Reich Postal Ministry

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Reich Postal Ministry
Berlin Museum fuer Kommunikation asv2019-07.jpg
Reich Postal Ministry Building at Leipziger Straße, Berlin
Agency overview
Formed13 February 1919 (1919-02-13)
Dissolved23 May 1945 (1945-05-23)
Jurisdiction Government of Nazi Germany
Minister responsible
  • See list

The Reich Postal Ministry (German: Reichspostministerium, RPM) in Berlin was the Ministry in charge of the Mail and the Telecommunications of the German Weimar Republic from 1919 until 1933 as well as of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. After the Second World War, the Federal Ministry of Post and Telecommunications in West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany) and the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications in East Germany (German Democratic Republic) took over the postal system in their respective nations.

Contents

Especially during the Nazi era, the Ministry had authority over research and development departments in the areas of television engineering, high-frequency technology, cable (wide-band) transmission, metrology, and acoustics (microphone technology).

Formation

After World War I, in February 1919, the ministry succeeded the former Reichspost agency of the German Empire that had been established in the course of the German unification in 1871. The office building of the Reich Postal Ministry was built between 1871 and 1874 in the Leipziger Straße, Berlin. Today it houses the Museum of Communications.

The hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic created a deficit in the post- and telecommunications services. The act of 1924 (Reichspostfinanzgesetz), created the Deutsche Reichspost (DRP) as an separate entity within the RPM; financially independent, covering their expenditures with user fees, yet organizationally and personnelwise part of the national government and civil service system. Its assets received the status of a special assets, separate from the general government assets. [1]

When the Nazis took control of the government 1933, political prerogatives became decisive, leading to the RPM with the DRP becoming an instrument for the strategic leadership of the government and the Wehrmacht. Political and military directives determined the direction of the structural and technological development of the DRP services. [2] The principle of the DRP as a business enterprise was replaced by the Nazi tenet that the DRP was a government agency exercising important sovereign rights of the State. [3]

During the period 1933–1935, the DRP became politically realigned and used as an instrument for the Nazi economic policy. The period 1936–1939 saw the DRP subordinate to the policy of economic self-sufficiency and preparation for war. [4]

In 1935, when the Territory of the Saar Basin, was incorporated into Germany, the postal and telecommunication services of the territory was integrated into the DRP. [5] With the annexation of Austria in 1938, the Austrian postal and telegraph administration and the postal saving bureau became part of the DRP. [6] During World War II, the DRP became an agency for warfare. [7]

Ministers of Post, 19181945

No.PortraitMinisters of PostTook officeLeft officeTime in officeParty
1
Johannes Giesberts.jpg
Giesberts, Johannes Johannes Giesberts
(1865–1938)
13 February 191914 November 19223 years, 274 days Centre
2
Karl Stingl.jpg
Stingl, Karl Karl Stingl  [ de ]
(1864–1936)
22 November 192212 August 1923263 days BVP
3
Bundesarchiv Bild 102-01314, Anton Hofle (cropped).jpg
Höfle, Anton Anton Höfle  [ de ]
(1882–1925)
13 August 192315 December 19241 year, 124 days Centre
(2)
Karl Stingl.jpg
Stingl, Karl Karl Stingl  [ de ]
(1864–1936)
15 January 192517 December 19261 year, 336 days BVP
4
Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1980-129-18A, Kabinett Muller (cropped).jpg
Schätzel, Georg Georg Schätzel
(1875–1934)
28 January 192730 May 19325 years, 123 days BVP
5
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2005-0119-500, Paul Eltz v. Rubenach.jpg
Eltz, Paul Paul Freiherr von Eltz-Rübenach
(1875–1943)
1 June 19322 February 19374 years, 246 days Independent
6
Wilhelm Ohnesorge.jpg
Ohnesorge, Wilhelm Wilhelm Ohnesorge
(1872–1962)
2 February 193730 April 19458 years, 87 days NSDAP
7
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-E00795, Julius Dorpmuller.jpg
Dorpmüller, Julius Julius Dorpmüller
(1869–1945)
5 May 194523 May 194521 days NSDAP

Organization

During WW2 the organization of the Reichspostministerium was as follows: [8] [9]

Central organization
Central agencies
Subordinate agencies

Deutsche Reichspost

Organization

Services

The following services were provided by the Deutsche Reichspost: [9]

Research activities

Wounded German soldiers watching television in the military hospital 1942. Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2006-0196, Fernsehen im Lazarett.jpg
Wounded German soldiers watching television in the military hospital 1942.

