View source for Werner Willikens

'''Werner Willikens''' (8 February 1893 in [[Vienenburg]] &ndash; 25 October 1961 in [[Wolfenbüttel]]) was a German politician with the [[Nazi Party]] who largely served in agricultural administration. He was also a general officer in the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]]. His phrase "working towards the Führer", which he used in a 1934 speech, has become a common description of Nazi bureaucracy.
==Biography==
Willikens enrolled in the [[German Imperial Army]] in 1912 and served in [[World War I]] as an artillery battery commander.<ref name="Detlef">Detlef Mühlberger, ''Hitler's Voice: The Völkischer Beobachter, 1920-1933. Organisation & Development of the Nazi Party, Volume 1'', Peter Lang, 2004, p. 252</ref>
An early Nazi Party member, he joined in 1925 (membership number 3,355) and served as the ''[[Ortsgruppenleiter]]'' (Local Group Leader) in [[Goslar]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Klee |first= Ernst |title= Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945 |publisher= Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag |location= Frankfurt-am-Main |year= 2007 |page= 678 |isbn= 978-3-596-16048-8}}</ref> He was a farmer by profession and organised the first training course for Nazi farmers in 1926.<ref name="Detlef"/> Willikens was a member of the ''[[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]]'' from electoral constituency 16 (South Hanover-Brunswick), elected  as one of the first 12 Nazi deputies in [[1928 German federal election|1928]] and retaining his seat until the fall of the [[Third Reich]].<ref>[http://www.reichstag-abgeordnetendatenbank.de/selectmaske.html?pnd=10235538X&recherche=ja Datenbank der deutschen Parlamentsabgeordneten]</ref>
In 1930, Willikens was appointed deputy chairman of ''Agrarpolitischer Apparat'', the Agricultural Affairs Bureau of the NSDAP headed by [[Richard Walther Darré]], and he also chaired the [[German Agrarian League|Agrarian League]].<ref>Mühlberger, ''Hitler's Voice'', p. 349</ref> His appointment to the national executive of the ''[[Agricultural League|Reichslandbund]]'' in 1930 was the first time that the highly conservative group - up to that point firmly linked to the [[German National People's Party]] - had given a position of influence to a Nazi.<ref>[[Richard Bessel]] & E.J. Feuchtwanger, ''Social Change and Political Development in Weimar Germany'', Croom Helm, 1981, {{ISBN|085664921X}}, p. 151</ref> After [[Adolf Hitler]] came to power, Willikens was appointed as [[State Secretary]] in the Prussian Ministry of Agriculture, Domains and Forests in July 1933, also under Darré.  On 31 July 1933, [[Hermann Göring]], the Prussian [[minister president]], appointed him to the recently reconstituted [[Prussian State Council (Nazi Germany)|Prussian State Council]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Lilla |first= Joachim |title= Der Prußische Staatsrat 1921–1933: Ein biographisches Handbuch |publisher= Droste Verlag |location= Düsseldorf |year= 2005 |pages= 249, 296 |isbn=978-3-770-05271-4}}</ref> When the Prussian ministry was merged with Darré's [[Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture]] in January 1935, Willikens continued to serve as a State Secretary in the united Reich Ministry.<ref>Donald Bloxham, Tony Kushner, Antony Robin Jeremy Kushner, ''The Holocaust: Critical Historical Approaches'', Manchester University Press ND, 2005, p. 127</ref> He became a member of the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] in May 1933 (member number 56,180) and eventually reached the rank of SS-''[[Gruppenführer]]'' on 30 January 1938.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Schiffer Publishing Ltd. |title= SS Officers List: SS-Standartenführer to SS-Oberstgruppenführer (As of 30 January 1942) |publisher= Schiffer Military History Publishing |location= |year= 2000 |page= 9 |isbn= 0-7643-1061-5}}</ref>
[[Ian Kershaw]] has argued that a speech made by Willikens in 1934, in particular his use of the phrase "working towards the Führer", was important in laying the framework for [[the Holocaust]]. Kershaw argued that the speech recognised the aloofness of Hitler's [[charismatic leadership]] and thus encouraged officials to second-guess Hitler's wishes and act accordingly. Kershaw suggests that [[Adolf Eichmann]]'s rise from minor functionary to a leading role in the [[SS]] was built on this principle of "working towards the Führer".<ref>[[Ian Kershaw]], Moshé Lewin, ''Stalinism and Nazism: Dictatorships in Comparison'', Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 104-6</ref> Indeed, such was Kershaw's use of Willikens' phrase that his tribute book even bore it as a title.<ref>Anthony McElligott, Tim Kirk, Ian Kershaw, ''Working Towards the Führer: Essays in Honour of Sir Ian Kershaw'', Manchester University Press, 2003</ref> The speech itself was made in [[Berlin]] on 21 February 1934 to representatives of the regional agriculture ministries.<ref>Ian Kershaw, ''Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris'', Penguin Books, 1999, p. 529</ref>
After the fall of the Nazi regime, Willikens underwent [[denazification]] proceedings, was imprisoned, released and returned to his farm until his death in 1961.
==References==
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==External links==
* {{PM20|FID=pe/039804}}
*{{ReichstagDB|10235538X}}
*[https://www.bundesarchiv.de/aktenreichskanzlei/1919-1933/0000/adr/adrsz/kap1_5/para2_152.html Brief Biography of Werner Willikens] in the [https://www.bundesarchiv.de/aktenreichskanzlei/1919-1933/0000/index.html Files of the Reich Chancellery of the Weimar Republic]
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[[Category:1893 births]]
[[Category:1961 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century German farmers]]
[[Category:German Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Members of the Prussian State Council (Nazi Germany)]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1928–1930]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1930–1932]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1932]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1932–1933]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1933]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1933–1936]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1936–1938]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1938–1945]]
[[Category:Nazi Party officials]]
[[Category:People from Goslar (district)]]
[[Category:SS-Gruppenführer]]