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Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:26:08 +0200
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From: Molobo Molobo <molobus@gmail.com>
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	Content preview:  [[Image:Theodor Oberländer.gif|thumb]] '''Theodor
	Oberländer''' ([[May 1]], [[1905]] &ndash; [[May 4]], [[1998]]) was a
	[[Ostforschung|Ostforschung scientist]], [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] officer,
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	Content preview:  [[Image:Theodor Oberländer.gif|thumb]] '''Theodor
	Oberländer''' ([[May 1]], [[1905]] &ndash; [[May 4]], [[1998]]) was a
	[[Ostforschung|Ostforschung scientist]], [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] officer,
	and [[Germany|German]] [[politician]]. [...] 
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[[Image:Theodor Oberl=E4nder.gif|thumb]]

'''Theodor Oberl=E4nder''' ([[May 1]], [[1905]] &ndash; [[May 4]], [[1998]]=
)
was a [[Ostforschung|Ostforschung scientist]], [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]]
officer, and [[Germany|German]] [[politician]].



>From 1953 to 1960 he was a Minister for Displaced Persons, Refugees and
Victims of War for the [[Federal Republic of Germany]]. He is considered by
some historians to be among the academics who laid the intellectual
foundation for [[Final Solution]]<ref name=3D"Pursuit''>"In pursuit of Germ=
an
memory: history, television, and politics after Auschwitz", Wulf Kansteiner
Ohio University Press; 2006 page 222-224 </ref>.



=3D=3D Biography =3D=3D

=3D=3DMembership in Nazi party and Ostforschung studies=3D=3D



Oberl=E4nder was born in [[Meiningen]], [[Saxe-Meiningen]], part of the
[[German Empire]] in 1905. At the ege of eighteen he participated in [[Adol=
f
Hitler]]'s [[Beer Hall Putsch]] in [[Munich]], [[Bavaria]], in 1923 during
the existance of [[Weimar Republic]]. After joining Nazis in 1933 he became
a senior SA commander and leader of NSDAP district<ref
name=3D"Schwarz">"Konrad Adenauer: A German Politician and Statesman in a
Period of War, Revolution and Reconstruction : The Statesman : 1952-1967",
Hans Peter-Schwarz pages 91, 432, Berghahn Books 1997 </ref>. Oberl=E4nder
obtained a doctorate in [[Agricultural Science]]s and wrote several books
about the need for German intervention in the agricultural systems of
[[Second Polish Republic|Poland]] and the [[Soviet Union]], which he
considered "un-economic".



Like other [[Ostforschung]] researchers; Meinhold, [[Peter-Heinz Seraphim]]=
,
Oberl=E4nder's use the forms of economic utilitarinism was to cover up
stereotypes about Jews and Poles<ref name=3D"Ethics"/>. Those views were be=
ing
rationalised with terms of health and "security threats" This supposed
economic science was in fact, in the words of historian Michael Burleigh "a
denatured hybrid throughoutly saturated by Nazi race ideology"<ref
name=3D"Ethics">"Ethics and extermination-Reflections on Nazi Genocide",
Michael Burleigh page 177, Cambridge University Press 1997</ref>



Oberl=E4nder became a [[Nazi Party|National Socialist]] in 1933. He became =
a
professor at the [[University of Greifswald]], where he took the forefront
in making the university and the [[Province of Pomerania]] "[[judenfrei]]"
(free of Jews). On [[August 4]], [[1935]], he became an assistant to
[[Gauleiter]] [[Erich Koch]], under whose authority he started to gather
information about non-German minorities in [[East Prussia]]. A significant
role in this process was played by the "Bund Deutscher Osten" (BDO - "Leagu=
e
for a German East"), which advocated radical [[Germanization]] of the
eastern provinces and the elimination of the [[Polish language]] in
[[Masuria]]. The language's traditional usage in the
[[Protestantism|Protestant]] churches of the [[Masurians]] was outlawed in
November 1939, with the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] church leadership
acquiescing in December.



In March 1935 he attended a meeting of professors, scholars and [[NSDAP]]
training specialists dedicated to study of the "East" where he dedicated hi=
s
esseys at what he described as "border struggle" with Poland<ref
name=3D"GermanSch"/>.

The meeting was divided into two groups:"base" and "front"<ref
name=3D"GermanSch"/>. The "base" included 58 professors, lecturers and
research assistants, the "front" was made up of political functionaries,
seven training specialists of the NSDAP, [[Hitler Youth]], three heads of
Reichsarbeitsdiensts(forced labour service), two teachers and two civil
servants<ref name=3D"GermanSch"/>. It was Oberl=E4nder who intruduced the 7=
2
patricipants on the first day and set for them the task to study "border
struggle" against Poland<ref name=3D"GermanSch"/>.

Attacking Poland, he advocated battle against [[Polish minority in Nazi
Germany]], and demanded

that social relationships between Germans and Polish immigrants be
prohibited<ref name=3D"GermanSch"/>.



Oberl=E4nder implied that Poland was not capable of sociopolitical and
agrarian reforms due that fact that it was not "racially homogenous" nation
state<ref name=3D"GermanSch"/>. The population of Polish cities has been na=
med
by him as "transplanted rubes"<ref name=3D"GermanSch"/>.



Sharing Hitler's view Oberl=E4nder believed that the treaties regarding the
[[East]], like the [[German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact]], were only
conditional, and Ostforschung studies should go on as usual "so that after
ten years we have everything ready that we could need in any given
circumstances"<ref name=3D"Eastwards">"Germany turns eastwards: a study of
Ostforschung in the Third Reich", Michael Burleigh Cambridge University
Press, 1988, pages 76 ,144-146, 222, 317-318 </ref>. Continuing his studies
on rural population of Poland he noted in his works that "Poland has eight
million inhabitants too many"<ref name=3D"Eastwards"/>.



Reflecting on the temporary lack of possibility of open [[war]] in the East
,Oberl=E4nder wrote the following:



''The struggle for ethnicity is nothing other then the continuation of war
by other means under the cover of peace. Not a fight with gas, granades, an=
d
machine-guns, but a fight about homes, farms, schools and the soulrs of
children, a struggle whose end, unlike in war, is not forseeable as long as
the insane principle of the nationalism of the state dominates the Eastern
region, a struggle which goes on with one aim:extermination!'' <ref
name=3D"Eastwards"/>



Other features of Oberl=E4nder's thoughts concentrated on depicting Jews as
carriers of [[communism]], and the benefits of peasant [[antisemitism]] to
German goals in Central and Eastern Europe<ref name=3D"Eastwards"/>.

