Bürckel, Josef, born 30-03-1895 in Lingenfeld; in the Bavarian Palatinate, as the son of a tradesman. From 1909 to 1914 he studied to become a teacher in Speyer.
He took part in the First World War as a volunteer. After the war, he continued his training as a teacher and graduated in 1920. From 1921 on wards, he was engaged in nationalist groups, fighting separatism in the Palatinate.
An energetic organizer in the National Socialist movement of the Saar-Palatinate from 1925, the former schoolmaster rose through the ranks to become Gauleiter (Nazi Party leader) for the region in 1934.
On 13-03-1938, Bürckel was appointed acting head of the Party to carry out the referendum on the Anschluss (Austria’s absorption into Germany) . Reichsminister Wilhelm “Willi” Frick
and Gauleiter Bürckel dispose of the Government building after the surrender of the Saarlandes to the Reich.




Bürckel served as Gauleiter of Vienna and Reichsstatthalter (governor) of the region from 30 January 1939 to 7 August 1940, working to further unification with Nazi Germany, including promoting anti-Jewish decrees and seizing Jewish property. He frequently embezzled confiscated money and property instead of turning it over to the state, earning him the displeasure of the Nazi hierarchy and he was eventually removed from his post in Vienna. Upon his return to the Westmark, he continued his previous lifestyle and spent large sums on purchasing artworks.
Following his service as Gauleiter, Bürckel headed the civil administration in Lothringen and from 1941 was governor of the Gau Westmark, composed of the Bavarian Palatinate district, the Prussian Saar territory and the annexed département of Mossela..
From 09-11-1937, he also held a leading position (Gruppenführer ) in the Schützstaffel and the staff of the Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler..



He was married with Hilda Spies and the couple had two sons, Joseph and Hermann, living in Villa Böhm, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse.
Death and burial ground of Bürckel, Josef.




Bürckel here as Minister of State Rudolf Hess
(right) is welcomed at the station by Gouwleider Josef Bürckel (in the middle) and Gauleiter Baldur von Schirach
(left) .died at about 11:04 a.m. in Neustadt-an-der-Weinstrasse on 28-09-1944. A report from Bürckel’s personal physician (since 1936), Gaugesundheitsführer Ewig, dated 28-09-1944, stated that Bürckel was physically and mentally worn out, spending all of his time at work because of the deteriorating situation in his Gau. He suffered an inflammation of the intestine with diarrhea, eventually becoming too ill to continue. Ewig was called in on 26-09-1944. Bürckel soon contracted pneumonia and blood failure. Josef Rowies, another physician, stated on 23-10-1944 that the report of Bürckel’s death sent to the SS-Personalhauptamt (the personnel records office) by Himmler’s personal staff office on 9 October 1944 had been “doctored” to conceal his mental breakdown. The consensus was that he gave up the will to live, dying of the symptoms shown in the death certificate plus exhaustion. On 8 September 1944, in a letter to Martin Bormann
(with whom Bürckel did not get along), Bürckel opined that the lack of combat-ready troops to occupy the defensive line of the Moselle from the boundary of Gau Westmark via the arsenal of Metz-Diedenhofen, south of Saint Avold (part of the Maginot Line), to Sarralbe made construction of defensive positions useless. Bormann responded by dispatching Willi Stöhr an old Nazi member, on the right
(who was to succeed Bürckel after his death) to oversee the construction work. Willi Stöhr, Gauleiter of the Gau Westmark, based in Saarbrücken was in charge of the defence of the city, which fell to the Americans on 20-03-1945. After a period of imprisonment, he emigrated to Canada, where he was still living in 1995; his date of death is unknown, anyway after 1995
Five days after Bürckel’s death, Hitler awarded him the German Order , the highest decoration that the Party could bestow on an individual, for his services to the Reich. Josef Bürckel is buried on the Main cemetery of Neustadt an der Weinstrasse.

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