August Heissmeyer

August Heissmeyer
Chief, SS Main Office Dienststelle Obergruppenführer Heissmeyer
In office
11 January 1941  8 May 1945
Preceded byPosition created
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Higher SS and Police Leader
"Spree"
In office
2 September 1939  8 May 1945
Preceded byPosition created
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Chief, SS Main Office
In office
14 May 1935  1 December 1939
Preceded byCurt Wittje
Succeeded byGottlob Berger
Additional positions
1933–1945Reichstag deputy
Personal details
Born
August Friedrich Heißmeyer

(1897-01-11)11 January 1897
Aerzen, Province of Hanover, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Died16 January 1979(1979-01-16) (aged 82)
Schwäbisch Hall, West Germany
Political partyNazi Party
Spouse
(m. 1940)
RelationsKurt Heissmeyer (nephew)
Civilian awardsGolden Party Badge
Military service
Allegiance
Branch/servicePrussian Army
Luftstreitkräfte
Waffen-SS
Years of service1914–1919
1944–1945
RankLeutnant
SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Waffen-SS
Unit164th Infantry Regiment
Reserve Infantry Regiment 269
CommandsKampfgruppe "Heissmeyer"
Battles/warsWorld War I
World War II
Military awardsIron Cross, 1st and 2nd class
War Merit Cross, 1st and 2nd class with swords
Wound Badge in black

August Friedrich Heissmeyer or Heißmeyer (11 January 1897 – 16 January 1979), was a German member of the Nazi Party who rose to become an SS-Obergruppenführer in the Schutzstaffel (SS). He held several major commands, including as the chief of the SS Main Office from 1935 to 1939 and as the Higher SS and Police Leader of the Berlin district from 1939 to 1945. He was also headed the National Political Institutes of Education, a network of elite secondary boarding schools established to train future leaders of the Nazi state. He was the husband of Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, the head of the National Socialist Women's League. After the Second World War, Heissmeyer underwent denazification, was convicted as a major offender and served three years in prison.