WWI German Pilots who Joined Nazi Party

[Simon Oliver Lockwood]

Mike mentioned Erhard Milch. My understanding is that he was not a pilot, but rather a non-flying administrative officer. Bodenschatz was also a non-flying officer.

[Hal Oele]

Hi Folks,
you are looking for members of the NSDAP? Why? Upon reading the commentaries here it seems to me a bunch of people are engaged in a blind mans search for a needle in a haystack. Most of you seem to be firmly in the 14/18 drawer and have never bothered to venture beyond the ww1 aera. Now the guessing game starts. What is so important about a NSDAP membership?
In the generalized way this is being discussed here it looses all relevance.
It starts getting interesting when one takes the date of entry (into the party) into consideration. From a critical viewpoint the initial focus should be on those members that entered before 1933 as they were certainly ideologically motivated. A large proportion of them were organized in units of the SS or SA and wore the black and brown uniforms. From 1931 onwards the SS- and SA-Fliegerstuerme were established and several thousand ‘flyers’ joined.

When 1934 with the first wave of reactivation thousands of former ww1 flyers joined the Wehrmacht (undercover until 1935) they had to put their party membership on ice as it was forbidden for members of the Wehrmacht to be a member of a political organisation. Most did not leave the party but kept a dormant membership in place as they did not know what it might be good for in the future. When the masses joined the party in 1933 the relevance of the membership declines in importance (with a few notable exceptions). Opportunistic and insecure followers are not really worthwhile focusing on individually 99% of the time.

Let us look at some examples:
In the government (not Wehrmacht), numerous flyers were to be found…
From the top obviously Göring.
In the ministries amongst others. Robert Ley / FAA 202 (Reichstrunkenbold[Reichspisshead was his nickname] / Deutsche Arbeitsfront [German Workers Front).
Reichstagsmitglieder (members of parliament) such as Ewald Oppermann / FA 13 who was acting Generalkommissar (general commissioner) for Nikolajew in ww2 and one of those responsible for the murder of the jewish population. Günther Ziegler / Jasta 26, who, conducted Hitlers propaganda flights as early as 1931. Gauleiter like Duesseldorf’s Friedrich-Karl Florian / Jasta 51. SS and Police officers such as Karl Schmueckle / Jasta 15 or Oskar Knofe / FAA 221 who became Police president of Leipzig. Not to forget the infamous Heinrich Mueller (Gestapo-Mueller) / FA 287 who together with Otto Hofmann (FF in a Fliegerabteilung) participated in the Wannsee conference where the fate of the Jewish population was sealed.
And then the masses of former SS- und SA-Militants such as Richard Euringer / FA 300, who presided during June 1933 as author and Director of the public library in Essen over the public burning of the books. Harald Auffarth / Jasta 29, Fritz Gustav Birnbacher / FA 15, Wilhelm Aschenborn / FFA 62, Fritz Fromme / FA 265, Fritz Esser / I. Seefliegerabt., Fritz Stamer / FAA 242, Fritz Böhmer / FAA 261, Arthur Laumann / Jasta 10, Paul Dietze / FFA 24, Maximilian von Cossel / KG 2, Eberhard Cranz / Marine-Feldjasta 4, Gustav Dittmar / FA 300, Friedrich-Wilhelm Frodien / Jasta 40, Theo Croneiß / FFA 1, Hermann Palmer / FFA 23, Gerhard Sporleder / FFA 1, Otto Sommer / FAA 231 and so on ...

My recommendation:
Compose a list of 100 names, go to one of the two achieves in (Washington or Berlin) that have copies of the original documents/originals of the NSDAP-Memberlists and start doing some research yourselves.
These documents are the fundamental basis for anyone that is interested in biographies. From them the elementary information such as full name, date of birth, domicile and martial status can be obtained. The internet is a convenient tool. A question here a remark there and some one will answer. From time to time a serious researcher ought to contemplate moving his or her backside to personally contribute. Unfortunately places like this forum have to rely on the same 5% that are proper contributors.

No offense
Your Hal Oele
Thanks Big-O for translation ...

[mjfur]

Theo Osterkamp (1892 - 1975) 6 kills with JG51 and 32 in WW I.

Regards,
Mike