Gunter d'Alquen

Gunter d'Alquen (24 October 1910 – 15 May 1998) was chief editor of the weekly Das Schwarze Korps ("The Black Corps"), the official newspaper of the Schutzstaffel (SS), and commander of the SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers.

Gunter d'Alquen
Gunter d'Alquen circa. 1941-1945
Born(1910-10-24)24 October 1910
Essen, Rhine Province, German Empire
Died15 May 1998(1998-05-15) (aged 87)
Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
NationalityGerman
Occupation
  • Journalist
  • propagandist
  • author
Political partyNational Socialist German Workers' Party
Military career
Allegiance Nazi Germany
Service/branchWaffen-SS
Years of service
  • 1931 – 1945
Rank
UnitSS-Standarte Kurt Eggers
Battles/warsWorld War II

Early life

Gunter d’Alquen was born to a Catholic-Freemason wool merchant and reserve officer named Carl d’Alquen, in Essen on 24 October 1910.[1][2] He attended grammar school in Essen and joined the Hitler Youth in 1925. In 1926, D’Alquen became a member of the SA and as a 17-year-old joined the NSDAP.

d'Alquen was active in the National Socialist German Student Union. He became a member of the SS on 10 April 1931. He did not complete his studies in history and philology and instead turned to a journalistic career. From 1932, he was a political correspondent to the editorial board of the Völkischer Beobachter ("Völkisch Observer"). It was here he aroused the attention of Heinrich Himmler, who appointed him chief editor of Das Schwarze Korps in March 1935.

As chief editor

d'Alquen's newspaper often attacked intellectuals, students, Freemasons, certain scientists, rebellious businessmen, traffickers, clerics and other representatives of German society that had aroused Himmler's anger. With its notorious anti-Semitism, Das Schwarze Korps established itself as a moral spokesperson of Nazi beliefs.

From September 1939, d'Alquen became a prominent SS war correspondent. He was appointed head of the propaganda formation SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers named after Kurt Eggers, a friend of d'Alquen, an SS war correspondent and editor of Das Schwarze Korps who was killed in action in 1943.[3]

Later life

After the war, d'Alquen denied any knowledge of Nazi extermination camps. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.[2]

In July 1955, d'Alquen was sentenced by a Berlin Denazification court to pay a fine of 60,000 DM, followed by a loss of pension rights for three years. He was found guilty of having played a significant role in war propaganda and incitement against churches, Jews and foreigners in the Third Reich. After further investigation of d'Alquen's income from this activity, he was sentenced to pay another fine of 28,000 DM in January 1958.

According to British intelligence, he was a member of the Naumann circle.[4] In the late 1950s, d'Alquen became a shareholder of a weaving mill in Mönchengladbach.

He died on 15 May 1998 in Mönchengladbach.[5]

Awards

See also

References
  1. Central Intelligence Agency. 12/4/1981-. ALQUEN, GUENTHER DE. Series: Second Release of Name Files Under the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Disclosure Acts, ca. 1981 - ca. 2002. p. 1.
  2. "POLITISCHES BUCH: Das Schwarze Korps". ZEIT ONLINE (in German). Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  3. Williamson, Gordon (2013). Die SS-Hitlers Instrument der Macht: Die Geschichte der SS von der Schutzstaffel bis zur Waffen-SS (in German). Neuer Kaiser Verlag. p. 244. ISBN 9783846820032.
  4. Klee, Ernst (2003). Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich (in German). S. Fischer. p. 13. ISBN 9783100393098.
  5. "Gunter d'Alquen". 2011-11-17. Archived from the original on 2011-11-17. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
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