August Schirmer (born 16 June 1905 in

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle (district), Celle in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller (Germany), Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about ...

; died 30 October 1948 in Celle) was a German architect, engineer, elected member of the Reichstag, Central Office Manager in the

Amt Rosenberg Amt Rosenberg (ARo, Rosenberg Office) was an official body for cultural policy and surveillance within the Nazi party, headed by Alfred Rosenberg. It was established in 1934 under the name of ''Dienststelle Rosenberg'' (''DRbg'', Rosenberg Depar ...

. From 1939 until 1943 he was head of an

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

publication service and

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency ma ...

called ''Welt-Dienst'' (World Service), originally founded by

Ulrich Fleischhauer Ulrich Fleischhauer (14 July 1876 – 20 October 1960) (Pseudonyms ''Ulrich Bodung'', and ''Israel Fryman'') was a leading publisher of antisemitic books and news articles reporting on a perceived Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory and "nefarious ...

Life and work

Schirmer attended a Gymnasium in Celle and studied architecture at the Technische Hochschule Hannover. After 1929, he worked as a foreman at the Prussian Hochbauamt in

Torgau Torgau () is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen. Outside Germany, the town is best known as where on 25 April 1945, the United States and Soviet Armies first met near ...

. From 1930 to 1933 he was a research assistant at the Hanover University in Hanover and from the winter semester 1935/36 on he served there as a political education lecturer.

Political activism

In May 1929 he joined the

National Socialist German Students' League The National Socialist German Students' Union ( German: ''Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund'', abbreviated NSDStB) was founded in 1926 as a division of the Nazi Party with the mission of integrating University-level education and ...

(NSDStB) and in February 1930 the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor, the German Workers ...

at Hanover. From July 1933 he acted within the party as the training officer and cultural administrator in

Gau Southern Hanover-Brunswick Gau Southern Hanover–Brunswick (German: ''Gau Südhannover–Braunschweig'') was a ''de facto'' administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 in the Free State of Brunswick and part of the Free State of Prussia. Before that, ...

. In July 1934, he was appointed to the '' Reichstag'' in place of the murdered

Ernst Röhm Ernst Julius Günther Röhm (; 28 November 1887 – 1 July 1934) was a German military officer, politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party. A close friend and early ally of Adolf Hitler, Röhm was the co-founder and leader of the (SA), t ...

. At the 1936 election, he was elected as a deputy from electoral constituency 20 ( Cologne-Aachen) and, in 1938, he was elected from constituency 6 (

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

).August Schirmer entry
in th
''Reichstag'' Members Database
/ref> For most of his career Schirmer was a functionary in the

(Rosenberg Bureau), a collection of offices under the direction of ''

Reichsleiter (, ) was the second-highest political rank in the Nazi Party (NSDAP), subordinate only to the office of . also functioned as a paramilitary rank within the NSDAP and was the highest rank attainable in any Nazi organisation. Each reported d ...

Alfred Rosenberg Alfred Ernst Rosenberg ( – 16 October 1946) was a Baltic German Nazi theorist and ideologue. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart and he held several important posts in the Nazi government. He was the head o ...

. Beginning on 1 November 1935 he went to work in the ''Welt-Dienst'' organization, overseeing its American Section. When Rosenberg reorganized

operations in 1939, wresting full control of the ''Welt-Dienst'' news service from its founder

, Schirmer became its head in July 1939. Shortly afterwards he announced the relocation of the offices to

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, where all anti-Jewish 'research establishments' under Alfred Rosenberg's direction were concentrated. In addition, Schirmer continued to be involved in

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

cultural plunder activities for the vast Amt Rosenberg operation once

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

began. Schirmer was ''Oberreichsleiter'' (general director) of the Netherlands Task Force (AG Niederlande; later HAG) from September 1940 until May 1941. When Schirmer resigned from ''Welt-Dienst'' it was being published in 18 languages. His replacement as editor of ''Welt-Dienst'' occurred in September 1943, after Schirmer came under suspicion of fraud because he had allegedly taken a valuable

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...

collection seized in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

from

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

owners for his own private purposes rather than those of the German state. Schirmer died 30 October 1948 in the St. Josef-Stift hospital in

and is buried there in the city cemetery.

References

Sources

* :de:August Schirmer * :de:Amt Rosenberg * ugust Schirmer "Bericht über die Tätigkeit des Einsatzstabes der Dienststelle des Reichleiters Rosenberg in des westlichen besetzten Gebieten und den Niederlanden: Arbeitsgruppe Niederlande," in ''Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, 14 November 1945–1 October 1946'' (Nuremberg, 1947–1949), Documents in Evidence, vol. 25, pp. 247–55 (Exhibit USA–707; 176–PS). English translation: "Report on the Activities of the Einsatzstab of the Bureau of the Reichsleiter Rosenberg in the Occupied Western Territories and the Netherlands, Working Group Netherlands," in ''Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression'', Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality (Washington, DC: U.S. GPO, 1946), vol. 3, pp. 200–09. The list probably dates from April or May 1941. The published version incorrectly gave "Schimmer" as his name. * ugust Schirmer voice recording, in ''Deutsche National-Discographie'', Series 6, ''Discographie der Judaica-Aufnahmen'', Volume 1, edited by Rainer E. Lotz und Axel Weggen. Bonn: Birgit Lotz Verlag, 2006; . "An annotated 78rpm discography of sound documents relating to Jewish life in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, or in German language, or recorded in German speaking countries, covering Jewish life, humour, music and religion, Zionism, anti-Semitism, and the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

." {{DEFAULTSORT:Schirmer, August 1905 births 1948 deaths 20th-century German architects Engineers from Lower Saxony Members of the Reichstag 1933–1936 Members of the Reichstag 1936–1938 Members of the Reichstag 1938–1945 Militant League for German Culture members Nazi Party politicians German Nazi propagandists People from Celle Politicians from the Province of Hanover Leibniz University Hannover alumni