Ernst Oberfohren

Ernst Oberfohren, the son of Johann Oberfohren, a farmer, was born on 15th March 1881. He studied political science at the University of Kiel and received his doctorate in 1914. (1)

Oberfohren joined the German National People's Party (DNVP) after the First World War. Led by the wealthy newspaper magnate, Alfred Hugenberg, the DNVP won 66 seats in the Reichstag in the 1920 General Election.

Oberfohren was one of those elected to Parliament and in the 1924 election the DNVP won 103 seats. In 1929 he was appointed parliamentary leader but by 1930 election the Nazi Party became the main right-wing movement in Germany. (2)

In the General Election of November 1932, the DNVP only won 52 seats but the Nazi Party increased its representation to 196. However, when Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor, in January 1933, the Nazis only had a third of the seats in Parliament and needed to do deals with other political parties such as DNVP. (3)

Oberfohren disagreed with Hugenberg about the future of the party. He told one journalist, that he pleaded with Hugenberg not to do a deal with Hitler, "but Hugenberg deluded himself that the Nazis could be taught better". He went on to tell the journalist about the "embarrassing police raids on his homes in Kiel and Berlin, the interrogations and the countless threats he had received" and he "prophesied the complete victory of bestiality". (4)

Ernst Oberfohren Resigns

In March 1933, Ernst Oberfohren resigned from the Reichstag. It is claimed that Oberfohren was against doing a deal with Hitler. (5) Soon after letters written by Oberfohren, that were critical of Alfred Hugenberg, the leader of the DNVP, appeared in pro-Nazi newspapers. (6)

The Völkischer Beobachter reported that Oberfohren had been forced to resign: "Hugenberg said he felt compelled to disclose a number of unpleasant facts to the caucus. The Prussian authorities had, without his knowledge, raided the house of Dr Oberfohren's Berlin secretary, who had made a formal declaration to the effect that two of the circulars which were found by the police and which attacked the Party Chairman Hugenberg had been composed by Dr Oberfohren and sent out on his orders. Dr Hugenberg was informed of this declaration, and made the contents of the circular known to the Parliamentary Party... Immediately afterwards, Dr Oberfohren resigned his seat without any explanation." (7)

The Reichstag Fire

On the 26th April, 1933, the Manchester Guardian, published an article that suggested that the Reichstag Fire had been organized by Hermann Göring and Joseph Goebbels and carried out by Edmund Heines and a group of SA officers. The article claimed that this information was based on a memorandum that it had received from a prominent Nationalist politician in Germany. A few months later it was revealed that the document had been written by Ernst Oberfohren and it therefore became known as the Oberfohren Memorandum.

The article claimed that: "The fire was instantaneously attributed to the Communists by the Government, which at once began to manufacture false evidence, thereby not inculpating but rather exculpating the Communists and deepening the suspicion felt by all objective observers that the real incendiaries were to be found within the Cabinet itself. Before the tribunal of history it is not the Communists, not the wretched van der Lubbe (their alleged instrument, whose public execution Hitler had threatened before his guilt has been proved, before he has even been tried), but the German Government that is arraigned." (8)

The full text of the Oberfohren Memorandum was published in London later that year. "The agents of Herr Göring, led by the Silesian S.A. leader, Reichstag-deputy Heines, entering the Reichstag through the heating-pipe passage leading from the palace of the President of the Reichstag, Göring. Every S.A. and S.S. leader was carefully selected and had a special station assigned to him. As soon as the outposts in the Reichstag signaled that the Communist deputies Torgler and Koenen had left the building, the S.A. troop set to work." (9)

Death of Ernst Oberfohren

Hugenberg became Minister of Agriculture and Economics. On 23rd March, 1933, all members of the DNVP in the Reichstag voted for the Enabling Bill. This banned the German Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party from taking part in future election campaigns. This was followed by Nazi officials being put in charge of all local government in the provinces (7th April), trades unions being abolished, their funds taken and their leaders put in prison (2nd May). (10)

Ernst Oberfohren was found dead on 7th May, 1933. One newspaper reported: "On Sunday, the fifty-three-year-old former German Nationalist Deputy, Dr Oberfohren, shot himself in his own home. We learn that Oberfohren took his life at about twelve o'clock, before lunch, when his wife was not at home. The cause seems to be a conflict with his Party." (11)

The following day, the German National People's Party issued a statement that his death had anything to do with his political disagreements with Hugenberg: "The death of Dr Oberfohren, which has shocked everyone who had worked with him in the German Nationalist Party, has led a section of the press to publish speculations which are quite incorrect, inasmuch as they associate Dr Oberfohren's death with the treatment meted out to him by the German Nationalist Party." (12)

Other reports suggested that Oberfohren had been murdered on the orders of Hitler as he had disclosed the truth about the Reichstag Fire and had been arguing against the DNVP doing a deal with the Nazi Party. This idea was rejected by his wife, Edna Oberfohren, who later claimed: "My husband was not killed by the Nazis. However, he felt he had become the object of a campaign of persecution, and realizing that the Nazi dictatorship was bound to lead to disaster for Germany and her people, he committed suicide in black despair." (13)

Fritz Tobias, in the book, The Reichstag Fire: Legend and Truth (1963) points out that the Oberfohren Memorandum was not written by Ernst Oberfohren. It was in fact a forged document produced by a group of left-wing journalists that included Arthur Koestler, Willi Münzenberg, Otto Katz and Erich Wollenberg. The group was also responsible for the forged confession given by SA officer, Karl Ernst. In this way that were able to convince the world's media that leading figures of the Nazi Party were responsible for the fire.

