Erich Neumann (politician)

Erich Neumann (1892 - 1948) was a Nazi politician. He was born in Forst into a Protestant family.

After receiving his high school diploma, he studied law and economics at the universities in Freiburg, Leipzig and Halle. He served in World War I and reached the rank of First Lieutenant (Oberleutnant). In 1920, he served as governmental civil servant (Regierungsassessor) in the Prussian Ministry of the Interior, and thereafter in the Essen District Office.

He became Senior Executive Officer (Regierungsrat) in the Prussian Ministry of Commerce in 1923. In 1927/28, he became District President (Landrat) in Freystadt (Lower Silesia), then served as Ministerial Junior Assistant Secretary (Ministerialrat) again in the Prussian Ministry of Commerce. In September 1932, he was appointed Permanent Secretary (Ministerialdirektor) in the Prussian Ministry of State in Charge of Administrative Reforms.

Neumann joined the Nazi party in May 1933, four months after Adolf Hitler took power. He joined the SS in 1934, being commissioned as a Major (Sturmbannführer). In 1936, he was appointed the director of the Foreign Currency department of the Office of the Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan. By 1938, Neumann was promoted to undersecretary and attended Hermann Göring's meeting about the "Aryanization" of the German economy. Neumann represented the Ministries of Economy, Labor, Finances, Food, Transportation, and Armaments and Ammunition at the 1942 Wannsee Conference.

He was interned and interrogated by the Allies in 1945, and released due to poor health in 1948, dying soon after.

Trivia

In the 2001 HBO film "Conspiracy" he was portrayed by Jonathan Coy.

Persondata
NAME=Neumann, Erich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Nazi politician, participant of the Wannsee Conference
DATE OF BIRTH=31 May 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH=Forst, Lausitz
DATE OF DEATH=1948
PLACE OF DEATH=