His preperatory work in BDO involved monitioring over 1,200,000 Poles livin=
g
in Germany, with card-name index of untrustworthy Poles and Germans living
in the borderlands, and proposals to Germanise Polish place, street, and
family names<ref name=3D"Eastwards"/>.

In the summer of [[1937]] Oberl=E4nder formulated a "divide and conquer"
strategy for Poland<ref name=3D"GermanSch">German scholars and ethnic
cleansing 1919-1945" Ingo Haar, Michael Fahlbusch Berghahn Books 2006 page
10, 12 </ref>.

Within Poland, ethnic groups were to be directed into fighting with each
other, in order to prepare ground for German rule<ref name=3D"GermanSch"/>.
The Poles were to be steered away from opposing Germans and guided into
confrontation with [[Russians]] and [[Jews]]<ref name=3D"GermanSch"/>.
Oberl=E4nder additionally called for elimination of "assimiliated Jewry" wh=
ich
in his view carried "communist ideas"<ref name=3D"GermanSch"/>. Polish
peasants were to be "taught" that they benefit from German "law"<ref
name=3D"GermanSch"/>.



In order to win over Poles for the side of German [[hegemony]] in
[[Europe]], Oberl=E4nder proposed that they share in theft of Jewish
property<ref name=3D"GermanSch"/>. Around 3,5 million Polish Jews and 1,5
million people who were considered "assimilated Jews" were to be deprived o=
f
all of their rights<ref name=3D"GermanSch"/>.



By 1937 Oberl=E4nder however started to lose influence in [[Nazi party]], a=
s
his views on the treatment of Polish population(but not Jewish question)
were losing to more hardline positions<ref name=3D"GermanSch"/> and persona=
l
conflict with [[Erich Koch]]

<ref name=3D"Valdis">"Himmler's Auxiliaries: The Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle
and the German National Minorities of Europe, 1933-1945"Valdis O. Lumens
page 63</ref>. As a result he lost his position in East Prussia and within
BDO by 1938<ref name=3D"GermanSch"/>. From 1.4.1938 he worked as Professor =
of
History at [[University of Greifswald]]<ref name=3D"Eastwards"/>



In 1939 Oberl=E4nder moved to work in [[Abwehrstelle Breslau]]; one of the
main centers of [[sabotage]] and [[diversion]] organised by Nazis which
conducted operations against Poland. At the same time his work concerned
issues connected to [[Ukraine]] and [[Sudetes]] region and he had contacts
with [[Osteuropa Institut]] located in Breslau([[Wroc=B3aw]])<ref
name=3D"Instytut">"Przeglad Zachodni", volume 16 Instytut Zachodni 1960 pag=
e
115</ref>



=3D=3DSecond World War=3D=3D



In 1940 he endorsed [[ethnic cleansing]] of Polish population[
http://gplanost.x-berg.de/sgplanost.html], and in 1941 wrote in the German
magazine Deutsche Monatshefte: "We have the best soldier in the world who
re-conquered German soil in the East. There is no bigger responsibility tha=
n
educating this colonist to be the best on earth and to secure the living
space for all times to come" Oberl=E4nder's words echoed views of [[Heinric=
h
Himmler]], who envisioned settling former soldiers, armed with weapons and
plows in the East, not just pure peasants

<ref name=3D"Ramos">"SCHWERTE MUSS DER PFLUG FOLGEN: =DBber-peasents and
National Socialists Settlements in the Occupied Eastern Territories during
World War Two"

Simone C. De Santiago Ramos, M.S. Thesis Prepared for the Degree of Master
of Arts

University of Texas page 68</ref>



During 1940 he moved to [[University of Prague]], after which he became
active in [[Ukraine]], where he was used by Nazi Germany's military as
expert on "ethnic psychology"<ref name=3D"Eastwards"/>.



When Hitler [[Operation Barbarossa|invaded the Soviet Union]] in 1941
Oberl=E4nder became an adv ising officer of the [[Nachtigall Battalion]] (a
Ukrainian battalion of [[Wehrmacht]]) which occupied [[Lviv]] in
[[Ukraine]]; his position was similar to that of Soviet [[political
commissar]]s. The patricipation of the Battalion in [[The Lviv Civilian
Massacre of 1941]] has since been subject to controversy, and Oberl=E4nder
himself has been accused after the war in patricipating in the events.

In January 1942 he sent a report on situation in Ukraine in which he wrote
that success lay in "winning over the masses and pitilessly exterminating
partisants as deleterious to the people"<ref name=3D"Eastwards"/>.



He later became the leader of the mixed German and Caucasian [[Sonderverban=
d
Bergmann]], which was active in anti-[[Partisan (military)|partisan]]
warfare. Both army groups were later claimed to have participated in [[war
crime]]s. Oberl=E4nder's involvement in [[Eastern front]] would led to the
Oberl=E4nder case at the end of the 1950s<ref name=3D"Schwarz"/>.



After leaving the Bergmann group in 1943 due to dismissal from [[Wehrmacht]=
]
due to political conflict with his superiors he returned to Prague. In 1944
he became part of the staff of the

Nazi controlled puppet collaborationist organisation the [[Andrey Vlasov]]'=
s
[[Russian Liberation Army]]<ref name=3D"Schwarz"/>. He was taken prisoner b=
y
the [[United States Army]] in 1945.



=3D=3DPolitical career after Second World War=3D=3D



During his imprisonment U.S military secret service appreciated Oberl=E4nde=
r's
expertise in eastern European topics, and he went through the
[[denazification]] process with ease

<ref name=3D"Pursuit''>"In pursuit of German memory: history, television, a=
nd
politics after Auschwitz", Wulf Kansteiner Ohio University Press; 2006 page
222-224 </ref>.



After the war Oberl=E4nder claimed that he criticised Nazi policies and he
only wanted a German [[hegemony]] over [[Slavic peoples]] in which they
would have "some respect" and were "treated reasonably humanly"<ref
name=3D"Schwarz"/>.



Oberl=E4nder again became active in German politics, first in the liberal
[[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party]], then in the
[[All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights|Bloc of
Refugees and Expellees]] (GB/BHE)(despite the himself was not expelled),
where he would become a major leader alongside [[ Waldemar Kraft]] also a
former Nazi, interned for two years for his wartime activities in occupied
Poland<ref name=3D"Burdens">"Shouldering the Burdens of Defeat: West German=
y
and the Reconstruction of Social Justice" Michael L. Hughes, The University
of North Carolina Press 1999</ref>. Many threads connected BHE to the Nazis=
,
as it openly tried to win over former Nazis angry at denazification, callin=
g
their crimes to be only "uncritical belief in Germany's future"<ref
name=3D"Burdens"/>. The party classified those Nazis on pair with war-damag=
ed
as fellow victims<ref name=3D"Burdens"/>. The fact that the party selected =
as
its leaders two former Nazis, who took part in expulsion and expropation of
non-Germans severely undermined German complaints about their situation<ref
name=3D"World''>"A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II" Gerhard=
 L.
Weinberg Cambridge University Press 1995 page 792</ref>.



