SS-Stubaf. Karl Lenz

[-Michael]

Does somebody have more information about the activities of Karl Lenz (Heidelberg°07.07.1899 - Freising+07.11.1944)in 1943/1944?
And does somebody know his 'Dienststellung' as SS-Sturmbannführer der Waffen-SS?

[Georges JEROME]

Karl LENZ 7/7/99 Pg 32 388 SS 408 524 (early party member but rather late member of SS)
1944 Dienststellung : RSHA

Sturmbannführer der Allgemeine-SS 15.9.41

+ SturmbannfÜhrer (F) that means he was SS-Fachführer der Waffen-SS (equivalent to Sonderführer in Heeres)
at this period he was manager of a company (Deulag) in Belgium

could be FachfÜhrer with WVHA ?

he was a former writer and teacher in Heidelberg
member of SA since 1921
he was member of Reichstag in 3O's

[-Michael]

Thank you very mutch for this information!
Could it be that he was Geschäftsführer of the DeVlag (Deutsch-Vlaemische arbeitsgemeinschaft) in the Reich in 1944?

[-Michael]

I found out that he led the Hauptgeschäftsstelle Hildesheim der Deutsch-Vlaemische arbeitsgemeinschaft in 1944.
And If he was Fachführer and in service of the RSHA, he was probably Fachführer der Fachgruppe „SS- und Polizeiwesen“, or am I mistaken?

[Mikedc]

Stormman wrote:

Could it be that he was Geschäftsführer of the DeVlag (Deutsch-Vlaemische arbeitsgemeinschaft) in the Reich in 1944?

Yes, he was. See the answer from Georges: 'at this period he was manager of a company (Deulag) in Belgium'. Most likely he means DeVlag.....
And sorry, but don't have an answer to your last question


Mike

[Michael Miller]

Karl Adam Peter L e n z
SS-Sturmbannführer / SS-Sturmbannführer (F) der Waffen-SS

Born: 07.07.1899 in Heidelberg.
Died: 07.11.1944 in Lazarett Freising, following an appendectomy. Buried in Freising / Oberbayern, 16.11.1944 (per obituary in “Das Schwarze Korps” of 07.12.1944).

NSDAP-Nr.: 32 388 (First joined 15.01.1922 with unknown NSDAP-Nr.; Party banned following the “München-Putsch” of 09.11.1923; Reenrolled with Nr. 32 388, 16.04.1926 [dates per “Personalangaben” in his SS file; Andreas Schulz gives original entrance date as 14.01.1922 and reenrollment date as 20.03.1926)
SS-Nr.: 408 524 (Joined 15.09.1941)

Promotions:
00.03.1926-Autumn 1926 Ortsgruppenleiter der NSDAP
00.00.1926-00.00.1927 Kreisleiter der NSDAP
Autumn 1926-00.08.1931 Stellvertretender Gauleiter der NSDAP
16.09.1931-15.12.1932 Gauleiter der NSDAP
15.09.1941 SS-Sturmbannführer
01.03.1943 SS-Sturmbannführer (F) der Waffen-SS

