Letter by Karl Bodenschatz, Chief of the Ministeramt Reichsmarschall des Großdeutschen Reiches, Berlin, October 17, 1944

Source Description

The document possibly most significant for Friedrich Wilhelm Lübbert’s life (and survival) is dated October 17, 1944 and signed by “General der Flieger und Chef des Ministeramts ReichsmarschallKarl Bodenschatz. In it he confirms that Friedrich Wilhelm Lübbert, a businessman of Jewish ancestry, was exempted from any further measures by the state police after he had undergone sterilization as stipulated in an agreement between Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring and Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler. Like many other German Jews who were baptized and whose family had been assimilated for generations, Friedrich Wilhelm Lübbert was persecuted during National Socialist rule. According to the 1935 Nuremberg Laws, he was considered a “first degree Mixed-blood Mischling ersten Grades. In the early 1940s there were discussions about mass sterilization of this group of people in order to prevent their procreation. While there never was a decision in the matter, this document proves that “Mixed-bloods” were increasingly marginalized and threatened and that sterilizations were indeed carried out. This one-page, typed confirmation was issued using the letterhead of the “Reichsmarschall des Großdeutschen Reiches Chef des Ministeramtes,” whose office was located at Prinz-Albrecht-Str. 5 in Berlin. The document is part of the Lübbert estate  Nachlass Lübbert housed at the Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr (MHM) in Dresden today. The original is featured in its permanent exhibition.
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Recommended Citation

Letter by Karl Bodenschatz, Chief of the Ministeramt Reichsmarschall des Großdeutschen Reiches, Berlin, October 17, 1944 (translated by Insa Kummer), edited in: Key Documents of German-Jewish History, <https://dx.doi.org/10.23691/jgo:source-91.en.v1> [March 19, 2024].