Carl Röver

Carl Georg Röver (born 12 February 1889 in Lemwerder – died 15 May 1942 in Berlin) was a German Nazi Party official. His main posts were as Gauleiter of Weser-Ems and Reichsstatthalter of Oldenburg/Bremen.

Early years

Röver saw service in the First World War, initially with the regular army before joining the Propaganda department of the Oberste Heeresleitung. He became a member of the Nazi Party in 1923.^[1] He also joined the Sturmabteilung, rising to the rank of Obergruppenführer.^[1]

Nazi career

Already before the Nazis came to power, Carl Röver acted as Gauleiter in Oldenburg, that by 1932 was already ruled by the National-Socialists. When in September 1932 the Oldenburg superior church council, the executive board of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg, decided to give permission to use the St. Lambert's Church in Oldenburg city for the sermon of the African Pastor Robert Kwami Röver reacted immediately, directing racist tirades against Kwami, the Norddeutsche Mission and the superior church council demanding to postpone the sermon. The Nazi-party called upon the State Ministry of Oldenburg, the Nazi-dominated state government, to stop the sermon.^[2] Despite the public threats by the local Nazis that were later become known as the so-called Kwami Affair, the sermon was carried out as planned September 20, 1932. Röver was appointed to the post of Reichsstatthalter for the states of Oldenburg and Bremen in April 1933 after the Nazi regime reorganised local government in Germany.^[3] In this post he played a role in the perpetration of the Holocaust as he personally signed the order for every Jew deported from Bremen during his life.^[4]

However, in this role Röver also clashed with Hermann Göring as the Reichsmarschall, as Minister President of Prussia, made no secret of his desire to incorporate Bremen into Prussia. Röver, however, opposed the move consistently and managed to convince Adolf Hitler to decline Göring's requests.^[5]

He was something of a favourite of Martin Bormann, a fact that helped to ensure that when an Arbeitsbereich ("working sphere" - an external unit of the Nazi Party) was set up in the neighbouring occupied Netherlands most of its staff were drawn from Weser-Ems.^[6]

Death

Röver suffered a stroke in May 1942 and died soon afterwards, Paul Wegener succeeding him as Gauleiter.^[7] His official cause of death was listed as pneumonia.^[1] His state funeral proved a lavish event, with Adolf Hitler himself in attendance and Alfred Rosenberg delivering the eulogoy.^[8] Röver's cause of death is disputed by David Irving, who claims in his book Hitler's War that Röver was killed by Nazi agents who had been sent specifically by Martin Bormann.^[9]

References