Oberl=E4nder joined the [[Konrad Adenauer|Adenauer]] government of [[West
Germany]] in 1953 as Minister for Refugees and Expelles<ref
name=3D"Pursuit''>"In pursuit of German memory: history, television, and
politics after Auschwitz", Wulf Kansteiner Ohio University Press; 2006 page
222-224 </ref>.

His appointment prompted negative press coverage and made details of his
Nazi past known<ref name=3D"Pursuit''>"In pursuit of German memory: history=
,
television, and politics after Auschwitz", Wulf Kansteiner Ohio University
Press; 2006 page 222-224 </ref>. But despite the fact that he nominated
several former Nazis as co-workers, the criticism soon died down<ref
name=3D"Pursuit''>"In pursuit of German memory: history, television, and
politics after Auschwitz", Wulf Kansteiner Ohio University Press; 2006 page
222-224 </ref>. Adenauer in particular was keen on getting BHE on board, as
with its support he controlled two-thirds majority in the parliament<ref
name=3D"Pursuit''>"In pursuit of German memory: history, television, and
politics after Auschwitz", Wulf Kansteiner Ohio University Press; 2006 page
222-224 </ref>.Adenauer knew very well that Oberl=E4nder was a Nationalist
Socialists and admitted he has a "very brown past"<ref name=3D"Schwarz"/>



When Oberl=E4nder tried to visit his former Nazi co-workes in 1956 who stil=
l
served time in Landsberg prison, the foreign minister of Germany vetoed the
trip, fearing for international consequences, neverthless despite
hinderances Oberl=E4nder still tried to support far right groups.<ref
name=3D"Legacies">"Legacies of Dachau: the uses and abuses of a concentrati=
on
camp 1933-2001"" Harold Marcuse Cambridge University Press 2001 page
118</ref>



Oberl=E4nder left the GB/BHE for the centre [[Christian Democratic Union
(Germany)|Christian Democratic Union]] in 1956 when it broke with Adenauer.
Adenauer himself continued to support him, as a matter of principle<ref
name=3D"Pursuit''>"In pursuit of German memory: history, television, and
politics after Auschwitz", Wulf Kansteiner Ohio University Press; 2006 page
222-224 </ref>.



In the fall of 1959 the [[Eastern Bloc]] unleashed a coordinated campaign
against existance of Nazi's in West German government, which included
Oberl=E4nder. He was accused of participating in Lviv Massacre<ref
name=3D"Pursuit''>"In pursuit of German memory: history, television, and
politics after Auschwitz", Wulf Kansteiner Ohio University Press; 2006 page
222-224 </ref>. Previously he was able to remain in politics despite the
accusations, but the situation this time became more unfavourable,and some
of his fellow CDU collegues pushed for him to resign for the good of
government and country <ref name=3D"Pursuit''>"In pursuit of German memory:
history, television, and politics after Auschwitz", Wulf Kansteiner Ohio
University Press; 2006 page 222-224 </ref>.

While many in West Germany did not believe the accusations of war crimes, i=
t
was clear that Oberl=E4nder had been an enthusiastic Nazi<ref
name=3D"Pursuit''>"In pursuit of German memory: history, television, and
politics after Auschwitz", Wulf Kansteiner Ohio University Press; 2006 page
222-224 </ref>, and due to fact that West German community had reinvented
its immage as community of innocent bystanders during Second World War,
Oberl=E4nder past was considered liability<ref name=3D"Pursuit''>"In pursui=
t of
German memory: history, television, and politics after Auschwitz", Wulf
Kansteiner Ohio University Press; 2006 page 222-224 </ref>.



A court in the [[German Democratic Republic]] (East Germany) in 1960
sentenced Oberl=E4nder, in absentia, to life imprisonment for his involveme=
nt
in the Lviv massacre in 1941.



In January 1960 during discussion with 3,000 students of [[University of
Cologne]] Adenauer was faced with protests against continued presence of
Oberl=E4nder in German government<ref name=3D"Schwarz"/>. In responce Adena=
uer
stated that Oberl=E4nder was a Nazi but "never did anything dishonourable"<=
ref
name=3D"Schwarz"/>. Despite Adenauer's protection however Oberl=E4nder beca=
me a
heavy burder for the German government in May [[1960]]<ref name=3D"Schwarz"=
/>
and finally removed from government, but not because of his past, but due t=
o
fact that he politically represented no value that was worth trouble<<ref
name=3D"Pursuit''>"In pursuit of German memory: history, television, and
politics after Auschwitz", Wulf Kansteiner Ohio University Press; 2006 page
222-224 </ref>.



Oberl=E4nder neverthless continued efforts to influence German public, and =
in
1962 he published an article in [[Der Stahlhelm]], an organ of former
[[Frontsoldaten]] <ref name=3D"Eastwards"/>. In it he repeated claims about=
 an
"revolutionary war" in which he accused the "dictatorship in the East" of
conducting an offensive revolution against the [[West]], in which there was
"no beginning", and no movement of troops, but which was led by
"inflitration and publicism" as well as "espionage" <ref name=3D"Eastwards"=
/>.
He denouced any possibility of "coexistance" between East and West and
blamed such ideas on "rootless intelligentsia" <ref name=3D"Eastwards"/>, "=
to
appease the enemy" Oberlaner wrote was to "further world revolution" <ref
name=3D"Eastwards"/>. As historian [[Michael Burleigh]] notes, the idea tha=
t
the "unfree" perhaps didn't wanted to be "liberated" by the likes of
Oberl=E4nder and his "Bund der Frontsoldaten"(who passed that way twenty ye=
ars
ago)-did not occur to him <ref name=3D"Eastwards"/>.



In 1986, Oberl=E4nder received [[Bavarian Order of Merit]] from the state o=
f
[[Bavaria]]<ref name=3D"Bav''>"Problems of Political Reeducation in West
Germany, 1945-1960" Michael H. Kater Simon Wiesenthal Center Annual Volume =
4
</ref>.





[[File:Oberlander1.jpg|150px|left|thumb|[[KGB]] document on action against
Oberl=E4nder and Ukrainian [[Nachtigall]] ([[1959]]).]]

