The Reichsluftschutzbund (RLB; "

Reich ( ; ) is a German word whose meaning is analogous to the English word " realm". The terms and are respectively used in German in reference to empires and kingdoms. In English usage, the term " Reich" often refers to Nazi Germany, also ca ...

Air Protection League") was a

civil defense Civil defense or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from human-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency management: Risk management, prevention, mitigation, prepara ...

organization in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

in charge of

air raid precautions Air Raid Precautions (ARP) refers to a number of organisations and guidelines in the United Kingdom dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air raids. Government consideration for air raid precautions increased in the 1920s a ...

in residential areas and among smaller businesses.

Purpose

The RLB was organized by

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

in 1933 as a

voluntary association A voluntary group or union (also sometimes called a voluntary organization, common-interest association, association, or society) is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement, usually as volunteers, to form a body (or organization) to a ...

. Existing volunteer air raid precaution associations were forced to merge with RLB. In 1939 the RLB became a ''Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts'' ( quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization), while in 1944 it became an affiliated organization of 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 ...

. RLB was dissolved by the Allied Powers after the end of

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 ...

. Its successor in the

Federal Republic of 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 constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

was the Bundesverband für den Selbstschutz. The RLB was in charge of educating and training ordinary German men and women in civil defence procedures necessary for the basic level of local self-help of the civil population against air raids. The local level was formed around air raid wardens and operated in small first intervention squads. The training include

fire fighting Firefighting is a profession aimed at controlling and extinguishing fire. A person who engages in firefighting is known as a firefighter or fireman. Firefighters typically undergo a high degree of technical training. This involves structural fir ...

, protection against

chemical weapons A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as ...

, communication procedures and preparation of houses and apartments against air raids.

Organization

In 1939 the RLB had about 15 million members, 820,000 volunteer functionaries (of which 280,000

women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

) and 75,000 local units. The membership was trained at 3,800 civil defence schools with 28,000 instructors. * RLB was led by a ''Präsidium'', whose president, and vice president and chief of staff, were active duty general officers of the Luftwaffe. The presidium was in itself a department immediately subordinated to the

Ministry of Aviation The Ministry of Aviation was a department of the United Kingdom government established in 1959. Its responsibilities included the regulation of civil aviation and the supply of military aircraft, which it took on from the Ministry of Supply. ...

. * Coterminous with each ''Luftgaukommando'' (air district command) was a ''RLB-Gruppe'' (RLB-group) under a leader aided by 46 full-time staff members. * For each

Regierungsbezirk A ' (, 'governmental district') is a type of administrative division in Germany. Currently, four of sixteen ' (states of Germany) are split into '. Beneath these are rural and urban districts ' (plural, ) serve as regional mid-level local gov ...

, there was a ''RLB-Bezirksgruppe'' (regional group). * The basic organization was the ''RLB-Revier'', one for each

police precinct In the United States, a police precinct or ward is a geographical area patrolled by a police force. The term "precinct" may also refer to the main police station for such a geographical area. In many countries, it is called police jurisdiction. ...

in the cities, or the ''RLB-Gemeinde-Gruppe'', one for each urban or rural

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

for the rest of the country. In the case of a city with several precincts, the citywide organization was called an ''RLB-Ortsgruppe'' (local group). Several municipal groups formed an ''RLB-Ortskreisgruppe'', one for each Landkreis. Each ''Ortsgruppe'' and ''Ortskreisgruppe'' had a leader and a staff of nine members, of which five where full-time salaried employees. * The basic organizations had a varied number of ''Untergruppen'' (sub-groups) divided into ''Blöcke'' (blocks) under ''Blockwarte'' (block wardens) which controlled and liaised with a number of ''Luftschutzgemeinschaften'' (air raid protection communities) under ''Luftschutzwarte'' (air raid wardens). Each community consisted of an apartment building or several smaller buildings, although a large apartment complex could have several communities. In addition to the warden, the community should have an assistant warden, house fire fighters, helpers and messengers as a first intervention squad. Duty in these squads were compulsory ''(Notdienstpflicht)'' for the civilian population.

References

* Erich Hampe (1963), ''Der Zivile Luftschutz im Zweiten Weltkrieg'', Frankfurt am Main: Bernard & Graefe, pp. 430–451. {{Authority control Society of Nazi Germany Organizations established in 1933 Civil defense

Purpose

Organization

See also

References