Diels, Rudolf, born on 16-12-1900 in Berghausen, Taunus, 
a son of a Protestant farmer and cousin of Hermann Göring 
, was a German politician and SS Oberführer 
Rudolf served in the army during World War I and afterwards studied law at the Universaty of Marburg from 1919. At university he had a reputation as a drinker and philanderer. While there he also received a number of dueling scars, like SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto
, a “badge of honour” 
resulting from the academic fencing once practiced by young upper-class Austrians and Germans in trying to prove their manhood. The scars did not greatly detract from his good looks and in fact imparted a quite striking appearance. American tourists visiting Germany in the late 19th century were shocked to see the students, generally with their Studentcorps, at major German universities such as Heidelberg, Bonn or Jena with facial scars – some older, some more recent, and some still wrapped in bandages. Diels joined the Prussian interior ministry in 1930 and was promoted to an advisory position in the Prussian police in 1932, targeting political radicals, both Communists and Nazis. He was head of the Prussian Political Police when Adolf Hitler came to power. Diels was one of the group SA 
members who killed Albrecht “Ali” Höhler a criminal carpenter
and an active member of the local Communist Party branch 
who was sentenced to six years imprisonment for the shooting of the 22 years old SA Sturmführer, Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel
on 23-02-1930. Horst Wessel (09-10-1907 – 23-02-1930, age 22) was a German SA street gangster and, according to some sources, a procurer of prostitutes who became a Sturmführer (“Assault Leader”), the lowest commissioned officer rank in the Sturmabteilung (SA), the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. After his murder in 1930, Joseph Goebbels
turned him into a martyr for the Nazi Party.Wessel first joined a number of youth groups and extreme right-wing paramilitary groups, but later resigned from them and joined the SA, the brownshirted street-fighting stormtroopers of the Nazi Party. He rose to command several SA squads and districts. On 14-01-1930, he was shot in the head by two members of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). Albrecht “Ali” Höhler was arrested and charged with his murder. Höhler was initially sentenced to six years in prison, but was forcibly taken out of jail and killed by the SA after the Nazis came to power.Wessel’s funeral was given wide attention in Berlin, with many of the Nazi elite in attendance. After his death, he became a major propaganda symbol in Nazi Germany. A march Wessel had written the lyrics to was renamed the “Horst-Wessel-Lied” (“Horst Wessel Song”), and became the official anthem of the Nazi Party. After Adolf Hitler came to national power in 1933, the song became the co-national anthem of Germany, along with the first verse of the previous “Deutschlandlied“, also known as “Deutschland über alles“.
from 1933 to 1934. He was married with Hildegard “Hilde” Mannesman, who was the daughter of Alfred Mannesman, who happened to be very wealthy. She was the first wife of Diels. Besides the fact that Hilde had red hair, she clung to Diels like a magnet, even after their divorce in 1936. Diels on 17-01-1943 married Ilse Goering. 
She was the daughter of the Korvettenkapitän Otto Burchard (1865–1904) 
and sister in law of Hermann Göring, Frieda Göring (1875–1929) 
and enjoyed the protection of Hermann Göring. 
Frieda was first married to Karl Ernst Goring, a brother of Hermann and who died 04-10-1932, age 47, in Hanover, Karl Ernst Göring lived in America and had one son Werner G. “Kraut” Göring
who would join the U.S Air Force 
in the war against Germany
US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt‘s first Ambassador to Germany, Martha Dodd.
She had an affair with Rudolf Diels, then head of the Gestapo, and another with a high-ranking German army officer. But she was beginning to register what was really happening in terms of the oppression of the Jews, communists, trade unionists, and anyone else not acceptable to Nazi ideology. Martha Eccles Dodd died old age 81 on 10-08-1990 in Praque.
she engaged in espionage for the Soviet Union from before World War II until the height of the Cold War. Alfred Stern died on 24-06-1986, age 88, in Prague, Czechia, at the age of 88, and was buried in Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, District of Columbia, United States.. However, it is estimated they also employed 160.000 agents and informers. He served in the Army during World War I and when Adolf Hitler (did you know)
(see Alois Hitler) (see parents) (see William Hitler) 
came to power, Diels was head of the Prussian Political Police in Berlin, Josef Goebbels 
was the Gauleiter of Berlin. Hermann Goering (did you know) was made minister for Prussia in 1933 and was impressed with Diels’ work and new commitment to the Nazi party. Goering appointed him as chief of the new Prussian state police department . On 27-02-1933 the Reichstag fire occurred, and Diels was the main interrogator of the principal accused, Marinus van der Lubbe.
Marinus van der Lubbe (13-01-1909 – 10-01-1934, age 24) was a Dutch communist who was tried, convicted, and executed by the German Nazi regime for allegedly setting fire to the Reichstag building – the national parliament of Germany – on 27-02-1933. During his trial, the prosecution argued that van der Lubbe had acted on behalf of a wider communist conspiracy, while left-wing anti-Nazis argued that the fire was a false flag attack arranged by the Nazis themselves. Most historians agree that van der Lubbe acted alone. Nearly 75 years after the event, the German government granted van der Lubbe a posthumous pardon
Arthur Nebe 
to arrange the killing of Gregor Strasser 
in October 1933; ironically Strasser, age 42, was later killed during this Night of the Long Knives in which Diels himself was almost killed. Nebe was sentenced to death by the Volksgericht
, People’s Court and according to official records, was executed in Berlin at Plötzensee Prison on 21-03-1945, age 50, by hanging with piano wire from a meat hook. Nebe was involved in various plots including the 20 July 1944, bomb plot against German dictator Adolf Hitler. Diels soon attracted the attention of political rivals including Heinrich Himmler 
and Reinhard Heydrich. 
Effectively smeared, he narrowly avoided, helped of Goering, execution during the Night of the Long Knives, SA leaders Ernst Julius Röhm, Edmund Heines and August Schneidhuber
was killed, fleeing his post for five weeks. 
When the German Army occupied countries they were accompanied by the Gestapo. When on foreign duties they wore civilian clothes or SS uniforms. They were responsible for rounding up communists, partisans and Jews and others who were considered to be a threat to German rule. The Gestapo quickly developed a reputation for using brutal interrogation methods in order to obtain confessions. Diels maintained his association with Goering, marrying a cousin of his protector. Goering saved him from prison on a number of occasions, notably once in 1940 when he declined to order the arrest of Jews and more vitally after the 20-07-1944. 
He presented an affidavit for the prosecution at the Nuremberg trials but was also summoned to testify by Goering’s defense lawyer.Death and burial ground of Diels, Rudolf.
Message(s), tips or interesting graves for the webmaster: robhopmans@outlook.com
Leave a Reply