His conviction was squashed by a new German court in 1993, which contended
that the Soviet evidence had been fabricated by the [[KGB]]{{Verify
source|date=3DMarch 2009}}{{Fact|date=3DMarch 2009}}<!-- de: only says
"overturned on formal grounds", gives scholarly source -->. At the end of
his life, Oberl=E4nder became explicitly involved in [[far right]] and
[[anti-immigration]] politics.



A new case was opened against Oberl=E4nder in 1996 in which he was charged
with the unlawful killing of a civilian in [[Kislovodsk]] in 1942 during hi=
s
Bergmann leadership<ref>Der Spiegel

18 / 1996 ''Kriegsverbrehen. Die M=FChlen mahlen langsam''</ref>. This time=
 it
involved an interrogation of female teacher, who was whipped and after
refusing to talk about suspected partisant activity shot in the breast by
Oberl=E4nder, who left her to die. Oberl=E4nder called those allegations "S=
oviet
lies".



Theodor Oberl=E4nder died in [[Bonn]] in 1998.





=3D=3DIn fiction=3D=3D

*Professor Theodor Oberl=E4nder appears in [[Jonathan Littell]]'s
[[docudrama]] "[[Les Bienveillantes]]".



=3D=3D References =3D=3D

* {{PND|118735829}} {{de icon}}

* [http://zeus.zeit.de/text/2001/26/200126_a-lemberg.xml Article about the
events in Lviv/Lemberg] {{de icon}}

* [http://www.ursulahomann.de/JudenInMecklenburgVorpommern/kap005.html Fate
of the Jews in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Oberl=E4nder's involvement] {{de
icon}}

* [http://people.freenet.de/Transsylvania/Oberlaender.html Extracts from ''
"Grenzlandpolitik" und Ostforschung an der Peripherie des Reiches. Das
ostpreussische Masuren 1919-1945'' by Andreas Kossert] {{de icon}}

<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oberl=E4nder, Theodor}}

[[Category:1905 births]]

[[Category:1998 deaths]]

[[Category:People from Meiningen]]

[[Category:Beer Hall Putsch]]

[[Category:Nazis]]

[[Category:German politicians]]

[[Category:Government ministers of Germany]]

[[Category:Members of the Bavarian Order of Merit]]

[[Category:People from Saxe-Meiningen]]

[[Category:People indicted for war crimes]]

[[Category:University of Munich alumni]]

[[Category:University of Hamburg alumni]]

[[Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni]]

[[Category:University of K=F6nigsberg alumni]]

[[Category:University of Greifswald faculty]]



[[de:Theodor Oberl=E4nder]]

[[no:Theodor Oberl=E4nder]]

[[pl:Theodor Oberl=E4nder]]

[[sv:Theodor Oberl=E4nder]]




2009/8/26 Molobo Molobo <molobus@gmail.com>

> I completed Oberlander article regarding:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Oberl%C3%A4nder
>
> The article is attached in doc format. It will be copied to the next emai=
l
> for those of you who don't use mail in the discussion group. You can past=
e
> and copy it, although if you want to check spelling and references format=
ing
> be my guest. In one case I couldn't get the reference to work properly at
> all and had to manually copy it several times(I don't know why :/ )
>
>
>

