Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture

The Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture (German: Reichsministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft, abbreviated RMEL) was responsible for the agricultural policy of Germany during the Weimar Republic from 1919 to 1933 and during the Nazi dictatorship of the Third Reich from 1933 to 1945. It was headed by a Reichsminister under whom a state secretary served. On 1 January 1935,[1] the ministry merged with the Prussian Ministry of Agriculture, Domains and Forests [de], founded in 1879. Until 1938 and the Anschluss with Austria, it was called the "Reich and Prussian Ministry of Food and Agriculture".[2] After the end of National Socialism in 1945 and of the Allied occupation of Germany, the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture was established in 1949 as a successor in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany).

Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture
Reichsministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft

The building of the Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture on Wilhelmstrasse, during the Nazi era. After the interior was destroyed in World War II, the former palace, which had been earmarked for reconstruction in 1956, was demolished by the East Berlin municipal administration in 1960/62.
Agency overview
FormedMarch 1919 (1919-03)
Dissolved8 May 1945 (1945-05-08)
JurisdictionGovernment of Weimar Republic
Government of Nazi Germany
Minister responsible
  • See list

History

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In March 1919, the Reich Office of Food (Reichsernährungsamt) established the Reich Ministry of Food. It was combined with the Reich Ministry of Economics in September 1919 and re-founded during the Kapp Putsch in March 1920 under the name Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture. In the same year, the ministry moved into the Palace of Prince Alexander and Prince George at 72 Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin.[3] From 1924, four large-format paintings by August Weber were on loan in the building. Since 1945 they have been considered lost.

After the Nazis seized power on 30 January 1933, the ministry was initially led by Alfred Hugenberg. Coerced into resignation in June 1933, Hugenburg was succeeded by Kurt Schmitt (minister of economics) and Walther Darré (minister of food and agriculture).[4][page needed] The latter took over the management of the Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture as Reich Farmers' Leader (Reichsbauernführer) on 30 June 1933.[5] In this function he was also responsible for the Reichsnährstand (loosely, Reich Bureau of Food and Nutrition), which had been created for the "co-ordination" (Gleichschaltung) of German agriculture. Darré simultaneously headed the Office for Agricultural Policy (from 1936, Reich Office for Agricultural Policy; from 1942, Reich Office for Rural Inhabitants), which belonged to the party's official apparatus and was responsible for the management and supervision of the Reich Bureau of Food and Nutrition.[6]

The RMEL essentially took over the state's oversight of the Reichsnährstand organization.[7] As a result, individual areas of responsibility were gradually transferred to other National Socialist authorities. In 1934, for example, the Reich Forestry Office (Reichsforstamt), under the leadership of Hermann Göring, was created as the supreme Reich authority for forestry and hunting, the timber industry, nature conservation and the preservation of natural monuments.[8] The Reich Forestry Office was in turn united on 1 January 1935 with the Prussian State Forestry Office.[9] Goring's deputy and the de facto head of German Forestry was Walter von Keudell, and then from 1937 Friedrich Alpers. Furthermore, in 1934 and 1935, the agricultural vocational and technical school system was transferred to the Reich Ministry of Science, Education and Culture, and veterinary medicine was transferred to the Reich Ministry of the Interior.[10] On 22 September 1938, by decree of the Reich minister, all research institutes in the fisheries sector were consolidated in the Reich Institute for Fisheries.[8]

