Hans Zimmermann

Hans Zimmermann (18 October 1906 – 17 February 1984) was a German Nazi Party official. He served as the Acting Gauleiter of Gau Franconia between February 1940 and April 1942.

For other people named Hans Zimmermann, see Hans Zimmermann (disambiguation).
Hans Zimmermann
Gauleiter of Gau Franconia
Acting
In office
16 February 1940 – 4 April 1942
Preceded byJulius Streicher
Succeeded byKarl Holz
Kreisleiter of Nuremberg
In office
16 July 1934 – 17 April 1945
Personal details
Born(1906-10-18)18 October 1906
Nuremberg, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Died17 February 1984(1984-02-17) (aged 77)
Bayreuth, Bavaria, West Germany
Political partyNazi Party
OccupationMechanical Engineer
Military service
Allegiance Nazi Germany
Branch/serviceGerman Army (1935–1945)
Years of service1942–1943
Battles/warsWorld War II

Early life

Born in Nuremberg, Zimmermann attended volksschule and realschule there through 1923. After a year-and-a-half as a trainee at Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nuernberg, he studied mechanical engineering at the Technische Hochschule Nürnberg and passed his state examination to become a mechanical engineer.[1]

Nazi Party career

Zimmermann joined the Nazi Party on 11 November 1930 (membership number 377,977[2]) and the Sturmabteilung (SA) at the same time. In Nuremberg, Zimmermann functioned from January 1931 through June 1933 as a Party leader in the St. Johannis section of the city, then as an Ortsgruppenleiter (Local Group Leader) and from 16 July 1934 as a Kreisleiter (County Leader). On 27 June 1933, he became managing director of the Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse (AOK) a medical insurance company in Nuremberg, and from May 1939 to May 1945 he was the Director of the National Federation of Local Health Insurers. From May 1933 to 1935, he worked in the City Council (Stadtsrat) of Nuremberg and from 1 October 1935 until May 1945 he was a City Councilor (Ratsherr).[1]

Between 16 February 1940 and 4 April 1942, Zimmermann served as Acting Gauleiter of Franconia, after longtime Gauleiter Julius Streicher had been removed from this post for corruption.[3] On 7 July 1940 he was made a member of the Reichstag for electoral constituency 26, Franconia, and served there until the fall of the Nazi regime in May 1945.[4] From 15 April 1942 to 27 November 1943, he took a temporary leave of absence from Party service to perform military service with the Wehrmacht, serving at an artillery weapons school in France. On 20 April 1943 he was promoted to SA-Oberführer.[5]

On 1 January 1944 he resumed the leadership of the Nuremberg Kreis in the rank of Hauptbereichsleiter of the NSDAP. During the Battle of Nuremberg, he escaped from the city on 17 April 1945. Zimmermann underwent denazification procedures in Nuremberg, but not much else is known about his post-war life.[6]

References
  1. Miller & Schulz 2021, p. 653.
  2. Utho Grieser: Himmlers Mann in Nürnberg. Der Fall Benno Martin. Eine Studie zur Struktur des 3. Reiches in der „Stadt der Reichsparteitage“. (= Nürnberger Werkstücke zur Stadt- und Landesgeschichte. Volume 13) Nuremberg State Archive, Nuremberg 1974, ISBN 3-87432-025-1, p. 312
  3. Joachim Lilla: Übersicht der NSDAP-Gaue, der Gauleiter und der Stellvertretenden Gauleiter zwischen 1933 und 1945 Archived 2017-05-26 at the Wayback Machine auf www.zukunft-braucht-erinnerung.de
  4. "Zimmermann, Hans". verwaltungshandbuch.bayerische-landesbibliothek-online.de (in German). Bayerische Landesbibliothek. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  5. "Zimmermann, Hans". verwaltungshandbuch.bayerische-landesbibliothek-online.de (in German). Bayerische Landesbibliothek. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  6. Miller & Schulz 2021, p. 654.

Sources
  • Höffkes, Karl (1986). Hitlers Politische Generale. Die Gauleiter des Dritten Reiches: ein biographisches Nachschlagewerk. Tübingen: Grabert-Verlag. ISBN 3-87847-163-7.
  • Miller, Michael D.; Schulz, Andreas (2021). Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925 - 1945. Vol. 3 (Fritz Sauckel - Hans Zimmermann). Fonthill Media. ISBN 978-1-781-55826-3.
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