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<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"DE">[[Image:=
Theodor Oberl=E4nder.gif|thumb]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&#39;=
&#39;&#39;Theodor Oberl=E4nder&#39;&#39;&#39; ([[May 1]], [[1905]]
&amp;ndash; [[May 4]], [[1998]]) was a [[Ostforschung|Ostforschung scientis=
t]],
[[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] officer, and [[Germany|German]] [[politician]].</span=
></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">From =
1953 to 1960 he was a Minister for
Displaced Persons, Refugees and Victims of War for the [[Federal Republic o=
f
Germany]]. He is considered by some historians to be among the academics wh=
o
laid the intellectual foundation for [[Final Solution]]&lt;ref
name=3D&quot;Pursuit&#39;&#39;&gt;&quot;In pursuit of German memory: histor=
y, television,
and politics after Auschwitz&quot;, Wulf Kansteiner Ohio University Press; =
2006
page 222-224 &lt;/ref&gt;.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">=3D=
=3D Biography =3D=3D</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">=3D=
=3DMembership in Nazi party and Ostforschung
studies=3D=3D</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Oberl=
=E4nder was born in [[Meiningen]], [[Saxe-Meiningen]],
part of the [[German Empire]] in 1905. At the ege of eighteen he participat=
ed
in [[Adolf Hitler]]&#39;s [[Beer Hall Putsch]] in [[Munich]], [[Bavaria]], =
in 1923
during the existance of [[Weimar Republic]]. After joining Nazis in 1933 he
became a senior SA commander and leader of NSDAP district&lt;ref
name=3D&quot;Schwarz&quot;&gt;&quot;Konrad Adenauer: A German Politician an=
d
Statesman in a Period of War, Revolution and Reconstruction : The Statesman=
 :
1952-1967&quot;, Hans Peter-Schwarz pages 91, 432, Berghahn Books 1997 &lt;=
/ref&gt;.
Oberl=E4nder obtained a doctorate in [[Agricultural Science]]s and wrote se=
veral
books about the need for German intervention in the agricultural systems of
[[Second Polish Republic|Poland]] and the [[Soviet Union]], which he consid=
ered
&quot;un-economic&quot;. </span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Like =
other [[Ostforschung]] researchers;
Meinhold, [[Peter-Heinz Seraphim]], Oberl=E4nder&#39;s use the forms of eco=
nomic
utilitarinism was to cover up stereotypes about Jews and Poles&lt;ref
name=3D&quot;Ethics&quot;/&gt;. Those views were being rationalised with te=
rms of
health and &bdquo;security threats&rdquo; This supposed economic science wa=
s in fact, in
the words of historian Michael Burleigh &bdquo;a denatured hybrid throughou=
tly
saturated by Nazi race ideology&rdquo;&lt;ref name=3D&quot;Ethics&quot;&gt;=
&quot;Ethics
and extermination-Reflections on Nazi Genocide&quot;, Michael Burleigh page
177, Cambridge University Press 1997&lt;/ref&gt;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Oberl=
=E4nder became a [[Nazi Party|National
Socialist]] in 1933. He became a professor at the [[University of Greifswal=
d]],
where he took the forefront in making the university and the [[Province of
Pomerania]] &quot;[[judenfrei]]&quot; (free of Jews). On [[August 4]],
[[1935]], he became an assistant to [[Gauleiter]] [[Erich Koch]], under who=
se
authority he started to gather information about non-German minorities in
[[East Prussia]]. A significant role in this process was played by the
&quot;Bund Deutscher Osten&quot; (BDO - &quot;League for a German East&quot=
;),
which advocated radical [[Germanization]] of the eastern provinces and the
elimination of the [[Polish language]] in [[Masuria]]. The language&#39;s t=
raditional
usage in the [[Protestantism|Protestant]] churches of the [[Masurians]] was
outlawed in November 1939, with the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] church leaders=
hip
acquiescing in December.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">In Ma=
rch 1935 he attended a meeting of
professors, scholars and [[NSDAP]] training specialists dedicated to study =
of
the &bdquo;East&rdquo; where he dedicated his esseys at what he described a=
s &bdquo;border
struggle&rdquo; with Poland&lt;ref name=3D&quot;GermanSch&quot;/&gt;.</span=
></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">The m=
eeting was divided into two groups:&rdquo;base&rdquo;
and &bdquo;front&rdquo;&lt;ref name=3D&quot;GermanSch&quot;/&gt;. The &bdqu=
o;base&rdquo; included 58
professors, lecturers and research assistants, the &bdquo;front&rdquo; was =
made up of
political functionaries, seven training specialists of the NSDAP, [[Hitler
Youth]], three heads of Reichsarbeitsdiensts(forced labour service), two
teachers and two civil servants&lt;ref name=3D&quot;GermanSch&quot;/&gt;. I=
t was
Oberl=E4nder who intruduced the 72 patricipants on the first day and set fo=
r them
the task to study &bdquo;border struggle&rdquo; against Poland&lt;ref
name=3D&quot;GermanSch&quot;/&gt;.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Attac=
king Poland, he advocated battle against
[[Polish minority in Nazi Germany]], and demanded </span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">that =
social relationships between Germans and
Polish immigrants be prohibited&lt;ref name=3D&quot;GermanSch&quot;/&gt;.</=
span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Oberl=
=E4nder implied that Poland was not capable
of sociopolitical and agrarian reforms due that fact that it was not &bdquo=
;racially
homogenous&rdquo; nation state&lt;ref name=3D&quot;GermanSch&quot;/&gt;. Th=
e population
of Polish cities has been named by him as &bdquo;transplanted rubes&rdquo;&=
lt;ref
name=3D&quot;GermanSch&quot;/&gt;. </span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Shari=
ng Hitler&#39;s view Oberl=E4nder believed that
the treaties regarding the [[East]], like the [[German&ndash;Polish Non-Agg=
ression
Pact]], were only conditional, and Ostforschung studies should go on as usu=
al
&bdquo;so that after ten years we have everything ready that we could need =
in any
given circumstances&rdquo;&lt;ref name=3D&quot;Eastwards&quot;&gt;&quot;Ger=
many turns
eastwards: a study of Ostforschung in the Third Reich&quot;, Michael Burlei=
gh
Cambridge University Press, 1988, pages 76 ,144-146, 222, 317-318 &lt;/ref&=
gt;.
Continuing his studies on rural population of Poland he noted in his works =
that
&bdquo;Poland has eight million inhabitants too many&rdquo;&lt;ref name=3D&=
quot;Eastwards&quot;/&gt;.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Refle=
cting on the temporary lack of possibility
of open [[war]] in the East ,Oberl=E4nder wrote the following:</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&#39;=
&#39;The struggle for ethnicity is nothing other
then the continuation of war by other means under the cover of peace. Not a
fight with gas, granades, and machine-guns, but a fight about homes, farms,
schools and the soulrs of children, a struggle whose end, unlike in war, is=
 not
forseeable as long as the insane principle of the nationalism of the state
dominates the Eastern region, a struggle which goes on with one
aim:extermination!&#39;&#39; &lt;ref name=3D&quot;Eastwards&quot;/&gt;</spa=
n></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Other=
 features of Oberl=E4nder&#39;s thoughts
concentrated on depicting Jews as carriers of [[communism]], and the benefi=
ts
of peasant [[antisemitism]] to German goals in Central and Eastern
