August Heissmeyer
A high-ranking Nazi bureaucrat who oversaw the SS's administrative machinery and the indoctrination of youth in elite party schools.
1897–1979 (age 82)·German Nazi SS-Obergruppenführer·Birthday: January 11·The Lost Generation
Biography
August Heissmeyer was a careerist in the heart of the Nazi terror apparatus. Joining the SS early, he rose not through battlefield command but through administrative diligence, becoming chief of the SS Main Office—the central personnel and administrative nerve center of the entire SS. His power lay in managing the vast bureaucracy that enabled the regime's crimes. Later, he took command of the National Political Institutes of Education (Napolas), a network of elite boarding schools designed to mold the next generation of Nazi leaders through a brutal curriculum of ideology, physical hardening, and absolute loyalty. Married to Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, the Reich Women's Leader, he was embedded in the party's inner sanctum. Captured after the war, his postwar testimony and relatively light sentence exemplified the difficulty of holding the managers of genocide accountable.
The Lost Generation
1883–1900
Came of age during World War I. Disillusioned by the carnage, they rejected the certainties of the Victorian era and built modernism from the wreckage — in art, literature, and politics.
August was born in 1897, placing them squarely in The Lost Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When August Was Born
The biggest hits of 1897
August's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1897Born
President: William McKinley
1902Started school
The eruption of Mount Pelee kills 30,000 in Martinique
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1910Became a teenager
Halley's Comet makes its closest approach
President: William Howard Taft
1913Could drive
The Federal Reserve is established
President: Woodrow Wilson
1915Could vote
The Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat
President: Woodrow Wilson
1918Turned 21
World War I ends; Spanish flu pandemic kills millions
President: Woodrow Wilson
1927Turned 30
Lindbergh flies solo across the Atlantic; The Jazz Singer premieres
President: Calvin Coolidge"My Blue Heaven" — Gene Austin
1937Turned 40
Hindenburg disaster; Golden Gate Bridge opens
Gas: $0.20/galPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"A-Tisket, A-Tasket" — Ella FitzgeraldBest Picture: The Life of Emile Zola
1947Turned 50
India gains independence; the Dead Sea Scrolls found
Gas: $0.23/galHome: $6,600Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Near You" — Francis CraigBest Picture: Gentleman's Agreement
1957Turned 60
Sputnik launches the Space Age
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $10,550Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"All Shook Up" — Elvis PresleyBest Picture: The Bridge on the River Kwai
1967Turned 70
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1977Turned 80
Star Wars premieres; Elvis dies
Gas: $0.62/galHome: $31,800Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Tonight's the Night" — Rod StewartBest Picture: Annie Hall
1979Died at 82
Iran hostage crisis begins; Three Mile Island accident
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $37,900Min wage: $2.90/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"My Sharona" — The KnackBest Picture: Kramer vs. Kramer
Key Achievements
- Served as Chief of the SS Main Office from 1935 to 1939, overseeing the internal administration, personnel, and logistics of the entire SS organization.
- Was the Higher SS and Police Leader for the Berlin district from 1939-1945, a key security role in the Nazi capital during WWII.
- Headed the National Political Institutes of Education (Napolas), the Nazi Party's premier system of elite secondary schools for future leaders.
- Attained the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer, one of the highest ranks in the SS, equivalent to a full general.
Did You Know?
He was married to Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, the highest-ranking woman in the Nazi Party as head of the Nazi Women's League.
After the war, he was classified as a 'Major Offender' by a denazification court but was released from prison in 1951.
He worked as a representative for a Coca-Cola bottling plant in West Germany during the 1950s after his release.
Five of his sons attended the Napola schools he was responsible for overseeing.
“The organization is the foundation of our strength.”
