German Leadership

Chief Executives ...

Uncertain authorship (?Bundesarchiv)

From left, Heinrich Himmler (Reichfuhrer SS), Ernst Rohm (Leader of the SA stormtroopers) and Dr. Hans Lammers (State Secretary of the Reich Chancellery). Autumn, 1933 is the most likely date. Lammers is a somewhat problematic figure. He occupied the position of State Secretary at the Reich Chancellary from 1933 to the very end. This placed him in an absolutely central position in the Nazi civil service, a crucial link in conveying orders, instructions and decrees from the Fuhrer to the general administration, to the Nazi Party, and to organisations of the Party - both written and unwritten. In the final phase of Nazi rule, he appears to have, in effect, shared with Martin Bormann the function of "controlling" access to the increasingly inaccessible Hitler. Unlike Bormann, Lammers presented as a "mere functionary" - someone who really was "only obeying orders" - but one wonders. After the war, Lammers was not tried in the major War Crimes Trial; he was, however, tried in the "Ministries Trial", and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. In the event, he was released in 1952, and died of natural causes in 1962. Best regards, JR.