Stille Hilfe

The Stille Hilfe für Kriegsgefangene und Internierte (quiet Assistance for the Prisoners of war and the Internees) is an organization of mutual aid founded in 1951 by the Princess (1900-1974) with the profit of the war criminal stopped Nazis, condemned or in escape.

As of 1946, collaborators, who were going thereafter also to openly become active within " Stille Hilfe" , primarily supported the escape of Nazi criminals sought through dies of exfiltration bound for the Latin America. These dies were named by the allies. Thus for example Adolf Eichmann, and Josef Mengele could gain the Argentine. Moreover, these collaborators worked narrowly with the organization ODESSA (Organization DER ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen) and the bishop with Rome. In 1949, the auxiliary bishop Johannes Neuhäusler and the ex-bishop evangelic founded the organization " Christliche Gefangenhilfe" (Christian assistance with the prisoners).

Foundation

Whereas the initial chiefs of the future movement had already created an active network for a long time, an association of public utility was created, with the first chief to facilitate the harvest of gifts. The October 7th 1951, the assembly founder take place with Munich and the November 15th 1951 association was registered with the register of the companies of the Bavarian city of Wolfratshausen. The Princess Helene Elisabeth von Isenburg, who was to allow the integration of association thanks to her relations within the nobility and of the preserving circles of the upper middle class like in the Catholic church, was elected by it president. Moreover, among the founding members appeared not only of eminent representatives of the churches like the ex-bishop of the evangelic church for the Wurtemberg Theophil Wurm and the catholic auxiliary bishop of Munich Johannes Neuhäusler, but also of former civils servant of high ranking of the Third Reich like old the Standartenführer S and head of division of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA), and the Obersturmbannführer, which was the personal person in charge of Ernst Kaltenbrunner.

Objectives and activity until the middle of the Fifties

The Princess Helene Elisabeth von Isenburg explained her objectives in the following way:

“at the beginning of its activity, the " Stille Hilfe" primarily took with them the needs for the prisoners of war and the private internees for straight. Thereafter, its attention went on the defendants and internees within the framework of the lawsuits having made following the war, that they are imprisoned in the prisons of the winners or house of sorrow allemandes”.

Upon the departure, the lawsuits of the war criminals and the lawsuits which followed were defamed like component a justice of the winners in order to mobilize the public opinion and to preserve the defendants and condemned effective execution of the capital punishment.

Through press campaigns, personal writings, petitions, speeches, open letters, and of good of other means, the Nazi criminals were in general presented like innocent victims, pure executants and often also like sincere believers, constrained to undergo a bitter injustice because of justice of the winner.

As the Princess von Isenburg was worried above all the Nazi criminals condemned to died and locked up in the prison of Landsberg, it was not only called the mother of Landsbergeois, but it described itself thus, in order to reveal to the first chief Stille Hilfe like an charity association.

The legal aid intended for the war criminals interned at the beginning was organized primarily by the lawyer Rudolf Aschenauer, who wrote and deposited also recourse in grace or revision. Moreover, association also paid allowances of vacancy, dismissal and Christmas to the prisoners and supported also their families. Moreover, activities of the " Stille Hilfe" did not limit itself only to " the humanitaire" , but it also pursued a goal with ideology passeist and Révisionniste.

The Princess von Isenburg managed to imply preserving circles and to gain as a moral guarantee of the representatives of high ranking of the churches: Theophilus Wurm and Johannes Neuhäusler (1888-1973). Neuhäusler in particular, which under the Nazis had not been only held by the Gestapo, but had been imprisoned with the concentration camp of Dachau as a prisoner, was for the " Stille Hilfe" of great importance on the plan of the public relations. The reasons for the bishop were however much less in one voluntary identification with the Nazi criminals but rather in an effort of reconciliation with the past and re-creation of the company of post-war period in Germany. He explained in particular why he wanted “to refund the bad things with the good ones”.

In addition so much the Princess von Isenburg that the Aschenauer lawyer maintained above all the relations with the organizations old S and with the circle built around Werner Neumann, which could be already formed partly in the prison camps consisted the Allies. The Princess von Isenburg utilized for her actions a whole series of organizations and associations such as for example the " " (association of the workers for the rescue of the prisoners of Landsberg), which in the beginning was financed by the churches.