Europe&lt;ref name=3D&quot;Eastwards&quot;/&gt;.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">His p=
reperatory work in BDO involved
monitioring over 1,200,000 Poles living in Germany, with card-name index of
untrustworthy Poles and Germans living in the borderlands, and proposals to
Germanise Polish place, street, and family names&lt;ref
name=3D&quot;Eastwards&quot;/&gt;.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">In th=
e summer of [[1937]] Oberl=E4nder formulated
a &bdquo;divide and conquer&rdquo; strategy for Poland&lt;ref
name=3D&quot;GermanSch&quot;&gt;German scholars and ethnic cleansing
1919-1945&quot; Ingo Haar, Michael Fahlbusch Berghahn Books 2006 page 10, 1=
2
&lt;/ref&gt;. </span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Withi=
n Poland, ethnic groups were to be
directed into fighting with each other, in order to prepare ground for Germ=
an
rule&lt;ref name=3D&quot;GermanSch&quot;/&gt;. The Poles were to be steered=
 away
from opposing Germans and guided into confrontation with [[Russians]] and
[[Jews]]&lt;ref name=3D&quot;GermanSch&quot;/&gt;. Oberl=E4nder additionall=
y called
for elimination of &bdquo;assimiliated Jewry&rdquo; which in his view carri=
ed &bdquo;communist
ideas&rdquo;&lt;ref name=3D&quot;GermanSch&quot;/&gt;. Polish peasants were=
 to be &bdquo;taught&rdquo;
that they benefit from German &bdquo;law&rdquo;&lt;ref name=3D&quot;GermanS=
ch&quot;/&gt;. </span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">In or=
der to win over Poles for the side of
German [[hegemony]] in [[Europe]], Oberl=E4nder proposed that they share in=
 theft
of Jewish property&lt;ref name=3D&quot;GermanSch&quot;/&gt;. Around 3,5 mil=
lion
Polish Jews and 1,5 million people who were considered &bdquo;assimilated J=
ews&rdquo; were
to be deprived of all of their rights&lt;ref name=3D&quot;GermanSch&quot;/&=
gt;.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">By 19=
37 Oberl=E4nder however started to lose
influence in [[Nazi party]], as his views on the treatment of Polish
population(but not Jewish question) were losing to more hardline
positions&lt;ref name=3D&quot;GermanSch&quot;/&gt; and personal conflict wi=
th
[[Erich Koch]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&lt;r=
ef
name=3D&quot;Valdis&quot;&gt;&quot;Himmler&#39;s Auxiliaries: The Volksdeut=
sche
Mittelstelle and the German National Minorities of Europe,
1933-1945&quot;Valdis O. Lumens page 63&lt;/ref&gt;. As a result he lost hi=
s
position in East Prussia and within BDO by 1938&lt;ref
name=3D&quot;GermanSch&quot;/&gt;. From 1.4.1938 he worked as Professor of
History at [[University of Greifswald]]&lt;ref name=3D&quot;Eastwards&quot;=
/&gt;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">In 19=
39 Oberl=E4nder moved to work in
[[Abwehrstelle Breslau]]; one of the main centers of [[sabotage]] and
[[diversion]] organised by Nazis which conducted operations against Poland.=
 At
the same time his work concerned issues connected to [[Ukraine]] and
[[Sudetes]] region and he had contacts with [[Osteuropa Institut]] located =
in
Breslau([[Wroc=B3aw]])&lt;ref name=3D&quot;Instytut&quot;&gt;&quot;Przeglad
Zachodni&quot;, volume 16 Instytut Zachodni 1960 page 115&lt;/ref&gt;</span=
></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">=3D=
=3DSecond World War=3D=3D</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">In 19=
40 he endorsed [[ethnic cleansing]] of
Polish population[<a href=3D"http://gplanost.x-berg.de/sgplanost.html">http=
://gplanost.x-berg.de/sgplanost.html</a>], and in 1941 wrote
in the German magazine Deutsche Monatshefte: &bdquo;We have the best soldie=
r in the
world who re-conquered German soil in the East. There is no bigger
responsibility than educating this colonist to be the best on earth and to
secure the living space for all times to come&rdquo; Oberl=E4nder&#39;s wor=
ds echoed views
of [[Heinrich Himmler]], who envisioned settling former soldiers, armed wit=
h
weapons and plows in the East, not just pure peasants</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&lt;r=
ef name=3D&quot;Ramos&quot;&gt;&rdquo;SCHWERTE
MUSS DER PFLUG FOLGEN: =DBber-peasents and National Socialists Settlements =
in the
Occupied Eastern Territories during World War Two&rdquo;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Simon=
e C. De Santiago Ramos, M.S. Thesis
Prepared for the Degree of Master of Arts</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Unive=
rsity of Texas page 68&lt;/ref&gt; </span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Durin=
g 1940 he moved to [[University of
Prague]], after which he became active in [[Ukraine]], where he was used by
Nazi Germany&#39;s military as expert on &bdquo;ethnic psychology&rdquo;&lt=
;ref
name=3D&quot;Eastwards&quot;/&gt;.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">When =
Hitler [[Operation Barbarossa|invaded the
Soviet Union]] in 1941 Oberl=E4nder became an adv ising officer of the
[[Nachtigall Battalion]] (a Ukrainian battalion of [[Wehrmacht]]) which
occupied [[Lviv]] in [[Ukraine]]; his position was similar to that of Sovie=
t
[[political commissar]]s. The patricipation of the Battalion in [[The Lviv
Civilian Massacre of 1941]] has since been subject to controversy, and
Oberl=E4nder himself has been accused after the war in patricipating in the
events.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">In Ja=
nuary 1942 he sent a report on situation
in Ukraine in which he wrote that success lay in &bdquo;winning over the ma=
sses and
pitilessly exterminating partisants as deleterious to the people&rdquo;&lt;=
ref
name=3D&quot;Eastwards&quot;/&gt;. </span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">He la=
ter became the leader of the mixed German
and Caucasian [[Sonderverband Bergmann]], which was active in anti-[[Partis=
an
(military)|partisan]] warfare. Both army groups were later claimed to have
participated in [[war crime]]s. Oberl=E4nder&#39;s involvement in [[Eastern=
 front]]
would led to the Oberl=E4nder case at the end of the 1950s&lt;ref name=3D&q=
uot;Schwarz&quot;/&gt;.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">After=
 leaving the Bergmann group in 1943 due to
dismissal from [[Wehrmacht]] due to political conflict with his superiors h=
e
returned to Prague. In 1944 he became part of the staff of the </span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Nazi =
controlled puppet collaborationist
organisation the [[Andrey Vlasov]]&#39;s [[Russian Liberation Army]]&lt;ref
name=3D&quot;Schwarz&quot;/&gt;. He was taken prisoner by the [[United Stat=
es
Army]] in 1945. </span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">=3D=
=3DPolitical career after Second World War=3D=3D</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Durin=
g his imprisonment U.S military secret
service appreciated Oberl=E4nder&#39;s expertise in eastern European topics=
, and he
went through the [[denazification]] process with ease</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&lt;r=
ef name=3D&quot;Pursuit&#39;&#39;&gt;&quot;In
pursuit of German memory: history, television, and politics after
Auschwitz&quot;, Wulf Kansteiner Ohio University Press; 2006 page 222-224 &=
lt;/ref&gt;.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">After=
 the war Oberl=E4nder claimed that he
criticised Nazi policies and he only wanted a German [[hegemony]] over [[Sl=
