The Other Goebbels - The Story of Dr. Goebbels' Brother

[Music] the story of dr goebbels's brother hunts is the story of nazi nepotism relatives of the nazi party leadership rose to positions of great power and influence on the coattails of their more famous siblings and many like hans gerbers ended up paying the price for that association at the end of the war dr joseph gerbers is primarily remembered today as the brilliant propaganda minister who assiduously sold nazism to the german people from the movement's wilderness years to its 12 years in power goebbels was famously characterized as the poison dwarf and a less impressive example of the master race was hard to find even among the odd assortment of characters that made up hitler's cabinet gerbils was very short and he walked with a limp having been born with a deformed right foot he overcompensated for his perceived lack of physicality by a strong domineering personality and stage presence a sharp mind and an appetite for women aside from fathering six children with his wife magda goebbels used his position as reich minister in charge of germany's film industry among other things to bed a series of glamorous movie stars hitler tolerated goebbels extracurricular activities because he was so effective a communicator and propagandist in the end gerbils loyalty to hitler was pathological and he moved himself and his wife and young children into hitler's berlin bunker to ultimately perish alongside their beloved fuhrer while most of the other leaders sought to escape the final collapse of nazi germany less than two weeks before dr goebbels's suicide in berlin his older brother hans fell into american hands it was a u.s propaganda victory that was fully exploited born in 1895 hunts goebbels was two years older than joseph while joseph pursued an academic path hans had trained as an insurance salesman working in bonn and cologne until the outbreak of world war one joseph obviously couldn't serve in the army because of his disability but hans was drafted in may 1915 serving in the infantry on the western front like many of his generation including hitler hans suffered the misery and horror of trench warfare he was ultimately captured by the french during the fighting at verdun in 1916. this experience gave him a lifelong loathing for the french hans was held as a prisoner of war until 1920 forced to labor on farms in vineyards and in factories his resentment and not being able to return home earlier was immense hans was small like his brother only five foot four inches or 167 centimeters tall he worked as a lowly insurance salesman until hitler came to power in january 1933 being the propaganda minister's brother was a distinct advantage he had already joined the nazi party and in 1931 had become an officer in the essay the shtum ab-tailum the brownshirts under his brother's influence hunter's station in life improved dramatically residing in the dusseldorf area where the family originated hans was appointed an official in the propaganda ministry with the rank of christ lighter or district leader and became chairman of the district party arbitration court of more significance hans went from run-of-the-mill insurance salesman to general director of all fire and life insurance institutions in the rhineland and state commissioner for insurance in rhine province the sudden elevation meant that hans could implement his long-cherished rather socialist ideas sharing his brother joseph's interest in creating a true folks mineshaft or people's national community hans wanted nothing less than a social insurance policy for all germans a very expensive undertaking and of course the nationalization of the german insurance industry perhaps under his control his position in the party was further burnished by promotion to essay standards or colonel in 1934 and elevation to essay oberfura in 1942. the sa had been smashed following the night of the long knives in 1934 when hitler had feared the sa was plotting to replace him most sa men ended up conscripted for military service during the war but the original organization continued to exist at all levels of the nazi state an oberfura a strange rank somewhere between colonel and brigadier made hunts gobbles a very visible party leader in his brown and gold uniform and red party armband but by april 1945 hunts goebbels like all the other nazi leaders was facing oblivion u.s forces had managed to encircle the rua industrial region and dusseldorf was cut off the city already heavily damaged by years of allied bombing was expected to resist the americans the sa assisted the folk storm the home guard with defense preparations backing up what regular army troops there were to conduct a defense but the citizens of dusseldorf were not prepared to simply sit back and watch their city become a battleground a resistance movement was preparing to seize control gaul leiter friedesh florian whom hans goebbels knew well had ordered all utilities and transport infrastructure in dusseldorf to be blown up along with the rhine bridges days before the resistance rose up they met with local police commander lieutenant colonel franz juergens to try and persuade him and other officials to help them stop florian jurgens had just turned down command of an ad hoc battle group of armed police and local fogsterm to be used to help fight the americans he agreed to help them codenamed action reinland the resistance rose on the 16th of february 1945 to enact their operation by now units of the us 97th infantry division had encircled dusseldorf and were preparing to capture the city ominously the assault was to be preceded by an 800 bomber raid that would have obliterated most of the city and killed much of its population colonel jurgens and the plotters managed to capture the dusseldorf police chief s.s brigado fiora august koreng emissaries were then sent to the americans in the meantime gauralita florian and army troops recaptured coding and captured some of the resistors as well the emissaries however persuaded the americans to call off the air raid saving the city and they rode back into the city on u.s tanks to the police headquarters on the 17th of april but florian had already held a kangaroo trial and five of the resistors had been summarily shot the 97th infantry division met virtually no resistance the role of han skirbles in all of this is not clear he was captured in full essay uniform perhaps at sa headquarters a large building in the city subsequently looted by locals and u.s troops due to the nature of the u.s encirclement none of the nazi bigwigs could flee east and the americans nabbed not only gobbles but gaul leiter florian as well surprisingly florian was acquitted at his trial for the murders of the five resistors but in 1949 received a six year sentence for having been a gaul lighter being released early in 1951 he died in 1975 aged 81. as for hunts gerbils his propaganda value was obvious his brother joseph was still alive and living in hitler's bunker as the soviets closed their ring around the city of berlin arrested and held in a local prison hans gerbils was interviewed and questioned by captain edward levy of the county intelligence corps on the 26th of april 1945 this being filmed the americans had removed hansa's jack boots and thai and his medal ribbon bar and golden party badge a high nazi decoration he had received in 1943 but he nonetheless appeared to retain much of his arrogant demeanor dr joseph goebbels died by his own hand in berlin on the 1st of may 1945 along with his wife less than 24 hours after hitler's own suicide his six children had been poisoned on their parents orders such was their fanaticism to the fuhrer as for hans gerber's he was ironically handed over to the french once more and interned in a camp at dietz ost in the french occupation zone of western germany according to stories the french enjoyed humiliating dr goebbels brother in late 1946 became seriously ill but was probably denied treatment until it was too late he was eventually moved to a hospital at katzenenborgen where he died of sepsis on the 1st of january 1947 age 52 his son was a student at bonn university just after the war but after graduating his family history prevented him from finding suitable employment the dark legacy of dr goebbels lay across the next generation as well and lortar goebbels killed himself in 1951. hans gerbil's brother conrad who was the eldest of the three goebbels boys who had been a cries lighter a mid-ranking nazi official just below a gau lighter was released from his internment on the 10th of july 1949. he was found dead in woods a few hours later so ended the story of dr gerbils and his brothers thanks for watching please subscribe and share and also visit my audiobook channel war stories with mark felton you can also help to support both of my channels at paypal and patreon details in the description box below [Music]

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 649,836

Rating: 4.9451909 out of 5

Keywords: Mark Felton Productions, Dr. Goebbels, Nazi Germany

Id: cUoq1G5Yzq0

Length: 10min 52sec (652 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 09 2020