Hitler Oath

The Hitler Oath (German: Führereid or Führer Oath)—also referred in English as the Soldier's Oath^[1]—refers to the oaths of allegiance sworn by officers and soldiers of the Wehrmacht and civil servants of Nazi Germany between the years 1934 and 1945. The oath pledged personal loyalty to Adolf Hitler rather than loyalty to the Weimar Constitution of the country. Historians view the personal oath of the Nazi Germany as an important psychological element to obey orders for committing war crimes, atrocities, and genocide.^[2] During the Nuremberg trials, many German officers unsuccessfully attempted to use the oath as a defence against charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.^[3]

Background

During the Weimar era, the oath of allegiance, sworn by the Reichswehr, required soldiers to swear loyalty to the Reich Constitution and its lawful institutions. Following Hitler's appointment as Chancellor in 1933, the military oath changed, the troops now swearing loyalty to people and country. On the day of the death of President Paul von Hindenburg, the oath was changed again, as part of the Nazification of the country; it was no longer one of allegiance to the Constitution or its institutions, but one of binding loyalty to Hitler himself.^[4]

Although the popular view is that Hitler drafted the oath himself and imposed it on the military, the oath was the initiative of Reichswehr Minister General Werner von Blomberg and General Walter von Reichenau, the chief of the Ministerial Office. The intention of Blomberg and Reichenau in having the military swear an oath to Hitler was to create a personal special bond between him and the military, which was intended to tie Hitler more tightly towards the military and away from the Nazi Party. Years later, Blomberg admitted that he did not think through the full implications of the oath at the time.^[5]

On 20 August 1934, the cabinet decreed the "Law On The Allegiance of Civil Servants and Soldiers of the Armed Forces", which superseded the original oaths. The new law decreed that both members of the armed forces and civil servants had to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler personally.^[2]

History

Previous oaths

Reichswehr oath

From 1919 until 1935, the Weimar Republic's armed forces were called the Reichswehr (Realm Defence).

The original oath called the Reichswehreid came into effect on 14 August 1919, shortly after Reichspräsident Friedrich Ebert had signed the Weimar Constitution for the German Reich. The Treaty of Versailles limited the Reichswehr to a total of 100,000 men.

From 1919 to December 1933: Ich schwöre Treue der Reichsverfassung und gelobe,
daß ich als tapferer Soldat das Deutsche Reich und seine gesetzmäßigen Einrichtungen jederzeit schützen,
dem Reichspräsidenten und meinen Vorgesetzten Gehorsam leisten will.

"I swear loyalty to the Reich's constitution and pledge,
that I as a courageous soldier always want to protect the German Reich and its legal institutions,
(and) be obedient to the Reich President and to my superiors."

In January 1933, when Adolf Hitler was appointed Reichskanzler and the Enabling Act and Gleichschaltung came into effect, the military oath changed again.

From 2 December 1933 to 2 August 1934: Ich schwöre bei Gott diesen heiligen Eid,
daß ich meinem Volk und Vaterland allzeit treu und redlich dienen
und als tapferer und gehorsamer Soldat bereit sein will,
jederzeit für diesen Eid mein Leben einzusetzen.

"I swear by God this holy oath,
that I want to ever loyally and sincerely serve my people and fatherland
and be prepared as a brave and obedient soldier
to risk my life for this oath at any time."^[6]

After the death of German President Paul von Hindenburg on 2 August 1934, Hitler merged the offices of Reichspräsident and Reichskanzler, and declared himself Führer and Reichskanzler. Blomberg issued a new wording which became known as the Führereid (Hitler oath). From that point on, all military personnel swore an oath of allegiance and binding loyalty to Hitler himself.

Führer oath

Wehrmacht oath

On 16 March 1935 the German government renamed the Reichswehr as the Wehrmacht (Defence Force)^[7]

Ich schwöre bei Gott diesen heiligen Eid,
daß ich dem Führer des Deutschen Reiches und Volkes
Adolf Hitler, dem Oberbefehlshaber der Wehrmacht,
unbedingten Gehorsam leisten und als tapferer Soldat bereit sein will,
jederzeit für diesen Eid mein Leben einzusetzen.