avic
peoples]] in which they would have &bdquo;some respect&rdquo; and were &bdq=
uo;treated reasonably
humanly&rdquo;&lt;ref name=3D&quot;Schwarz&quot;/&gt;.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Oberl=
=E4nder again became active in German
politics, first in the liberal [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free
Democratic Party]], then in the [[All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and
Deprived of Rights|Bloc of Refugees and Expellees]] (GB/BHE)(despite the
himself was not expelled), where he would become a major leader alongside [=
[
Waldemar Kraft]] also a former Nazi, interned for two years for his wartime
activities in occupied Poland&lt;ref
name=3D&quot;Burdens&quot;&gt;&quot;Shouldering the Burdens of Defeat: West=
 Germany
and the Reconstruction of Social Justice&rdquo; Michael L. Hughes, The Univ=
ersity of
North Carolina Press 1999&lt;/ref&gt;. Many threads connected BHE to the Na=
zis,
as it openly tried to win over former Nazis angry at denazification, callin=
g
their crimes to be only &bdquo;uncritical belief in Germany&#39;s future&rd=
quo;&lt;ref
name=3D&quot;Burdens&quot;/&gt;. The party classified those Nazis on pair w=
ith
war-damaged as fellow victims&lt;ref name=3D&quot;Burdens&quot;/&gt;. The f=
act
that the party selected as its leaders two former Nazis, who took part in e=
xpulsion
and expropation of non-Germans severely undermined German complaints about
their situation&lt;ref name=3D&quot;World&#39;&#39;&gt;&rdquo;A World at Ar=
ms: A Global History
of World War II&rdquo; Gerhard L. Weinberg Cambridge University Press 1995 =
page
792&lt;/ref&gt;.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Oberl=
=E4nder joined the [[Konrad
Adenauer|Adenauer]] government of [[West Germany]] in 1953 as Minister for
Refugees and Expelles&lt;ref name=3D&quot;Pursuit&#39;&#39;&gt;&quot;In pur=
suit of German
memory: history, television, and politics after Auschwitz&quot;, Wulf
Kansteiner Ohio University Press; 2006 page 222-224 &lt;/ref&gt;.</span></p=
>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">His a=
ppointment prompted negative press
coverage and made details of his Nazi past known&lt;ref
name=3D&quot;Pursuit&#39;&#39;&gt;&quot;In pursuit of German memory: histor=
y, television,
and politics after Auschwitz&quot;, Wulf Kansteiner Ohio University Press; =
2006
page 222-224 &lt;/ref&gt;. But despite the fact that he nominated several
former Nazis as co-workers, the criticism soon died down&lt;ref
name=3D&quot;Pursuit&#39;&#39;&gt;&quot;In pursuit of German memory: histor=
y, television,
and politics after Auschwitz&quot;, Wulf Kansteiner Ohio University Press; =
2006
page 222-224 &lt;/ref&gt;. Adenauer in particular was keen on getting BHE o=
n
board, as with its support he controlled two-thirds majority in the
parliament&lt;ref name=3D&quot;Pursuit&#39;&#39;&gt;&quot;In pursuit of Ger=
man memory:
history, television, and politics after Auschwitz&quot;, Wulf Kansteiner Oh=
io University
Press; 2006 page 222-224 &lt;/ref&gt;.Adenauer knew very well that Oberl=E4=
nder
was a Nationalist Socialists and admitted he has a &bdquo;very brown past&r=
dquo;&lt;ref
name=3D&quot;Schwarz&quot;/&gt;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">When =
Oberl=E4nder tried to visit his former Nazi
co-workes in 1956 who still served time in Landsberg prison, the foreign
minister of Germany vetoed the trip, fearing for international consequences=
,
neverthless despite hinderances Oberl=E4nder still tried to support far rig=
ht
groups.&lt;ref name=3D&quot;Legacies&quot;&gt;&quot;Legacies of Dachau: the=
 uses
and abuses of a concentration camp 1933-2001&rdquo;&bdquo; Harold Marcuse C=
ambridge
University Press 2001 page 118&lt;/ref&gt;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Oberl=
=E4nder left the GB/BHE for the centre
[[Christian Democratic Union (Germany)|Christian Democratic Union]] in 1956
when it broke with Adenauer. Adenauer himself continued to support him, as =
a
matter of principle&lt;ref name=3D&quot;Pursuit&#39;&#39;&gt;&quot;In pursu=
it of German
memory: history, television, and politics after Auschwitz&quot;, Wulf
Kansteiner Ohio University Press; 2006 page 222-224 &lt;/ref&gt;.</span></p=
>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">In th=
e fall of 1959 the [[Eastern Bloc]]
unleashed a coordinated campaign against existance of Nazi&#39;s in West Ge=
rman
government, which included Oberl=E4nder. He was accused of participating in=
 Lviv
Massacre&lt;ref name=3D&quot;Pursuit&#39;&#39;&gt;&quot;In pursuit of Germa=
n memory:
history, television, and politics after Auschwitz&quot;, Wulf Kansteiner Oh=
io
University Press; 2006 page 222-224 &lt;/ref&gt;. Previously he was able to
remain in politics despite the accusations, but the situation this time bec=
ame
more unfavourable,and some of his fellow CDU collegues pushed for him to re=
sign
for the good of government and country &lt;ref name=3D&quot;Pursuit&#39;&#3=
9;&gt;&quot;In
pursuit of German memory: history, television, and politics after
Auschwitz&quot;, Wulf Kansteiner Ohio University Press; 2006 page 222-224
&lt;/ref&gt;.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">While=
 many in West Germany did not believe the
accusations of war crimes, it was clear that Oberl=E4nder had been an
enthusiastic Nazi&lt;ref name=3D&quot;Pursuit&#39;&#39;&gt;&quot;In pursuit=
 of German
memory: history, television, and politics after Auschwitz&quot;, Wulf
Kansteiner Ohio University Press; 2006 page 222-224 &lt;/ref&gt;, and due t=
o
fact that West German community had reinvented its immage as community of
innocent bystanders during Second World War, Oberl=E4nder past was consider=
ed
liability&lt;ref name=3D&quot;Pursuit&#39;&#39;&gt;&quot;In pursuit of Germ=
an memory:
history, television, and politics after Auschwitz&quot;, Wulf Kansteiner Oh=
io
University Press; 2006 page 222-224 &lt;/ref&gt;.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">A cou=
rt in the [[German Democratic Republic]]
(East Germany) in 1960 sentenced Oberl=E4nder, in absentia, to life impriso=
nment
for his involvement in the Lviv massacre in 1941. </span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">In Ja=
nuary 1960 during discussion with 3,000
students of [[University of Cologne]] Adenauer was faced with protests agai=
nst
continued presence of Oberl=E4nder in German government&lt;ref
name=3D&quot;Schwarz&quot;/&gt;. In responce Adenauer stated that Oberl=E4n=
der was
a Nazi but &bdquo;never did anything dishonourable&rdquo;&lt;ref
name=3D&quot;Schwarz&quot;/&gt;. Despite Adenauer&#39;s protection however =
Oberl=E4nder
became a heavy burder for the German government in May [[1960]]&lt;ref
name=3D&quot;Schwarz&quot;/&gt; and finally removed from government, but no=
t
because of his past, but due to fact that he politically represented no val=
ue
that was worth trouble&lt;&lt;ref name=3D&quot;Pursuit&#39;&#39;&gt;&quot;I=
n pursuit of
German memory: history, television, and politics after Auschwitz&quot;, Wul=
f
Kansteiner Ohio University Press; 2006 page 222-224 &lt;/ref&gt;.</span></p=
>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Oberl=
=E4nder neverthless continued efforts to
influence German public, and in 1962 he published an article in [[Der
Stahlhelm]], an organ of former [[Frontsoldaten]] &lt;ref
name=3D&quot;Eastwards&quot;/&gt;. In it he repeated claims about an
