Ernst Leonhardt
| Ernst Leonhardt | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Ernst Leonhardt September 25, 1885 Tracy City, Grundy County, Tennessee USA |
| Died |
March 26, 1945 Oberndorf am Neckar, Rottweil (district), Baden-Württemberg, Germany |
| Citizenship | American (by birth), Swiss (until 1943), German |
| Occupation | Army officer |
| Known for | Nazi politician and propagandist |
Political party | National Front, Volksbund, Schweizerische Gesellschaft der Freunde einer Autoritären Demokratie, Nationalsozialistischer Schweizerbund, Nationalsozialistische Bewegung in der Schweiz |
Biography
Ernst Leonhardt was born to a German-born Swiss father on September 25, 1885 in Tracy City, Grundy County, Tennessee, United States of America.[1] Leonhardt moved to Switzerland at an early age to attend school at Basel, before joining the Swiss Army, where he rose to the rank of major.[2]
Leonhardt became involved in politics in 1932 when he joined the National Front, and before long he had risen to the rank of Gauführer (equivalent to Gauleiter) in both Basel-City and the Canton of Solothurn.[2] However he clashed with his superiors and in 1933 he left the Front and set up his own Volksbund with fellow dissident Emil Sonderegger.[2] The group was dominated by the forceful personality of Leonhardt, a strong factor in its failure to attract much of a following.[2] He also founded the Schweizerische Gesellschaft der Freunde einer Autoritären Demokratie (SGAD) in 1938 (a group officially banned in 1940, although in existence until 1941[2]), whilst he was also a member of Franz Burri's Nationalsozialistischer Schweizerbund and Nationalsozialistische Bewegung in der Schweiz.[2]
Although Leonhardt continued to be involved in Swiss pro-Nazi movements, he had in fact relocated to Germany in 1939 and continued his activism from there.[2] He worked closely with Burri to distribute Nazi propaganda into Switzerland, whilst also recruiting volunteers for the SS[1] and arguing for an Anschluss-style takeover of Switzerland by Hitler. Leonhardt's Swiss citizenship was revoked in 1943 due to this idea.[2] In his absence, the Swiss courts found Leonhardt guilty of attacking the Swiss Confederation's independence and illegally recruiting for a foreign military (i. e. the SS) sentencing him to fifteen and a half years in prison.[1] However, he remained free in Germany for the rest of his life, continuing to produce propaganda.[2] He was killed in an air raid on March 26, 1945 in Oberndorf am Neckar, Rottweil (district), Baden-Württemberg, Germany.[1][2]
See also
References
External links
- Courtroom Battle of World War II (Part 1 of 3). contains information on the careers and fates of some of the Nazi collaborators.
- Courtroom Battles of World War II (Part 2 of 3).
- Courtroom Battles of World War II (Part 3 of 3).
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