Herbert Albrecht

Dr. Herbert Albrecht (12 January 1900, Altenburg, Saxe-Meiningen – 13 June 1945) was a Gauleiter (regional party leader) of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) from 1930 to 1931.

Albrecht was born in Altenburg, Saxe-Meiningen on January 12, 1900. He completed the Realgymnasium in 1918, afterwards he volunteered for the German Army and joined the Anhaltische Infanterie-Regiment 93 as a Fahnenjunker. In 1919 he passed his final high school examination in Halle and became a member of the Freikorps Halle and Freikorps Anhalt.

In September 1919, Albrecht was assigned to Reichswehr Infanterie-Regiment 49 as an officer candidate (Fahnenjunker-Gefreiter). He was a member of the antisemtic organisations Reichshammerbund (founded by the German author Theodor Fritsch) and the Deutschvölkischer Schutz-und Trutzbund. Between 1919 and 1925, Albrecht was an agricultural worker, apprentice and a civil-servant in Holstein. He was also an agriculture student in Berlin, Rostock and Giessen.

In 1920, Albrecht helped to organize the German Social Party in Berlin. Between 1923 and 1925 he was successively Gruppen-, Zugführer and Fahnenträger in the Nationsozialistische Hundertschaft Charlottenburg (later Sturm 33, Maikowski).

In 1925, Albrecht received his doctorate (phil.agr.) degree and in 1926-27 he volunteered as an administrator in Vogtland. In 1926 Albrecht was a candidate for the parliament in Saxony after having joined the NSDAP in the same year. From 1927 onwards, he was a public speaker for the NSDAP and a financial adviser. In addition, he was a contributor to the national-socialist newspaper Völkischer Beobachter since 1924.

In July 1930, Albrecht was nominated as a Gauleiter of Mecklenburg-Lübeck and in September he became a member of the Reichstag for Dresden-Bautzen. He voluntarily resigned as Gauleiter in 1931 and from 1931 to 1933 he was a chairman of the Faction for Economics in the Reichstag and deputy chairman of the Committee of Supply. He was a member of the Economic Counsellors for the Reich-Leadership and in 1933 was deputy to the Reichsrat (Reich-Counselor) – Thüringen. He was also Special Representative of the Thüringen Government in Berlin. In 1933 he was also a member of the Kleinen und Grossen Arbeitskonvents of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF), and a member of the Verwaltungsrats der Reichspost.