Tobias argues that Marinus van der Lubbe started the fire on his own: "Today there seems little doubt that it was precisely by allowing van der Lubbe to stand trial that the Nazis proved their innocence of the Reichstag fire. For had van der Lubbe been associated with them in any way, the Nazis would have shot him the moment he had done their dirty work, blaming his death on an outbreak of 'understandable popular indignation'. Van der Lubbe could then have been branded a Communist without the irritations of a public trial, and foreign critics would not have been able to argue that, since no Communist accomplices were discovered, the real accomplices must be sought on the Government benches". (14)

Primary Sources

(1) Fritz Tobias, The Reichstag Fire: Legend and Truth (1963)

At the end of March 1933, the news that Oberfohren had resigned his seat caused a great deal of public speculation. The Nazi press reported the matter with suspicious brevity. A number of reasons were put forward for his resignation. One historian has said that he differed with Hugenberg over the Party's relationship to the National Socialists; a newspaper article claimed that there was disagreement within the German Nationalist Party on the monarchist issue, while another paper said Oberfohren's reasons were purely personal.

(2) Völkischer Beobachter (12th April, 1933)

Hugenberg said he felt compelled to disclose a number of unpleasant facts to the caucus. The Prussian authorities had, without his knowledge, raided the house of Dr Oberfohren's Berlin secretary, who had made a formal declaration to the effect that two of the circulars which were found by the police and which attacked the Party Chairman Hugenberg had been composed by Dr Oberfohren and sent out on his orders. Dr Hugenberg was informed of this declaration, and made the contents of the circular known to the Parliamentary Party... Immediately afterwards, Dr Oberfohren resigned his seat without any explanation.

(3) Ernst Oberfohren, letter to Alfred Hugenberg (12th April, 1933)

I have been told that despite all the trouble between us you could still speak up for me at a caucus meeting. This forces me to admit quite freely how wrongly I have acted. I sincerely regret the great damage my actions have done the Party. I can only add that it is my firm conviction that the [circular] letters were badly misused. I myself have suffered almost superhuman agonies during the last few weeks. Even before then, the course of political events almost overwhelmed me. My nerves are completely frayed, and I cannot bear the thought of further disputes. I beg you to forget the whole business, if only for the sake of our common struggles in the past.

(4) Alfons Sack, The Reichstag Fire Process (1934)

Oberfohren killed himself because he was unmasked as a traitor to his Party leader Hugenberg, and because he saw the game was up. All these facts, however, were kept from the outside world, and that is why the so-called Oberfohren Memorandum was accepted as an authoritative document, though only after Oberfohren himself was no longer there to disclaim it.

(5) Hannoverscher Anzeiger (8th May 1933)

On Sunday, the fifty-three-year-old former German Nationalist Deputy, Dr Oberfohren, shot himself in his own home.
We learn that Oberfohren took his life at about twelve o'clock, before lunch, when his wife was not at home. The cause seems to be a conflict with his Party.

(6) Statement published by the German National People's Party (9th May 1933)

The death of Dr Oberfohren, which has shocked everyone who had worked with him in the German Nationalist Party, has led a section of the press to publish speculations which are quite incorrect, inasmuch as they associate Dr Oberfohren's death with the treatment meted out to him by the German Nationalist Party.

(7) Neuer Vorwärts (29th October, 1933)

Oberfohren was quite alone, for he wanted to keep his wife out of all the scandal.

"Everything is hopeless," Oberfohren cried whenever I mentioned the possibility of his standing up to the dictatorship.

He was, in fact, a completely broken man.

"Everything is hopeless," he repeated.

He had pleaded with Hugenberg, he told me, but Hugenberg deluded himself that the Nazis could be taught better.

Then he told me about the embarrassing police raids on his homes in Kiel and Berlin, the interrogations and the countless threats he had received. He prophesied the complete victory of bestiality.

"If it were not for my wife, I should have killed myself long ago. Because... we shan't see happy days again. What is happening now is merely the overture. Things are bound to get much worse."

Three days later, Oberfohren was dead.

(8) Edna Oberfohren, interviewed by Richard Wolff (18th January, 1956)

My husband was not killed by the Nazis. However, he felt he had become the object of a campaign of persecution, and realizing that the Nazi dictatorship was bound to lead to disaster for Germany and her people, he committed suicide in black despair.