Fritz Sauckel
Biography
Thuringia's Gauleiter for eighteen years and, from 1942, the man Hitler put in charge of forced labour for the entire Reich. He was condemned at Nuremberg and hanged.
Weimar was his seat, 1927–1945
He had been Gauleiter of Thuringia since 1927, which makes him the party's man in this town through the whole of the period — the Bauhaus expulsion, the camp on the Ettersberg, the war. The Gauforum going up in the centre of Weimar was to include a wing for his office as Reichsstatthalter, moving across from the Landesmuseum once the complex was finished.
21 March 1942
On that date Hitler appointed him Generalbevollmächtigter für den Arbeitseinsatz, Plenipotentiary General for Labour Deployment. The Weimar museum that now occupies part of his intended headquarters describes him as principally responsible for the deportation of millions of people into forced labour — the machinery that supplied, among a great many other places, the armaments plants around this town and the prisoners of the camp above it.
Nuremberg, 1946
He was tried before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg and sentenced to death, among other grounds for his principal guilt in the deportation of forced labourers. He was executed on 16 October 1946. The man who ran the Reich's forced labour had his political base here, and the museum of that forced labour now stands inside the complex that was to hold his office.
Questions visitors ask
- What was Fritz Sauckel's role in Weimar?
- Gauleiter of Thuringia from 1927, the party's leading figure in the town through the whole Nazi period; from 1942 he was also in charge of forced labour for the entire Reich.
- What did Fritz Sauckel do as Plenipotentiary General for Labour Deployment?
- Appointed by Hitler on 21 March 1942, he was principally responsible for deporting millions of people into forced labour — supplying, among many other places, the armaments plants around Weimar and the prisoners of the camp above the town.
- What happened to Fritz Sauckel after the war?
- He was tried before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, sentenced to death for his principal guilt in the deportation of forced labourers, and executed on 16 October 1946.
Historical Context
The party's chief in Thuringia through the whole period, and from 1942 the organiser of forced labour across the Reich.
The regime wanted Weimar for what its name meant, and it built a concentration camp on the hill above the town. Both facts belong to the same twelve years.
Read more about this period →Quick Facts
1894
1946
German
In Weimar's history
In Weimar's history
The party built itself an administrative quarter in the middle of Weimar, with a hall for twenty thousand — and used concentration camp prisoners to do it. Most of it is still standing.
The complex's southern wing was built for his office as Reichsstatthalter; the forced-labour museum occupies part of it today.