In 1920 the Telegraphentechnische Reichsamt department for telegraphy was established, re-arranged as the Reichspostzentralamt research centre for telegraphy, telephony and radio electronics in 1928.

On 1 January 1937, Department VIII of the former Reichspostzentralamt formed the core of the Forschungsanstalt der Deutschen Reichspost. From that date, the RPM subsumed all research and development departments in the areas of television engineering, high-frequency technology, cable (wide-band) transmission, metrology, and acoustics (microphone technology). The engineer Wilhelm Ohnesorge became the Postal Minister from February of that year. The RPM had its own 500,000-square meter research site in Miersdorf near Zeuthen outside of Berlin. Dr. Friedrich Wilhelm Banneitz, a television authority, was head of research. Dr. Friedrich Vilbig, an authority on high-frequency engineering, [10] was his deputy. [11]

The RPM supported independent research, such as nuclear physics, high-frequency technology, isotope separation, electron microscopy, and communications technology at the private research laboratory Forschungslaboratoriums für Elektronenphysik of Manfred von Ardenne, in Berlin-Lichterfelde. In 1940, the RPM began construction of a cyclotron for von Ardenne; it was completed in 1945. [12] [13]

Postschutz

Postschutz (Postal Protection) was a paramilitary unit of the DRP with a mission to protect post and telecommunication installations from armed attacks. All male postal employees could become volunteer members of the Postschutz. For all new employees from 1933, under the age of 35, it was mandatory. In 1942, the postal protection was subsumed into the Allgemeine SS ; this was just one more step in the national socialization of the Deutsche Reichspost. [14]

Air Raid Precautions

The object of the Postluftschutz (air raid precautions) was to protect the customers, personnel and installations of the DRP from the danger of air raids. The implementation of the air raid precautions rested with the Postal Protection until 1944, when the war made it mandatory for the Postal Protection to focus on its military mission. [15]

References

  1. Thomas, Frank (1995). Telefonieren in Deutschland. Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, p. 212.
  2. Frank 1995 op.cit., p. 253.
  3. Körner, Erich (1939). Die Deutsche Reichspost im nationalsozialistischen Aufbau. Berling, p. 8.
  4. Frank 1995 op.cit., p. 254.
  5. Schilly, Ernst (1971). "Geschichte des Post- und Fernmeldewesens im Saarland 1920–1970." Archiv für Deutsche Postgeschichte (2), p. 16.
  6. "Generaldirektion für die Post- und Telegraphenverwaltung 1. Republik, 1919 - 1938." Österreichisches Staatsarchiv. 2020-01-01.
  7. Frank 1995 op.cit., p. 254.
  8. 1 2 "NSDAP und Reichsregierung." findbuch.at. 2019-12-30.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (1944). Handbook for Military Government in Germany. W.J.B. Ltd., p. 1050-1054.
  10. Fritz Vilbig Lehrbuch der Hochfrequenztechnik (Geest & Portig, 1960)
  11. Hentschel and Hentschel, 1996, Appendix C; see the entry for Reichspostministerium.
  12. Oleynikov, 2000, 6-7.
  13. Hentschel and Hentschel, 1996, 354 and Appendix C; see the entry for Reichspostministerium.
  14. Hentschel and Hentschel, 1996, Appendix C; see the entry for Reichspostministerium.
  15. Hampe, Erich (1963). Der Zivile Luftschutz im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Frankfurt am Main, p. 506.

Literature

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