Hermann Rauschning
| Hermann Rauschning | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 3rd President of the Free City of Danzig Senate | |
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In office June 20, 1933 – November 23, 1934 |
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| Preceded by | Ernst Ziehm |
| Succeeded by | Arthur Greiser |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 7, 1887 Thorn, Prussia, Germany (now Toruń, Poland) |
| Died | February 8, 1982 (aged 94) Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Political party | National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | German Empire |
| Service/branch | Imperial German Army |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Battles/wars | World War I |
Hermann Rauschning (7 August 1887 – February 8, 1982) was a German Conservative Revolutionary who briefly joined the Nazis before breaking with them. In 1934 he renounced Nazi party membership and in 1936 emigrated from Germany (eventually settling in the United States) and began openly denouncing Nazism. Rauschning is chiefly known for his book Gespräche mit Hitler (Conversations with Hitler), US title Voice of Destruction, UK title Hitler Speaks, in which he claimed to have had many meetings and conversations with Hitler.
Rauschning was born in Thorn (Toruń), at the time part of the German Empire, to a Prussian officer in the province of West Prussia. He attended the Prussian Cadet Corps institute at Potsdam and in 1911 he obtained a Doctorate from Berlin University. He fought in World War I as an Lieutenant and was wounded in action. After the war, he settled in the area around Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland), where he owned land.
He lived in Posen and was prominent in its Historical Society. In 1930 he published a work under the title Die Entdeutschung Westpreußens und Posens (The de-Germanisation of West Prussia and Posen). According to Rauschning, Germans in these areas were constantly put under pressure to leave Poland.
In 1932 he moved to a new estate in Warnow and became leader of the Danzig Land League. Previously affiliated with the German National People's Party, he then joined the Nazi Party believing that they offered the only way out of Germany's troubles, including the incorporation of Danzig into Germany. He became President of the Danzig Teachers' Association in 1932. After Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, the Nazis in Danzig won control of the Free City's government, and Rauschning became the President of the Senate of Danzig on 20 June 1933; that is, head of state of the Free City government. He was an excellent public speaker. In foreign matters Rauschning did not conceal that his personal desire was to turn neighbouring Poland into a vassal of Nazi Germany. As a conservative nationalist Rauschning was not typical of Nazi members, and the Nazis' violent anti-Semitism was alien to him. He was a bitter rival of Albert Forster, the future Gauleiter of Danzig.
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