- Gerhard Klopfer
Gerhard Klopfer (
February 18 1905 –January 29 1987 ) was an official of theNazi Party and assistant toMartin Bormann in the Office of the (Nazi)Party Chancellery .Klopfer was born in Schreibersdorf, Silesia (now in
Poland ), in 1905. He studied law and economics and in 1931 became a judge in Düsseldorf, Germany. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, he joined theNazi Party and the SA (Sturmabteilung ) along with theGestapo (German secret police) the following year. In 1935, he became a member ofRudolf Hess 's staff and the SS (Schutzstaffel ) with the honorarySS rank ofOberführer (Brigadier General). In 1938, he became responsible for the seizing of Jewish businesses for questions about mixed marriages between Germans and Jews and general questions about occupation of foreign states.As State Secretary of the Parteikanzlei (Party Chancellery), Klopfer represented Bormann, who was head of the Parteikanzlei, at the
Wannsee Conference onJanuary 20 ,1942 in which the details of the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question " were formalized, policies that were to culminate in theHolocaust .As the
Red Army closed in on Berlin in 1945, Klopfer fled the city. He was captured and imprisoned and was charged withwar crime s but was released for lack of evidence. He became a tax advisor in the city ofUlm (Baden-Württemberg ). He was the last surviving attendee of the Wannsee Conference, dying in 1987.Klopfer was portrayed by
Ian McNeice in the BBC/HBO made-for-cable movie "Conspiracy" in 2001; McNeice gave a superbly revolting portrayal as a crass, degenerate Nazi, still imbued with the arrogance of the early SA-bullies, indulging in crude jokes while taking advantage of the buffet and refreshments set up byAdolf Eichmann – in a last show of bad humour he leaves the conference saluting the remaining officials with 'shalom' while stuffing one last morsel past his lips.External links
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE7DA173AF936A35751C0A961948260 New York Times (Obituary)]
References
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