Reich ministers

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No. Portrait Reichsminister Took office Left office Time in office Party Cabinet
1Schmidt, RobertRobert Schmidt
(1864–1943)
13 February 191926 March 19201 year, 42 daysSPDScheidemann
Bauer
2Hermes, AndreasAndreas Hermes
(1878–1964)
27 March 192010 March 19221 year, 348 daysCentreMüller I
Fehrenbach
Wirth I
Wirth II
3Fehr, AntonAnton Fehr [de]
(1881–1954)
31 March 192221 November 1922256 daysBBWirth II
4Müller, KarlKarl Müller
(1884–1964)
22 November 192225 November 19224 daysCentreCuno
5Luther, HansHans Luther
(1879–1962)
1 December 19224 October 1923317 daysIndependentCuno
Stresemann I
6Kanitz, GerhardGerhard Graf von Kanitz
(1885–1949)
6 October 19235 December 19252 years, 62 daysIndependentStresemann I
Marx I
Stresemann II
Marx II
Luther I
7Haslinde, HeinrichHeinrich Haslinde [de]
(1881–1958)
20 January 192617 December 1926331 daysCentreLuther II
Marx III
8Schiele, MartinMartin Schiele
(1870–1939)
28 January 192712 June 19281 year, 136 daysDNVPLuther II
Marx IV
9Dietrich, HermannHermann Dietrich
(1879–1954)
28 June 192827 March 19301 year, 272 daysDDPLuther II
Müller II
(8)Schiele, MartinMartin Schiele
(1870–1939)
30 March 193030 May 19322 years, 61 daysDNVP
CNBL
Brüning I
Brüning II
10Braun, MagnusMagnus Freiherr von Braun
(1878–1972)
1 June 193228 January 1933241 daysDNVPPapen
Schleicher
11Hugenberg, AlfredAlfred Hugenberg
(1865–1951)
30 January 193329 June 1933150 daysDNVPHitler
12Darré, RichardRichard Walther Darré
(1895–1953)
30 June 193323 May 1942
(On leave until 6 April 1944)
8 years, 327 daysNSDAPHitler
13Backe, HerbertHerbert Backe
(1896–1947)
23 May 1942
(Acting until 6 April 1944)
23 May 19453 years, 0 daysNSDAPHitler
Goebbels
Schwerin von Krosigk

State secretaries

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Name Appointed End of Term Political Party
Ludwig Huber 1920 1922 Independent
Carl Heinrici [de] 1922 1923 Independent
Fred Hagedorn [de] 1923 1926 Independent
Erich Hoffmann 1926 1929 Independent
Hermann Heukamp [de] 1929 1932 Independent
Fritz Mussehl [de] 1932 1933 Independent
Hans Joachim von Rohr 1933 1933 DNVP
Herbert Backe 1933 1944 NSDAP
Werner Willikens 1934 1945 NSDAP
Hans-Joachim Riecke 1944 1945 NSDAP

References

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  1. ^ Neugebauer, Wolfgang, ed. (1992). Handbuch der preussischen Geschichte [Handbook of Prussian History] (in German). Vol. 2. Berlin / New York: W. de Gruyter. p. 603. ISBN 3-11-008322-1.
  2. ^ Tauber, Joachim, ed. (2006). Archivführer zur Geschichte des Memelgebiets und der deutsch-litauischen Beziehungen [Archive Guide to the History of the Memel Region and German-Lithuanian Relations] (in German). München: Oldenbourg. p. 284.
  3. ^ Kalbe, Riki; Zuckermann, Moshe (2000). Ein Grundstück in Mitte. Das Gelände des künftigen Holocaust-Mahnmals in Wort und Bild [A Plot of Land in Mitte. The Site of the Future Holocaust Memorial in Words and Pictures] (in German). Göttingen: Wallstein. p. 22. ISBN 3-89244-400-5.
  4. ^ Kehrl, Hans (1973). Krisenmanager im Dritten Reich [Crisis Manager in the Third Reich] (in German). Düsseldorf: Droste. ISBN 978-3770003556.
  5. ^ Gies, Horst (1967). "NSDAP und landwirtschaftliche Organisationen in der Endphase der Weimarer Republik" [NSDAP and Agricultural Organisations in the Final Phase of the Weimar Republic] (PDF). Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte (in German). 15 (4): 375.
  6. ^ Kluge, Rudolf; Krüger, Heinrich (1939). Verfassung und Verwaltung im Großdeutschen Reich [Constitution and Administration in the Greater German Reich] (in German) (2nd ed.). Berlin: P. Schmidt. p. 196.
  7. ^ Gies, Horst (1981). "Die Rolle des Reichsnährstandes im nationalsozialistischen Herrschaftssystem" [The Role of the Reichsnährstand in the National Socialist Ruling System]. In Hirschfeld, Gerhard; Kettenacker, Lothar (eds.). Der "Führerstaat". Studien zur Struktur und Politik des Dritten Reiches (= Veröffentlichung des Deutschen Historischen Instituts London. Band 8) [The "Führer State". Studies on the Structure and Politics of the Third Reich (= Publication of the German Historical Institute London. Volume 8)] (in German). Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. p. 274. ISBN 3-12-915350-0.
  8. ^ a b Tauber 2006, p. 286 f.
  9. ^ Radkau, Joachim, ed. (2003). Naturschutz und Nationalsozialismus [Nature Conservation and National Socialism] (in German). Frankfurt a. M. / New York. pp. 88, note 52. ISBN 3-593-37354-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ Tauber 2006, p. 284.
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"Reichsministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft". Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (in German). 2008. Retrieved 27 June 2023.