History== Strasser largely had been given free rein to organize and structure the Party by [[Adolf Hitler]] who was not interested in administrative detail and mundane day-to-day organizational concerns.{{sfn|Stachura|1983|p=71}} Strasser sought to consolidate and centralize the organizational structure by imposing an additional layer of supervision on the then existing 44 ''[[Gauleiters]]'' in Germany and Austria. Strasser sought to improve organizational control of the Party throughout the country ahead of the upcoming 31 July 1932 election to the German [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]]. The overall objective was to give the Party the kind of organisational structure that would allow it to contest the election in a more effective and disciplined manner.{{sfn|Stachura|1983|p=69}}
On 15 July 1932, the Party ''Gauleiters'' were subordinated to ten new officials titled '''''Landesinspekteurs''''', each with oversight responsibilities for several ''Gaue'' within a specified geographic area. (See tables.) These new ''Landesinspekteurs'' were taken from the ranks of the existing ''Gauleiters'', and vacated their ''Gau'' posts. Most were trusted colleagues of Strasser, and had worked with him when he was a principal organizer of the Party in northern Germany in the early 1920s.{{sfn|Stachura|1983|p=110}} These ''Landesinspekteurs'', in turn, reported to one of two new '''''Reichsinspekteurs''''', either [[Paul Schulz]] or [[Robert Ley]], both of whom served as close protégés of Strasser in the Party's ''Reichsleitung'' (Reich Leadership Office) in [[Munich]].{{sfn|Orlow|1969|p=260}} The ''Landesinspekteurs'' were independent agents, given the authority to conduct surprise ''Gau'' inspections day or night, without advance notice. They also were given the authority to supersede the ''Gauleiters''’ directives, if necessary. The new organization was opposed by many ''Gauleiters'', as it imposed additional layers of Party bureaucracy between them and Hitler. They always had considered themselves as Hitler’s direct agents in their jurisdictions, and were used to reporting directly to him.{{sfn|Orlow|1969|p=273}} The position of Inspekteur was denoted on Nazi Party brown shirts by either one of two collar bars worn on a dark red collar patch. The shoulder boards were also paired up with a one or two knotted gold shoulder cord.
On 8 December 1932, Strasser resigned as ''Reichsorganisationsleiter'' in a major policy dispute with Hitler over the future direction of the Party. By 15 December, Hitler announced that he was temporarily assuming the duties of ''Reichsorganisationsleiter'', with Robert Ley as Chief of Staff.{{sfn|Orlow|1969|p=293}} Paul Schulz followed Strasser into retirement. In seeking to eradicate Strasser’s legacy, Hitler decreed a thorough revocation of the recent administrative reforms. He further reconfirmed the ''Gauleiters''’ status as his personal agents. The positions of ''Landesinspekteur'' and ''Reichsinspekteur'' were abolished. All ten ''Landesinspekteurs'' were returned to their former ''Gauleiter'' positions.{{sfn|Orlow|1969|pp=294–295}} Thus, the new organizational scheme did not survive Strasser's fall, and these two ''Inspekteur'' ranks disappeared from the Party organization.
==List== {| class="wikitable" |+ ''Landesinspecteurs'' reporting to [[Paul Schulz]], ''Reichsinspekteur I'' ! ''Landesinspekteur'' !! Area !! ''Gaue'' |- | [[Joseph Goebbels ]] || Berlin || [[Gau Berlin|Berlin]] |- | [[Helmuth Bruckner]] || East || [[Free City of Danzig|Danzig]], [[Gau East Prussia|East Prussia]], [[Gau Silesia|Silesia]] |- | [[Bernhard Rust]] || Lower Saxony || [[Gau Eastern Hanover|Eastern Hanover]], [[Gau Southern Hanover-Brunswick|Southern Hanover-Brunswick]], [[Gau Weser-Ems|Weser-Ems]], [[Gau Westphalia-North|Westphalia-North]], [[Gau Westphalia-South|Westphalia-South]] |- | [[Wilhelm Friedrich Loeper ]]|| Middle Germany-Brandenburg || [[Gau Brandenburg|Brandenburg]], [[Frontier March of Posen-West Prussia|Eastern March]], [[Gau Halle-Merseburg|Halle-Merseburg]], [[Gau Magdeburg-Anhalt|Magdeburg-Anhalt]] |- | [[Hinrich Lohse ]] || North || [[Gau Hamburg|Hamburg]], [[Gau Mecklenburg|Mecklenburg-Lübeck]], [[Gau Pomerania|Pomerania]], [[Gau Schleswig-Holstein|Schleswig-Holstein]] |- |}
{| class="wikitable" |+ ''Landesinspecteurs'' reporting to [[Robert Ley]], ''Reichsinspekteur II'' ! ''Landesinspekteur'' !! Area !! ''Gaue'' |- | [[Theodor Habicht]] ||Austria || [[Reichsgau Carinthia|Carinthia]], [[Reichsgau Lower Danube|Lower Austria]], [[Reichsgau Salzburg|Salzburg]], [[Reichsgau Styria|Styria]], [[Reichsgau Tirol-Vorarlberg|Tyrol]], [[Reichsgau Upper Danube|Upper Austria]], [[Reichsgau Vienna|Vienna]], [[Reichsgau Tirol-Vorarlberg|Vorarlberg]] |- | [[Robert Ley]], Acting || Bavaria || [[Gau Bayreuth|Lower Bavaria-Upper Palatinate]], [[Gau Mainfranken|Lower Franconia]], [[Gau Franconia|Middle Franconia]], [[Gau Munich-Upper Bavaria|Munich-Upper Bavaria]], [[Gau Westmark|Rhine Palatinate]], [[Gau Swabia|Swabia]], [[Gau Bayreuth|Upper Franconia]] |- | [[Martin Mutschmann]]|| Saxony-Thuringia || [[Gau Saxony|Saxony]], [[Gau Thuringia|Thuringia]] |- | [[Jakob Sprenger]] || Southwest || [[Gau Baden|Baden]], [[Gau Hesse-Nassau|Hesse-Darmstadt]], [[Gau Electoral Hesse|Hesse-Nassau North]], [[Gau Hesse-Nassau|Hesse-Nassau South]], [[Gau Württemberg-Hohenzollern|Württemberg-Hohenzollern]] |- | [[Heinrich Haake ]] || West || [[Gau Dusseldorf|Dusseldorf]], [[Gau Essen|Essen]], [[Gau Moselland|Koblenz-Trier]], [[Gau Cologne-Aachen|Cologne-Aachen]], [[Gau Saarland|Saarland]] |- |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite book |last=Clark |first= Jeff |title= Uniforms of the NSDAP |location=Atglen, PA |publisher=Schiffer Publishing |year= 2007 |isbn=978-0764-32579-3}} * {{cite book |last=Orlow|first= Dietrich|title= The History of the Nazi Party: 1919-1933|publisher= University of Pittsburgh Press|year= 1969|isbn=0-8229-3183-4}} * {{cite book |last=Stachura|first= Peter D|title= Gregor Strasser and the Rise of Nazism|location= London|publisher= George Allen & Unwin Ltd.|year= 1983|isbn=978-0-04943-027-3}}
{{Nazi Germany Paramilitary Ranks}}
[[Category:Nazi political ranks]]