Werner Naumann

Werner Naumann (June 16 1909 – October 25 1982) was a State Secretary in Joseph Goebbels' "Propagandaministerium" during the Third Reich. He was appointed head of the Propaganda Ministry by Hitler in his political testament after Dr. Goebbels was promoted to Reichskanzler.

Naumann was born in Guhrau in Silesia, Prussia, Germany. After finishing school, he studied political economics. He joined the NSDAP in 1928 and was promoted to the leader of an SS brigade in 1933. Five years later he was made personal aide of Joseph Goebbels and in 1942 he became his assistant secretary. He also was a member of the "Freundeskreis Reichsführer SS" around Heinrich Himmler and served several times in the "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler" during World War II. Against Hitler´s last will and testament, he didn´t join Karl Dönitz in Flensburg after escaping from the Führerbunker on May 1, 1945. Instead, he went into hiding in South Germany until 1949, where he started an apprenticeship as a bricklayer which he passed with excellent notes.

Friedrich Bergold testified at Nuremberg that he had last seen Naumann walking a metre in front of Martin Bormann when the latter was hit by a Soviet rocket.

Naumann was arrested by the British Army in 1953 and accused of being the leader of a Neo-Nazi group that attempted to infiltrate West German political parties; he was released after seven months in custody. Later on, he became director at a metal firm in Lüdenscheid owned by Goebbels´stepson Harald Quandt. He died in Lüdenscheid in North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany.