Hans Zimmermann (18 October 1906 – 17 February 1984) was a German Nazi Party official. He served as the Acting '' Gauleiter'' of

Gau Franconia Gau Franconia (German: ''Gau Franken'') was an administrative division of Nazi Germany in Middle Franconia, Bavaria, from 1933 to 1945. Before that, from 1929 to 1933, it was the regional subdivision of the Nazi Party in that area. Originally fo ...

between February 1940 and April 1942.

Early life

Born in Nuremberg, Zimmermann attended volksschule and realschule there through 1923. After a year-and-a-half as a trainee at Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nuernberg, he studied mechanical engineering at the '' Technische Hochschule Nürnberg'' and passed his state examination to become a mechanical engineer.

Nazi Party career

Zimmermann joined the Nazi Party on 11 November 1930 (membership number 377,977Utho Grieser: ''Himmlers Mann in Nürnberg. Der Fall Benno Martin. Eine Studie zur Struktur des 3. Reiches in der „Stadt der Reichsparteitage“.'' (= ''Nürnberger Werkstücke zur Stadt- und Landesgeschichte.'' Volume 13) Nuremberg State Archive, Nuremberg 1974, , p. 312) and the ''

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; literally "Storm Detachment") was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi ral ...

'' (SA) at the same time. In Nuremberg, Zimmermann functioned from January 1931 through June 1933 as a Party leader in the St. Johannis section of the city, then as an ''

Ortsgruppenleiter ''Ortsgruppenleiter'' (Local Group Leader) was a Nazi Party political rank and title which existed between 1930 and 1945. The term first came into being during the German elections of 1930, and was held by the head Nazi of a town or city, or in ...

'' (Local Group Leader) and from 16 July 1934 as a ''

Kreisleiter ''Kreisleiter'' (; "District Leader") was a Nazi Party political rank and title which existed as a political rank between 1930 and 1945 and as a Nazi Party title from as early as 1928. The position of ''Kreisleiter'' was first formed to provide ...

'' (County Leader). On 27 June 1933, he became managing director of the ''Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse'' (AOK) a medical insurance company in Nuremberg, and from May 1939 to May 1945 he was the Director of the National Federation of Local Health Insurers. From May 1933 to 1935, he worked in the City Council (''Stadtsrat'') of Nuremberg and from 1 October 1935 until May 1945 he was a City Councilor (''Ratsherr''). Between 16 February 1940 and 4 April 1942, Zimmermann served as Acting '' Gauleiter'' of Franconia, after longtime ''Gauleiter'' Julius Streicher had been removed from this post for corruption. On 7 July 1940 he was made a member of the '' Reichstag'' for electoral constituency 26, Franconia, and served there until the fall of the Nazi regime in May 1945. From 15 April 1942 to 27 November 1943, he took a temporary leave of absence from Party service to perform military service with the Wehrmacht, serving at an artillery weapons school in France. On 20 April 1943 he was promoted to SA-'' Oberführer''. On 1 January 1944 he resumed the leadership of the Nuremberg '' Kreis'' in the rank of '' Hauptbereichsleiter'' of the NSDAP. During the Battle of Nuremberg, he escaped from the city on 17 April 1945. Zimmermann underwent

denazification Denazification (german: link=yes, Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by remov ...

procedures in Nuremberg, but not much else is known about his post-war life.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmermann, Hans 1906 births 1984 deaths Gauleiters German Army personnel of World War II Members of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany Nazi Party officials Nazi Party politicians Politicians from Nuremberg Sturmabteilung officers