Wehrmacht oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler "I swear by God this holy oath
that I shall render unconditional obedience
to the Leader of the German Reich and people,
Adolf Hitler, supreme commander of the armed forces,
and that as a brave soldier I shall at all times be prepared
to give my life for this oath."^[8]

When the oath became law in July 1935, civilian officials would swear a similar oath.

Civil servant oath

Diensteid der öffentlichen Beamten

Ich schwöre: Ich werde dem Führer des Deutschen Reiches und Volkes
Adolf Hitler treu und gehorsam sein, die Gesetze beachten,
und meine Amtspflichten gewissenhaft erfüllen, so wahr mir Gott helfe.

Public servants' oath to Adolf Hitler "I swear: I will be faithful and obedient
to the leader of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler,
to observe the law, and to conscientiously fulfil my official duties, so help me God!"^[8]

Oathtakers then sang both Deutschland Über Alles and the Nazi anthem Horst-Wessel-Lied.^[9]

Public figures who refused to take the oath

Thousands of military officers reportedly claimed to be ill to avoid taking the oath but were forced to do so after returning to duty.^[9]^[10]


Name	Background	Consequences
Karl Barth	Swiss theologian	Loss of professorship^[11]
Martin Gauger	Probationary judge as a state prosecutor in Wuppertal	Forced retirement of his position as a state prosecutor^[11]
Franz Jägerstätter	Austrian conscientious objector	Executed in 1943; beatified in 2007^[11]
Josef Mayr-Nusser	Italian Roman Catholic from Bozen, after call-up for duty in the Waffen-SS	Death penalty, died on the way to Dachau concentration camp^[12]
Joseph Ruf	"Brother Maurus" of the Christkönigsgesellschaft	Death penalty
Franz Reinisch	Pallottines priest from Austria, after call-up for duty in the Wehrmacht	Executed by beheading in 1942^[11]

References

Citations

^ Calvocoressi, Wint & Pritchard 1989, p. 57.
^ ^a ^b Marc Cogen 2016, p. 187.
^ International Military Tribunal 1951, p. 473.
^ Henry G. Gole 2013, p. 149.
^ Ian Kershaw 2000, p. 525.
^ Reichsgesetzblatt 14 August 1919, p. 1419.
^ William Lawrence Shirer 1960, p. 285.
^ ^a ^b Ileen Bear 2016, p. 35.
^ ^a ^b John Gunther 1936, p. 59.
^ H. R. Knickerbocker 2013, p. 9.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Ileen Bear 2016, p. 36.
^ Ileen Bear 2016, p. 37.

Sources

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Fest, Joachim (1974). Hitler. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Ian Kershaw (2000). Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris. W.W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-32035-0.
Ileen Bear (2016). Adolf Hitler: A Biography. Vij Books India Pvt Ltd. ISBN 978-93-86019-47-9.
John Gunther (1936). Inside Europe. Harper & brothers.
Calvocoressi, Peter; Wint, Guy; Pritchard, R. John (1989). Total War: The Causes and Courses of the Second World War. Pantheon Books. ISBN 978-0-394-57811-8.
Theresa M. Ganter (2008). Searching for a New German Identity: Heiner Müller and the Geschichtsdrama. Peter Lang. ISBN 978-3-03911-048-3.
Christopher Hale (11 April 2011). Hitler's Foreign Executioners: Europe's Dirty Secret. History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-6393-3.
Henry G. Gole (2013). Exposing the Third Reich: Colonel Truman Smith in Hitler's Germany. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-4178-7.
Marc Cogen (2016). Democracies and the Shock of War: The Law as a Battlefield. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-15319-1.
International Military Tribunal (1951). Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10, Nuernberg, October 1946-April 1949. U.S. Government Printing Office.
William Lawrence Shirer (1960). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4516-5168-3.