Gunter d'Alquen

Gunter d'Alquen (24 October 1910 – 15 May 1998) was chief editor of the SS 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 was born to a Catholic businessman and reserve officer named Carl d’Alquen, in Essen on 24 October 1910. 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.

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.

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

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 Nazi state. 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. In the late 1950s, d'Alquen became a shareholder of a weaving mill in Mönchengladbach.

He died on 15 May 1998 in Mönchengladbach.

• Iron Cross, 2nd class
• War Merit Cross, 2nd class
• General Assault Badge
• Golden Party Badge of the NSDAP
• SS-Ehrenring and SS-Ehrendegen