Wilhelm Stuckart Statesman of the Third Reich Date of Birth: 16.11.1902 Country: Germany

Biography of Wilhelm Stuckart

Wilhelm Stuckart was a prominent state official of the Third Reich. He served as the State Secretary of the Imperial Ministry of Science, Art, and Public Education from July 3, 1934, to November 14, 1934, and later as the State Secretary of the Imperial and Prussian Ministries of Interior from June 30, 1936, until April 30, 1945. He also acted as the Acting Reich Minister of Interior and Reich Minister of Science, Education, and Public Education from May 3 to May 23, 1945.

Early Life and Education
Wilhelm Stuckart was born to a railway official. He received his legal education at the University of Frankfurt and the University of Munich. In 1919-1922, he led the youth group of the German National People's Party in Wiesbaden. For his opposition to the French in 1923, he was arrested twice. In December 1922, he joined the NSDAP (again on December 1, 1930, with membership number 378,144). From 1923 to 1924, he worked in a bank. On December 9, 1930, he became a district judge in Rüdesheim, and on March 9, 1931, he joined the regional court in Wiesbaden. In February 1932, he was accused of assisting the NSDAP and was dismissed from government service. He then worked as a lawyer in Stettin. On March 15, 1932, he joined the SA. In 1932, he led the establishment of SA and SS units in Pomerania. After the NSDAP came to power, he became a member of the Pomeranian Provincial Landtag from March 12, 1933. From April 4 to May 15, 1933, he served as the Acting Mayor of Stettin. He was then transferred to the Prussian Ministry of Science, Art, and Public Education, where he received the rank of Ministerial Director on May 15, 1933, and was appointed as the head of the School Department. On June 30, 1933, he became a State Secretary. From September 15, 1933, he served as a Prussian State Councilor. On September 13, 1936, he joined the SS (membership number 280,042).

State Secretary and Legal Career
From July 3, 1934, Stuckart served as the State Secretary of the Imperial Ministry of Science, Art, and Public Education, which was created based on the Prussian Ministry. He immediately clashed with Reich Minister Bernhard Rust and his close circle and was dismissed on November 14, 1934. From February 1, 1935, he became the President of the Upper Provincial Court in Darmstadt. On March 11, 1935, he was appointed as the head of the Department of Constitutional and Legislative Affairs in the Imperial Ministry of Interior, a position he held until May 1945. He was regarded as one of the Reich's best jurists and was one of the authors of the official commentaries on the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, which promoted antisemitism. From June 30, 1936, he concurrently served as the State Secretary for Administration and Law in the Imperial and Prussian Ministries of Interior and led the group of administrative law lawyers in the National Socialist Lawyers' League. In March 1936, he also became the Chairman of the "Imperial Committee for the Protection of German Blood" ("Reichsausschuss zum Schutze des deutschen Blutes"), and on September 2, 1936, he became the Chairman of the Administrative Law Section of the Academy of German Law. On April 1, 1937, he became the President of the German Section of the International Institute of Administrative Law in Brussels. Stuckart's responsibilities in the Imperial Ministry of Interior expanded over time, and by 1943, he was in charge of key issues such as civil defense, administration, personnel, and communal infrastructure. He oversaw jurisdiction matters of government institutions, civil service, citizenship, and racial identity. In March 1938, Stuckart drafted the document that formalized the annexation of Austria (signed on March 13, 1938), as well as documents regarding the incorporation of the Sudetenland, Memel, Danzig, and other territories into the Reich. From September 5, 1939, to August 20, 1943, he served as the Deputy and Chief of Staff to Wilhelm Frick, the General Plenipotentiary for the Imperial Administration, and from December 7, 1939, he was a member of the General Council for the Four-Year Plan. From January 30, 1942, he was part of the Main Office for Reich Security (RSHA) within the SS. Stuckart represented the Imperial Ministry of Interior at the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, where the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" was discussed. He vehemently opposed the deportation of mixed-race Jews and suggested sterilizing all non-Aryans as a safeguard against mixed marriages. On August 25, 1943, Stuckart was appointed as the representative of Reich Minister of Interior Heinrich Himmler for matters concerning the Imperial Administration. After Adolf Hitler's death, he assumed the duties of the Reich Minister of Interior and the Reich Minister of Science, Education, and Public Education from May 3, 1945. Along with other members of the government, he was arrested on May 23, 1945.

Post-War Life and Controversy
After the war, Stuckart was brought to trial by the American Military Tribunal in the Wilhelmstrasse case. On April 11, 1949, he was sentenced to 3 years, 10 months, and 20 days of imprisonment. He was released in January 1951 and lived in West Berlin. In the young Federal Republic of Germany, Stuckart quickly resumed his career. He became the Managing Director of the Institute for Economic Development in Lower Saxony. In 1950, during another denazification process, he was classified as a "fellow traveler" of the Nazis. In 1952, he was fined 50,000 marks by a court in West Berlin. Besides his professional pursuits, Stuckart engaged in active political activities and became the Chairman of the State Board of the "Association of the Dispossessed and Deprived of Homeland and Rights" ("Bund der Heimatvertriebenen und Entrechteten") in Lower Saxony on October 23, 1951. In 1952, Stuckart became a member of the banned neo-Nazi Socialist Imperial Party. He died in a car accident.