Draft:Hans-Josef Altmeyer

Hans-Josef Altmeyer was born on the 24th of August in 1899 in Illingen and died on the 10th of December in 1964 in Mainz, and was a German Civil Servant.

Life and Work

Youth, Education, and early career

Altmeyer was the son of the Station master Joseph Altmeyer and his wife Mrs Karoline Margarethe Altmeyer. When he was younger, he attended Primary school in Fischbach near Saarbrücken and the grammar school in Trier. (after his father's transfers) grammar schools in Kreuznach and Wiesbaden, where he passed the Abitur in 1916.

After returning from the First World War, Altmeyer began studying law in Frankfurt am Main in 1919, which he later continued in Freiburg. Since 1919 he has been a member of the Catholic student fraternity KDStV Hasso-Nassovia Frankfurt am Main in the CV (Union of Catholic German Student Fraternities). In June 1922 he passed his legal clerkship exam in Frankfurt and then went through the legal preparatory service. In the court, he was appointed to Rüdesheim, Wiesbaden, Cologne, Wiesbaden and Frankfurt. After passing the Grand State Examination in Law in February 1926, Alteyer formally completed his education.

Politically Altmeyer whose grandfather had been the founder of the Centre Party in the Saar region, he had been a member of the Centre Party since 1923, of which he remained a member until 1933.

In the following year Altmeyer worked as an assistant judge in Neuwied Limburg, Weilburg Asbach und Wiesbaden as an assistant public prosecutor in the offices in Halle and Nordhausen. At the end of 1927, he received a position in the public prosecutor’s council in Stendal. From there he moved to the Attorney General in Naumburg in 1929 as an unskilled worker. After being transferred to Halle an der Daale on the 1st of January in 1930 Altmeyer was appointed to the Prussian Ministry of Justice at the end of 1930. Subsequently, he belonged to the Prussian Ministry of Justice or the Reich Minister of Justice, which was merged in 1934 with some leave of absence until 1945 as a higher official. At the same time, he was admitted to the civil service on the 16th of December 1930.

Graf mentions that Altmeyer had worked for the government in Marienwerder in the early 1930s. Likely, the Ministry of Justice had already made him available to the Prussian Ministry of Justice for use in the General Administration at that time, without formally leaving the Ministry of Justice.

The National Socialist era

After Altmeyer had remained in his previous position during the first months of Nazi rule, he was seconded to the Secret State Police Office for three months at the end of 1933 by a special decree dated 5 December 1933, where, according to the Gestapo's business distribution plan of 22 January 1934, he took on the position of personal assistant to Gestapo chief Rudolf Diels. This personnel matter has repeatedly caused astonishment among researchers. Christoph Graf wrote: "It is striking that a young assessor with no recognisable ties to a party organisation was brought in from the provinces by Diels as an employee after the 2nd Gestapo Law was passed."

On 22 March 1934, Altmeyer's secondment to the Gestapo was extended until 30 April 1934 at Diels' request, before he was placed at the disposal of the Prussian Ministry of the Interior again on 1 May 1934.

The Home Office must have transferred Altmeyer back to the Ministry of Justice soon afterwards. In any case, he returned to the judiciary in 1934: From 1934 to 1936 he held office as a public prosecutor's councillor at the Berlin public prosecutor's office and then from 1937 to 1939 as district court director in the Berlin district court district. During these years, he was successively promoted to District Court Director (1936) and Undersecretary (1938). On 1 May 1937, he joined the Nazi Party

From 1937 onwards, Altmeyer handled clemency cases in non-political death sentences at the Reich Ministry of Justice. This complex included criminal death sentences, "national pest matters" (insofar as they were carried out using blackouts and were not related to a political offence), war crimes and habitual offenders.

From 1940 to 1945, Altmeyer worked as a ministerial councillor in the Reich Ministry of Justice. Among other things, he held the position of consultant for clemency matters. In this capacity, it was his task to examine so-called non-political death sentences[1], which were pronounced by courts against so-called "national pests" during the war, and to submit recommendations to Minister Thiearck as to whether or not a pardon and suspension of the execution of a death sentence was appropriate.

Post-war Era

After the Second World War, Hans Josef Altmeyer appeared as a witness at the Nuremberg trials. After 1950, he was employed in the Federal Ministry of the Interior with the rank of Ministerial Councillor. In 1956, together with Hans de Clerck, he published a collection of police laws, implementing regulations and career regulations for the police authorities.

Promotions

1936: District court director

1938: Ministerial counsellor

Publicationen

• Polizeiverwaltungsgesetz von Rheinland-Pfalz vom 26.3.1954 (GVBL. S. 31): mit Durchführungsanweisungen u. Erg. Vorschriften nebst Polizeibeamtengesetz v. 26.3. 1954 (GVBL.S.42) u. Laufbahnverordnung v. 10.4.1954 (GVBL. S. 55), gemeinsam mit Hans de Clerck, Recklinger Verlag Siegburg 1956.

Literature

• Christoph Graf: Politische Polizei zwischen Demokratie und Diktatur. 1983, S. 331.

References

{{Personendaten |NAME=Altmeyer, Hans-Josef |ALTERNATIVNAMEN= |KURZBESCHREIBUNG=deutscher Staatsbeamter |GEBURTSDATUM=24. August 1899 |GEBURTSORT=[[Illingen (Saar)|Illingen]] |STERBEDATUM=10. Dezember 1964 |STERBEORT=[[Mainz]] }}