Career:
ca. 1905-ca. 1909 Attended Volksschule.
ca. 1909-00.00.1917 Attended Mittelschule.
00.11.1916 -00.10.1918 Entered service as a Kriegsfreiwilliger, initially assigned to Mecklenburgischen Jäger-Bataillon 14. From 00.02.1917 to 00.10.1918, he was deployed to frontline service (on the Western and Eastern Fronts) with Infanterie-Regiment 70 and Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment 221. Severely wounded, 00.10.1918, losing his left eye, then hospitalized. Subsequently classified as "schwerkriegsbeschädigt" (severely war-disabled).
09.10.1918-22.10.1918 In British captivity.
00.01.1919 Discharged from military service.
00.00.1919-00.00.1919 Worked as an agricultural laborer.
00.00.1919-00.00.1920 Attended a Lehrerseminar.
00.00.1920-00.00.1924 Member of Freikorps “Damm” and the “Bund für Freiheit und Recht (League of Freedom and Justice)”.
00.00.1920-09.11.1928 Employed as a teacher in the Badischen Staatsdienst (Baden government service). His political activities resulted in numerous unpaid suspensions from his teaching position, writing in a later curriculum vitae that “from 1923 till 1933 I was suspended from my job without pay for a total of seven years." (Source: Michael H. Kater, The Nazi Party, p. 179)
15.01.1922 Joined the NSDAP (date per “Personalangaben” in his SS file; Andreas Schulz gives 14.01.1922).
00.01.1922 Founder of the "Sturmtrupps Lenz" in Heidelberg.
00.01.1922-00.10.1925 "Führer der SA-Heidelberg". During this period, he was pursued by German police authorities and held in investigative detention for arms smuggling and possession of explosives.
00.00.1922-00.00.1926 Member of the “Jungdeutscher Orden”.
00.00.1923-00.00.1934 "Reichsredner der NSDAP" in Gau Baden.
16.04.1926 Reenrolled in the NSDAP (date per “Personalangaben” in his SS file; Andreas Schulz gives 20.03.1926).
00.03.1926-Autumn 1926 Ortsgruppenleiter of the “Ortsgruppe Eichtersheim der NSDAP".
00.00.1926-00.00.1927 Kreisleiter of "Kreis Sinsheim-Wiesloch der NSDAP".
00.00.1926 Appointed as a Gemeindeverordneter (municipal delegate) in Eichtersheim.
00.00.1926 Unsuccessful candidate for election to the Landtag in Baden.
Autumn 1926-00.08.1931 Stellvertretender Gauleiter of "Gau Baden der NSDAP". Succeeded by Walter Köhler.
Spring 1927-Spring 1931 Gaupropagandaleiter of the "Gauleitung Baden der NSDAP".
00.00.1927-00.00.1930 Employed by "Führer", the newspaper of of "Gau Baden der NSDAP" in Karlsruhe.
09.11.1928 Discharged from his position as a teacher due to his National-Socialist political activities. He subsequently worked as a writer in Karlsruhe.
27.10.1929-29.09.1930 Member of the "Badischen Landtages" (20.Wahlkreis).
Spring 1930-00.08.1931 Kreisleiter of "Kreis Mannheim der NSDAP".
Spring 1930-00.08.1931 Publisher of the National-Socialist news organ "Hakenkreuzbanner", Mannheim.
14.09.1930-28.03.1936 Member of the Reichstag (Wahlkreis 32, Baden; after 31.07.1932, Wahlkreis 33, Hessen-Darmstadt).
16.09.1931-15.12.1932 Gauleiter of "Gau Hessen-Darmstadt der NSDAP". Succeeded Peter Gemeinder, who died 30.08.1931. Gau dissolved, 00.12.1932. He resigned as Gauleiter, ostensibly for health reasons (he suffered from pleurisy, and reportedly had a nervous breakdown), however the actual reason for his departure may have been a struggle for power with the “Landesinspekteur Südwest der NSDAP”, Jakob Sprenger. In a report to the “Reichsleitung der NSDAP” dated 23.11.1932, Sprenger had demanded his removal from the ranks of the “Hoheitsträger der NSDAP” and the removal of his mandate as a Landtag delegate. Sprenger alleged that Lenz spent less time running his Gau than he did cultivating various sexual relationships, and deemed such conduct to be detrimental to his [Lenz’s] own reputation and that of the Party.
08.12.1931-24.12.1932 Member of the "Landtages des Volksstaates Hessen".
00.01.1932-24.12.1932 “Fraktionsführer der NSDAP” in the “Landtages des Volksstaates Hessen”.
00.11.1932-00.03.1933 Member of the "Nationalsozialistischen Notgemeinschaft" (an oppositional group within the NSDAP) in Lahr.
00.12.1932-00.03.1933 Employee of the newspaper "Alemanische Grenzlandnachrichten (Algrena)” in Heidelberg.
00.07.1933-01.04.1934 Subject of a "Parteigerichtsverfahren" (Party court proceeding), due to "parteischädigenden Verhaltens" (conduct damaging to the Party) in connection with his support of Gregor Strasser. On 01.04.1934, he was given a formal reprimand and banned from holding political office for a period of three years.
00.00.1935-00.00.19__ Resettled in München, then employed as a teacher and active as a member of the"NS-Lehrerbund".
29.03.1936 Unsuccessful candidate for election to the Reichstag.
30.03.1936-30.07.1938 Schulungsleiter of "Ortsgruppe Viechtach der NSDAP".
00.04.1936 Appointed as a Bezirksschulrat (District School Councilor) in Viechtach.
00.05.1937 Appointed as Leiter of the Untergruppe Bayernwald of the "Bundes Deutscher Osten".
16.05.1940 Appointed as a "Gauredner der NSDAP".
00.00.1940-00.00.1940 Wehrmacht service on the Western Front.
15.09.1941-07.11.1944 Joined the Allgemeine-SS, assigned as an “ehrenamtlicher SS-Führer” to the RSHA.
26.02.1943-07.11.1944 Joined the Waffen-SS as a Fachführer, assigned to the SS-Hauptamt in Berlin.
19.03.1943-07.11.1944 Geschäftsführer of the “Deutsche-Vlämische Arbeitsgemeinschaft” (DeVlag) in Flanders.

