Lutze, Victor.

Lutze, Victor, born 28-12-1890 in Bevergern, Niedersachsen, one year after Adolf Hitler (did you know), the son of a peasant craftsman. After a short career in the post office, he joined the German Army in 1912, serving with the 55th Infantry Regiment. He fought in the 369th Infantry Regiment and 15th Reserve Infantry Regiment during World War I. He became a company commander and was heavily wounded four times, including the loss of his left eye. After the war, Lutze became a merchant and joined the police force. During the 1^st World War, Lutze rose from private to officer. Entered the NSDAP in 1922, quickly began to climb the hierarchical ladder brown. Lutze became an associate of Franz Pfeffer von Salomon,  the first leader of the SA . Together, they determined the structure of the organization. In 1925 he became deputy Gauleiter of the Ruhr, and in 1928 SA Oberführer. In 1930, Lutze became a member of the Reichstag from the Nazi party from the electoral district of Hannover-Brunswick. In 1933, with the rank of Obergruppenfuhrer or General, was appointed president of Hanover policeman and a member of the Prussian State Council. 30-06-1934, during the events of “Night of Long Knives”, Lutze accompanied Hitler to Bad Wiessee, which were seized by Ernst Röhm

and other SA leaders, like SA Obergruppenführer, Edmund Heines and Johannes Schweighart,  in hotel Hanselbauer.

Lutze’s participation in the Night of the Long Knives in 1934 was very important, as it was he who informed Hitler about Ernst Röhm’s anti-regime activities. Hitler at first said, “We’ll have to let the thing ripen”. In preparation for the purge, both Heinrich Himmler and his deputy Reinhard Heydrich,  chief of the SS Security Service (SD) , assembled dossiers of manufactured evidence to suggest that Röhm was going to overthrow Hitler. Meanwhile Hermann Göring (did you know)

(see Göring Peter),  Himmler, Heydrich and Lutze, at Hitler’s direction, drew up lists of those who should be liquidated starting with seven top SA officials and ending with many more Following the execution of Röhm by SS Obergruppenführer, Theodore  Eicke  and SS-Obersturmbannführer Michael Lippert, Lippert left with glasses, died age 72, on 01-09-1969 in Wuppertal and is described as “filled with a dangerous and unrepentant fanaticism”. At least 85 people died during the purge, although the final death toll may have been in the hundreds. Hitler appointed in Röhm’s place Victor Lutze, his loyal follower. Hitler gave Lutze special order, which consisted of 20 paragraphs, in which members of the SA prohibits the consumption of alcoholic beverages, unnatural sex, car rides, fornication and parties.

 Lutze is described as possessing a shrill unpleasant voice and thought the “SA boys received him coolly”. In Leni Riefenstahl´s

Triumph of the Will, however, Lutze is seen being mobbed by the SA as he departed at the end of his evening rally speech. His automobile can barely make it through the crowd, in fact. He is also the only speaker other than Hitler who receives the dramatic low angle shots of Lutze alone at the podium. Only Hitler, Heinrich Himmler (Did you know),

and Victor Lutze are shown in the march to the World War I cenotaph, where they laid a wreath.

   The makers of the film were giving the little known Lutze some of the prestige of Hitler.

Viktor Lutze was married to Paula, born Lehmann (1900–1954). From the marriage, depending on the source, three or four children have sprung up. Inge Lutze died in the car accident near Potsdam on 02-05-1943.Viktor Lutze Jr. (born 29-02-1924 in Wuppertal-Elberfeld) died on 20-06-1944 as a leutnant in the Wehrmacht on the invasion front; it rests on the war cemetery in La Cambe. Adolf “Addi” Lutze died in a car accident in 1957. Family seat (since 1938) and grave of the Lutzes was or is Gut Saltenhof (is now used as a hotel) in Bevergern near Hörstel Westphalia.

Death and burial ground of Lutze, Victor.

Lutze here with Karl Dönitz maintained his position in the weakened SA until his death. He felt powerless, superfluous and inclined to alcoholism. On 01-05-1943 he was sitting in a car, his son Victor Jr. was driving, near Potsdam with his entire family, one account suggests they were foraging for food as the crashed car was full with ham, eggs and flour. Driving too fast in a curve caused an accident that badly injured Lutze as well as killing his oldest daughter Inge and greatly injuring his younger daughter.   Lutze, on the evening before his 50th birthday with Adolf Hitler; between Hitler and Lutze in the background Lutze’s son Victor Jr. can be seen

  Viktor Lutze, age 52, died 03-05-1943 during an operation in a hospital in the Potsdamer Städtischen Hospital am at 10:30 the next evening. News reports stated that the accident involved another vehicle, keeping the news of reckless driving from the public. This may have contributed to theories that Lutze was killed just as Röhm had been, or that partisans assassinated him. Hitler ordered Joseph Goebbels (see Harold Quandt)   to convey his condolences to Viktor’s wife Paula and son Viktor Jr. Joseph Goebbels (did you know),  in his diaries, had already described Lutze as a man of “unlimited stupidity” but at his death decided he was a decent fellow. Lutze was 52 years old. The esteem in which he was held is indicated by the fact that Hitler ordered a lavish state funeral for him on 07-05-1943 in the Reich Chancellery and attended in person, something he rarely did at that stage in the war.   After Lutze’s death in August 1943 the tax authorities determined that he had an ignorant  fortune of 396.000 RM  for which he had not payed tax for years.

   Lutze was posthumously awarded the Highest Grade of the German Order by Hitler. Hitler also took this opportunity to order party, army, and government officials, many of whom were in attendance, to curtail speeding, specifically requesting they drive no faster than 50 miles per hour and other reckless behavior. Lutze was, from Mai 1943, first succeeded by SS Obergruppenführer Max Jüttner , he died age 65, on 14-08-1963 in Munich and was the brother of SS Obergruppenführer, Leiter SS Führungshauptamt, Hans Jüttner.  Wilhelm Schepmann, he died age 76, on 26-07-1970, in Gifhorn, also an SA General, Obergruppenführer in Nazi Germany and the last Stabschef, Chief of Staff, of the Nazi Stormtroopers, succeeded Max Jüttner from August 1943. Schepmann began working to restore the morale and the esteem of the SA and also began cooperating with the SS. He stated, “I will support the Waffen-SS just as much as any other part of the armed forces. The Waffen-SS has been heroic.” He is the father of Richard Schepmann, head of the Neo-Nazi publishing house Teut-Verlag, who was jailed in 1983 for inciting racial hatred. Pictures recovered from Lutze’s house by the Allies depict a family man who enjoyed day-trips and ping pong. Lutze was one of the few to receive the Golden Party Badge  and Adolf Hitler’s own Golden Party Badge had the number ‘1’. He awarded it to Magda Goebbels  on 27-04-1945, less than 48 hours before he committed suicide in his Führerbunker. She called it “The greatest honour any German could receive”. It was awarded to her for being “The Greatest Mother in the Reich”. The ‘1’ badge was stolen from a display in Russia in 2005. The guards thought that a cat had set off the alarms and this allowed the burglar to escape.

    Victor Lutze and his family are buried on a private spot near hotel “Saltenhof”, along the stream the AA, in Bevergern, see plan. The estate was build for Lutze in 1938 and is now hotel Saltenhof. 

Nuremberg Luitpoldhain Nazi Party Rally Grounds Hall of Honour Arcade Southeast Nuremberg.    

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