Blomberg-Fritsch Affair
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The Blomberg-Fritsch Affair (also known as Blomberg-Fritsch-Krise or Blomberg-Fritsch crisis) were two related scandals in early 1938 that resulted in the subjugation of the German Wehrmacht to Adolf Hitler who had been dissatisfied with these two highest ranking military officials, regarding them as too hesitant towards the war preparations he demanded (see Hossbach Memorandum).
The affair started after the 12 January 1938 marriage of War Minister Werner von Blomberg when a policeman reported that the young bride was a former prostitute, which violates the standard of conduct for officers as defined by Blomberg himself earlier. This was a shock to Hitler himself who, as Hermann Göring, had been Blomberg's best man. Hitler ordered Blomberg to annul the marriage in order to avoid a scandal and to preserve the integrity of the army. Blomberg refused to annul the marriage, and when Göring threatened to make his wife's past public knowledge, consequently resigned all of his posts on 27 January 1938.
This event inspired Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler to arrange a similar affair for Commander-in-Chief Werner von Fritsch, as Göring did not want Fritsch to become the successor to Blomberg and thus his superior, and Himmler wanted to weaken the Wehrmacht and its mainly aristocratic leaders, in order strengthen his Schutzstaffel and especially the Waffen-SS as a competitor to the regular army.
A few days later, Fritsch was accused of being a homosexual by Himmler and the SS, who produced a police file which the Gestapo had already shown to Hitler in 1935 (who then had rejected it and ordered its destruction). It is reported [1] that Fritsch was encouraged by General Ludwig Beck to carry out a military putsch against the State, but that he declined and resigned on 4 February 1938, to be replaced by Walther von Brauchitsch, whom von Fritsch himself had recommended for the post. Hitler used the situation to transfer the duties of the Reichskriegsministerium to a new organization — the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht — and Wilhelm Keitel, who became the new head of the OKW on 4 February 1938.[2] This weakened the traditional Oberkommando des Heeres (Army High Command) which was now subordinated. Also, Hitler took advantage of the situation by replacing several generals and ministers with people even more loyal to him, taking more effective de facto control of the Wehrmacht which he de jure commanded. These changes were protested by some senior members in the Wehrmacht, most notably General Ludwig Beck.
Soon, it became known that the charges were false, the file was about someone with a similar name (Rittmeister von Frisch). Himmler then presented a witness who supported the charge. The Wehrmacht demanded that an honour court of officers examined the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair as it was called by now - it was presided over by Hermann Göring himself, though. The witness claimed to recognise von Fritsch as an officer whom he had witnessed in a homosexual act with a man known (in translation) as "Bavarian Joe". [3]. The witness turned out to be a Munich streetwalker who was bribed to buttress the accusation. The man called Otto Schmidt had a long criminal record, his chief criminal activity was spying on and then blackmailing homosexuals.
The officers were appalled about the maltreatment of Fritsch, and in the next meeting, Himmler, Göring and even Hitler might have come under pressure - but the successful Anschluss on March 12 silenced all critics. The witness withdrew his accusation, and was murdered later on. Fritsch was acquitted on March 18, but the damage to his name was done, he was never reinstated as the Commander-in-Chief.
However, bound to the personal oath to Hitler (Reichswehreid of 1934, issued by Blomberg) taken by the members of the Wehrmacht, little action came of the resentment felt by many in the service. Thus the stage was set for the Wehrmacht to be merely an instrument of Hitler's will and ultimately for its destruction.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Wheeler-Bennett Nemesis p369
- ^ Keitel, according to his memoirs, had met with Hitler on 26 January 1938 to discuss Blomberg's successor. At this meeting Keitel records that Hitler showed him the indictment against Fritsch under Paragraph 175 of the penal code and explained that despite his efforts to supress the matter it had now come to a head. See In the Service of the Reich Irving P.51
- ^ Hans Gisevius To the Bitter End, p 229
