Hans Globke | |
|---|---|
 Globke in 1963 | |
| German Chancellery Chief of Staff | |
| In office 28 October 1953 – 15 October 1963 | |
| Chancellor | Konrad Adenauer |
| Preceded by | Otto Lenz |
| Succeeded by | Ludger Westrick |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Hans Josef Maria Globke 10 September 1898 Düsseldorf, Rhine Province, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire |
| Died | 13 February 1973 (aged 74) Bonn, West Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Political party | CDU |
| Spouse | Augusta Vaillant |
| Occupation | Lawyer, politician |
| Known for | Advisor to Konrad Adenauer |
Hans Josef Maria Globke (10 September 1898 – 13 February 1973) was a German administrative lawyer, who worked in the Prussian and Reich Ministry of the Interior in the Reich, during the Weimar Republic and the time of National Socialism. Later he was the Under-Secretary of State and Chief of Staff of the German Chancellery in West Germany from 28 October 1953 to 15 October 1963 under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. He is the most prominent example of the continuity of the administrative elites between Nazi Germany and the early West Germany.
In 1936, Globke wrote a legal annotation on the antisemitic Nuremberg Race Laws that did not express any objection to the discrimination against Jews, placing the Nazi Party on a firmer legal ground and setting the path to the Holocaust during World War II.[1][2] By 1938, Globke had been promoted to Ministerialdirigent in the Office for Jewish Affairs in the Ministry of the Interior, where he produced the Name Change Ordinance, a law that forced Jewish men to take the middle name Israel and Jewish women Sara for easier identification.[2] In 1941, during the Nazi period, he issued another statute that stripped Jews in occupied territories of their statehood and possessions.[2] Globke was identified as the author of an interior ministry report from France, written in racist language, that complained of "coloured blood into Europe" and called for the "elimination" of its "influences" on the gene pool.[2]
Globke later had a controversial career as Secretary of State and Chief of Staff of the West German Chancellery. A strident anti-communist, Globke became a powerful éminence grise of the West German government, and was widely regarded as one of the most influential public officials in the government of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.[3] Globke had a major role in shaping the course and structure of the state and West Germany's alignment with the United States. He was also an important figure in West Germany's anti-communist policies at the domestic and international level and in the Western intelligence community, and was the German government's main liaison with NATO and other Western intelligence services, especially the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
- ^ Klaus, Wiegrefe (15 April 2011). "West Germany's Efforts to Influence the Eichmann Trial". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
- ^ a b c d Moody, Oliver (4 March 2021). "Hans Globke, Hitler's former henchman, was true architect of modern Germany". The Times. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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