Activities until our days

After the churches were largely withdrawn from the " Stille Hilfe" in 1958, at the time of the end of the great lawsuits relating to and the setting war crimes in freedom of the last held Nazi criminals with Landsberg, association was directed almost exclusively towards the old line.

In the years which followed, the " Stille Hilfe" acts rather in clandestinity within a narrow network in company of organizations revisionists and eminent defenders of the thesis of the lie of Auschwitz like and worked with organizations or people related to these circles (for example, Leon Degrelle) abroad. At the same time, it maintained the contacts with preserving politicians like Franz Josef Strauss, Jörg Haider and probably also, although for this last there do not exist concrete evidence.

Thanks to substantial heritages and regular gifts, association has since its foundation until now financial means considerable. As association does not publish its annual accounts, one can only evaluate his incomes: the only gifts (other than the heritages) would have represented at least until the end of the Nineties of the annual receipts of: 60000 with: 80000 €.

The " Stille Hilfe" supported the defendants in the lawsuit of Majdanek held with Düsseldorf, such as for example the former guardian (Brigitte the Bloody one) and later in particular Klaus Barbie, and Josef Schwammberger, which was of 1942 to 1944 the commander of the camps of Polish work of Przemysl and Rozwadow. There exists an uncertainty as for the fact of knowing if the " Stille Hilfe" took share with the release of Roman prison in 1977.

After the Princess von Isenburg who held the presidency until 1959, association was chaired by old leading " Bund Deutscher Mädel " Gertrude Herr and Adelheid Klug. Since 1992 the presidency is held by Horst Janzen, which was previously the auditor and who attended the lawsuit of Majdanek to Düsseldorf as a rapporteur and an observer on behalf of association. Our day, association counts approximately 40 members and this number is in reduction. Existing contacts with the " " (association of assistance to the national political prisoners), an association of extreme right-hand side, intensified in order to ensure a continuity.

From 1976, association had its seat with Bremen-Osterholz. It then was moved in 1989 with Rotenburg (Wümme) and is located since 1992 at Wuppertal. In 1993-1994, with the Bundestag a debate was held on the character of public utility of radical associations of right-hand side revisionists. The administration of finances exerted controls. Ultimately, decided it in November 1999 that the " Stille Hilfe" was to see itself withdrawing its approval like organization of public utility.

Since years, the " Stille Hilfe" have an eminent figurehead: Gudrun Burwitz, the proper girl of Heinrich Himmler, often called by its members " Püppi" is an idol of the " Stille Hilfe" and of those which revolve in its orbit. At meetings these circles of extreme right-hand side like that of the Ulrichberg in Austria, it seemed high-speed motorboat and authority at the same time on the treated questions. Gudrun Burwitz engaged during the last years in an intensive way in favor of the Nazi criminals.

This appeared in a particularly clear way in the case of. Malloth, which had lived nearly 40 years in the Italian city of Merano without being worried, was extradited of Italy towards the Germany in 1988. He however was condemned for his acts as a controller of the Concentration camp of Theresienstadt only in 2001 by a court of Munich to the life imprisonment. For that, it had been necessary that the federal parquet floor of Munich takes again the procedure initiated by the federal parquet floor of Dortmund which had let it trail in length. From 1988 to 2000, Malloth had lived with Pullach, the South of Munich. Gudrun Burwitz had found to him on the spot, via the " Stille Hilfe" , a room in a high level seniorery which, ironically, was built on a piece of ground which, at the time of third Reich, had belonged to the dolphin of Hitler, Rudolf Hess. When it appeared at the end of the Nineties that the administration of the social security (and thus money of the German taxpayers) had mainly financed subsistence expenses of Malloth in this seniorery, a wave of criticisms submerged the media, including with regard to the participation of the girl of Himmler, Gudrun Burwitz, in this business.

References

Oliver Schröm & Adrea Röpke, Stille Hilfe für braune Kameraden , Christoph Links Verlag, 2002,
Franziska Hundseder, Rechte machen Kasse, Droemer Knaur Verlag , 1995,
Ernst Klee, Was sy taten - Was sy wurden, Fischer Taschenbuch (4364), 12. Edition 1998,
Ernst Klee, Persilscheine und falsche Pässe, Fischer Tachenbuch (10956), 5. ED. 1991.

External bonds

Information in German
the friends of Püppi
Püppi helps the former companions
the current activities of Stille Hilfe on BBC News Online
a press release of the center Simon Wiesenthal

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