Rudolf Diels
| Rudolf Diels | |
|---|---|
Rudolf Diels in 1933
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| Director of the Gestapo | |
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In office 26 April 1933 – 20 April 1934 |
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| Appointed by | Hermann Göring |
| President |
Paul von Hindenburg Adolf Hitler (Führer) |
| Chancellor | Adolf Hitler |
| Preceded by | none |
| Succeeded by | Reinhard Heydrich |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
16 December 1900 Berghausen, Prussia, German Empire |
| Died | 18 November 1957 (aged 56) Katzenelnbogen, West Germany (hunting accident) |
| Political party | National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) |
| Spouse(s) | Hildegard Mannesmann, Ilse Göring |
Rudolf Diels (16 December 1900 – 18 November 1957) was a German civil servant and head of the Gestapo in 1933–34. He obtained the rank of SS-Oberführer and was a protégé of Hermann Göring.
Diels was born in Berghausen in the Taunus, the son of a farmer. He served in the army during World War I and afterwards studied law at the University of Marburg from 1919. At university he had a reputation as a drinker and philanderer. While there he also received a number of dueling scars resulting from the academic fencing once practised by young upper-class Austrians and Germans in trying to prove their manhood. The scars did not greatly detract from his good looks and in fact imparted a quite striking appearance.
He joined the Prussian interior ministry in 1930 and was promoted to an advisory position in the Prussian police in 1932, targeting political radicals, both Communists and Nazis. He was head of the Prussian Political Police when Adolf Hitler came to power. Göring was made minister for Prussia in 1933, replacing Carl Severing, and was impressed with Diels' work and new-found commitment to the Nazi Party. Diels became a protégé of Göring's. In April 1933, Göring appointed him as chief of the new Prussian state police department 1A, concerned with political crimes. Department 1A was soon renamed the Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police), or Gestapo. During this time, he had a romantic relationship with Martha Dodd, the daughter of the US ambassador to Germany.
On 27 February 1933 the Reichstag fire occurred and Diels was the main interrogator of the principal accused, Marinus van der Lubbe. He told Hitler he thought that the fire was set by this single man. However, Hitler was convinced it was the Communists. Diels also ordered Arthur Nebe to arrange the killing of Gregor Strasser in October 1933; ironically Strasser was later killed during the Night of the Long Knives in which Diels himself was almost killed.
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