&bdquo;revolutionary war&rdquo; in which he accused the &bdquo;dictatorship=
 in the East&rdquo; of
conducting an offensive revolution against the [[West]], in which there was=
 &bdquo;no
beginning&rdquo;, and no movement of troops, but which was led by &bdquo;in=
flitration and
publicism&rdquo; as well as &bdquo;espionage&rdquo; &lt;ref name=3D&quot;Ea=
stwards&quot;/&gt;. He
denouced any possibility of &bdquo;coexistance&rdquo; between East and West=
 and blamed such
ideas on &bdquo;rootless intelligentsia&rdquo; &lt;ref name=3D&quot;Eastwar=
ds&quot;/&gt;, &bdquo;to
appease the enemy&rdquo; Oberlaner wrote was to &bdquo;further world revolu=
tion&rdquo; &lt;ref
name=3D&quot;Eastwards&quot;/&gt;. As historian [[Michael Burleigh]] notes,=
 the
idea that the &bdquo;unfree&rdquo; perhaps didn&#39;t wanted to be &bdquo;l=
iberated&rdquo; by the likes of
Oberl=E4nder and his &bdquo;Bund der Frontsoldaten&rdquo;(who passed that w=
ay twenty years
ago)-did not occur to him &lt;ref name=3D&quot;Eastwards&quot;/&gt;.</span>=
</p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">In 19=
86, Oberl=E4nder received [[Bavarian Order
of Merit]] from the state of [[Bavaria]]&lt;ref name=3D&quot;Bav&#39;&#39;&=
gt;&rdquo;Problems
of Political Reeducation in West Germany, 1945-1960&rdquo; Michael H. Kater=
 Simon
Wiesenthal Center Annual Volume 4 &lt;/ref&gt;.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">[[Fil=
e:Oberlander1.jpg|150px|left|thumb|[[KGB]]
document on action against Oberl=E4nder and Ukrainian [[Nachtigall]]
([[1959]]).]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">His c=
onviction was squashed by a new German
court in 1993, which contended that the Soviet evidence had been fabricated=
 by
the [[KGB]]{{Verify source|date=3DMarch 2009}}{{Fact|date=3DMarch 2009}}&lt=
;!-- de:
only says &quot;overturned on formal grounds&quot;, gives scholarly source
--&gt;. At the end of his life, Oberl=E4nder became explicitly involved in =
[[far
right]] and [[anti-immigration]] politics. </span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">A new=
 case was opened against Oberl=E4nder in
1996 in which he was charged with the unlawful killing of a civilian in
[[Kislovodsk]] in 1942 during his Bergmann leadership&lt;ref&gt;Der Spiegel=
</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"DE">18 / 199=
6 &#39;&#39;Kriegsverbrehen. Die M=FChlen mahlen
langsam&#39;&#39;&lt;/ref&gt;. </span><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">This
time it involved an interrogation of female teacher, who was whipped and af=
ter
refusing to talk about suspected partisant activity shot in the breast by
Oberl=E4nder, who left her to die. Oberl=E4nder called those allegations &b=
dquo;Soviet
lies&rdquo;.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">Theod=
or Oberl=E4nder died in [[Bonn]] in 1998.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">=3D=
=3DIn fiction=3D=3D</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">*Prof=
essor Theodor Oberl=E4nder appears in
[[Jonathan Littell]]&#39;s [[docudrama]] &quot;[[Les Bienveillantes]]&quot;=
.</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">=3D=
=3D References =3D=3D</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">* {{P=
ND|118735829}} {{de icon}}</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">*
[<a href=3D"http://zeus.zeit.de/text/2001/26/200126_a-lemberg.xml">http://z=
eus.zeit.de/text/2001/26/200126_a-lemberg.xml</a> Article about the events
in Lviv/Lemberg] {{de icon}}</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">*
[<a href=3D"http://www.ursulahomann.de/JudenInMecklenburgVorpommern/kap005.=
html">http://www.ursulahomann.de/JudenInMecklenburgVorpommern/kap005.html</=
a> Fate of
the Jews in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Oberl=E4nder&#39;s involvement] {{de=
 icon}}</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"DE">*
[<a href=3D"http://people.freenet.de/Transsylvania/Oberlaender.html">http:/=
/people.freenet.de/Transsylvania/Oberlaender.html</a> Extracts from &#39;&#=
39;
&quot;Grenzlandpolitik&quot; und Ostforschung an der Peripherie des Reiches=
.
Das ostpreussische Masuren 1919-1945&#39;&#39; by Andreas Kossert] {{de ico=
n}}</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"DE">&lt;refe=
rences/&gt; </span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"DE">{{DEFAUL=
TSORT:Oberl=E4nder, Theodor}}</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">[[Cat=
egory:1905 births]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">[[Cat=
egory:1998 deaths]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">[[Cat=
egory:People from Meiningen]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">[[Cat=
egory:Beer Hall Putsch]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">[[Cat=
egory:Nazis]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">[[Cat=
egory:German politicians]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">[[Cat=
egory:Government ministers of Germany]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">[[Cat=
egory:Members of the Bavarian Order of
Merit]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">[[Cat=
egory:People from Saxe-Meiningen]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">[[Cat=
egory:People indicted for war crimes]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">[[Cat=
egory:University of Munich alumni]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">[[Cat=
egory:University of Hamburg alumni]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">[[Cat=
egory:Humboldt University of Berlin
alumni]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">[[Cat=
egory:University of K=F6nigsberg alumni]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">[[Cat=
egory:University of Greifswald faculty]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"EN-US">&nbsp=
;</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"DE">[[de:The=
odor Oberl=E4nder]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"DE">[[no:The=
odor Oberl=E4nder]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"DE">[[pl:The=
odor Oberl=E4nder]]</span></p>

<p style=3D"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"DE">[[sv:The=
odor Oberl=E4nder]]</span></p>

<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><span style=3D"" lang=3D"DE">&nbsp;</span></p>

<br><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote">2009/8/26 Molobo Molobo <span dir=3D"ltr=
">&lt;<a href=3D"mailto:molobus@gmail.com">molobus@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span>=
<br><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"border-left: 1px solid rgb(2=
04, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
I completed Oberlander article regarding:<br><a href=3D"http://en.wikipedia=
.org/wiki/Theodor_Oberl%C3%A4nder" target=3D"_blank">http://en.wikipedia.or=
g/wiki/Theodor_Oberl%C3%A4nder</a><br><br>The article is attached in doc fo=
rmat. It will be copied to the next email for those of you who don&#39;t us=
e mail in the discussion group. You can paste and copy it, although if you =
want to check spelling and references formating be my guest. In one case I =
couldn&#39;t get the reference to work properly at all and had to manually =
copy it several times(I don&#39;t know why :/ )<br>

<br><br>
</blockquote></div><br>

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