Eberhard Taubert (11 May 1907 in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

– 2 November 1976 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

) was a lawyer and

anti-Semitic 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 ...

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 ...

propagandist. He joined the

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

on 1 November 1931 (membership number 712,249). At the same time, he joined the ''

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; or 'Storm Troopers') was the original paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party of Germany. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and early 1930s. I ...

'' (SA), the Nazi

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

unit where he served on the staff of SA-''Gruppe'' Berlin-Brandenburg with the rank of SA-'' Sturmführer''. At the beginning of 1932, Taubert became head of the legal department of Gau Berlin and the anti-Bolshevism advisor to

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

, the ''

Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a ''Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany, Gau'' or ''Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party, rank in ...

''. He became involved in both

anti-Communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

and

anti-Jewish 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. From 1933 to 1945 he worked as a high official in the '' Propagandaministerium'' under Goebbels, where he headed its

anti-Komintern The Anti-Comintern ( German: ''Antikomintern'') was a special agency within the Propaganda Ministry under Joseph Goebbels in Nazi Germany. Founded by Eberhard Taubert in the northern winter or the northern autumn of 1933, it was charged with adm ...

department. His nickname in Nazi circles was ''Dr. Anti''. From 1939 he headed the Institute for the Study of the Jewish Question. He worked in 1940 on the script for the anti-Semitic propaganda film '' Der ewige Jude'' (English: ''The Eternal Jew''). He also served as a

lay judge A lay judge, sometimes called a lay assessor (law), assessor, is a person assisting a judge in a trial. Lay judges are used in some civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions. Lay judges are appointed volunteers and often require some legal ...

at the People's Court. After the

Second World War 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 ...

he changed his name to Erwin Kohl and worked for $3,000 a month for the German Christian Democratic Union in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, providing material against more radical Marxists. As "Erwin Kohl" Taubert was one of the founders of the People's Union for Peace and Freedom (VFF) in 1950. The VFF saw itself as "the central anti-communist organization in the Federal Republic" and was supported and subsidized by the Federal Ministry for All-German Questions (predecessor of the Federal Ministry for Intra-German Relations). Mathias Friedel regarded the VFF as a replica of the "Anti-Komintern" during the Nazi regime. After his true identity and background was revealed, Eberhard had to retire from the VFF. Taubert was a member of the

Naumann Circle The Naumann Circle (), also sometimes referred to as the Circle or the Naumann Affair, was an organization of former German adherents of the Nazi Party that was formed in the German Federal Republic (West Germany) several years after the end o ...

, which aimed to infiltrate the Free Democratic Party, and eventually restore Nazism in Germany. After 1957 he worked in South America,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and South Africa and as the counsel of the German minister Franz Josef Strauß. Taubert maintained a liaison office in Bonn, which worked for

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

on matters of psychological defense (PSV). Taubert was still a counter-intelligence expert for US secret services and in 1959 took on a job for the Iranian secret service ( SAVAK) and other Middle Eastern intelligence services. Under the pseudonym Dr. Marcel Wallensdorfer, Taubert was given a press service entitled ''Anti-Comintern Service''. From 1970 he was employed by German industrialists and largely withdrew from political life due to his illness. His rhetorical ability made him the talented and wanted propagandist he was, not only during the NS-regime. His agitative style used in the

Nazi propaganda Propaganda was a tool of the Nazi Party in Germany from its earliest days to the end of the regime in May 1945 at the end of World War II. As the party gained power, the scope and efficacy of its propaganda grew and permeated an increasing amou ...

was reused after the war to boost the Western fear of communism. For this mission he worked with secret services (for example

CIC CIC may refer to: Organizations Canada * Cadet Instructors Cadre, a part of the Canadian Armed Forces * Canadian Infantry Corps, renamed in 1947 to Royal Canadian Infantry Corps * Canadian International Council * Canadian Islamic Congress * Chemi ...

) and right-wing politicians and journals. Taubert died in a car crash in

in 1976. Three people attended his funeral.Körner: ''Von der antibolschewistischen zur antisowjetischen Propaganda, Dr. Eberhard Taubert''. In: ''Der Kalte Krieg – Vorspiel zum Frieden?''

References

Further reading