Decorations & Awards:
00.00.191_ 1914 Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse
ca. 1918 Verwundetenabzeichen, 1918 in Schwarz
ca. 1934 Ehrenkreuz des Weltkrieges 1914-1918 mit Schwertern
00.00.193_ Goldenes Ehrenzeichen der NSDAP
00.00.193_ Gauehrenzeichen für Hessen-Nassau
00.00.194_ Dienstauszeichnung der NSDAP in Silber
00.00.194_ Dienstauszeichnung der NSDAP in Bronze
00.00.19__ Deutsches Reichssportabzeichen in Bronze
00.00.1941 Ehrenwinkel für alte Kämpfer

Notes:
* Son of the school official Karl Andreas Lenz and his wife Elisabeth, née Ahl.
* Religion: Declared himself “gottgläubig”, 00.00.19__.
* Married to Else Kathrin Ueberle in Heidelberg, 28.04.1922. This marriage later ended for unknown reasons and he eventually remarried- to Hertha Margarethe Agnes Gesche. One son (Wilfred, assigned as an SS-Junker to an SS-Panzer-Ersatz-Abteilung at the time of his father’s death) and one daughter (Gisela, a DRK-Helferin serving in Norway).
* Foreign language proficiency: French.
* Height: 176 cm.

Sources:
Grill, Johnpeter Horst:
The Nazi Movement in Baden, 1920-1945. University of North Carolina Press, 1983.
Höffkes, Karl:
Hitlers politische Generale: Die Gauleiter des Dritten Reiches. Grabert-Verlag-Tübingen, 1986.
Kater, Michael H.:
The Nazi Party: A Social Profile of Members and Leaders, 1919-1945. Harvard University Press, 1983.
Lilla, Joachim & Schulz, Andreas:
Statisten in Uniform. Die Mitglieder des Reichstags 1933-1945. Droste Verlag, 2004.
National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland:
SS-Personalakte of Karl Lenz. Microfilm document collection A3343SS.
Schulz, Andreas:
Biographical Notes from the archives of Herrn Schulz, Berlin, Deutschland.
Stockhorst, Erich:
5000 Köpfe: Wer war was im 3. Reich (3rd Edition). Arndt-Verlag, 1998.

[Mikedc]

Hello Michael,
Thank you very much, although I didn't started this thread I can appreciate this as well since this officer was also unknown for me until now. So I'm sure Stormman will appreciate this as well since it answers almost all of his questions.....

Mike

[-Michael]

Thank you very much!
Here is a (bad quality) picture I found in the nationalsocialist newspaper Balming of 20.5.1944 of SS-Hstuf. Dr. Jef van de Wiele (in black) together with SS-Stubaf. Karl Lenz, mentiond as Hoofdzaakleider/Hauptgeschäftsführer der DeVlag.

[Michael Miller]

It's not the best photo, but it's a valuable contribution to this discussion thread! Many thanks for sharing it, Stormman- first photo I've seen of Lenz in SS uniform.

Best wishes,
~ Mike

[nessie]

Hello,

I can see this thread was started quite a while ago, but I hope you will still see this. My name is Vanessa and I am Karl's great-granddaughter. I began researching my great-grandfather recently and came across this forum.

I am interested in talking to those who have so far shown some kind of interest in his life. Contact me, please.

[-Michael]

Another one of Karl Lenz, the ‘Hauptgeschäftsführer der DeVlag’ together with Jef Van de Wiele, the ‘Landesleiter der DeVlag’ and SS-Sturmbannführer Konrad Schellong.


Source: De Vlaamsche Post, 19.8.1944.

[Georges JEROME]

very interesting pic !
thanks for sharing

Georges

[smetanin albert]

Add Info

[Michael Miller]

Thank you, Albert.

May I ask the source? And do you know what "Kr." (?) means before his name?

Here are a few more images of Lenz.

Best wishes,
~ Mike

[smetanin albert]

Hello Mike,

Sorry,
I dont know.

This document is called "Stabsbefehl 11/44" (SS-FHA, 17.04.1944)