Paul Dittel
Paul Dittel (14 January 1907 in Mittweida, Saxony – 8 May 1982 in Mönchengladbach) was a German historian and Anglicist who was also an Obersturmbannführer in the Schutzstaffel (SS). He played a central role in the Nazi German policy of confiscating libraries and literary collections from occupied countries.
Biography
[edit]Within the SS, Dittel was affiliated with the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) intelligence service and he was chief of that body's museum, library and research department.[1] In late 1939 he was one of a number of Ahnenerbe members selected by Wolfram Sievers to travel to Poland in order to raid its museums and collections.[2]
In 1943, Dittel succeeded Franz Six as chief of the Reich Security Main Office (SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt; RSHA) department, Amt VII, the "written records" section which had responsibility for ideological research.[3] In this role his activities soon came to focus on the topic of Freemasonry and he was involved in the looting of collections, devoted to this topic.[4] Dittel oversaw the publication of a number of anti-Masonic books from the collection of material that he had gathered as well as the establishment of a Masonic Library.[5] He was also responsible for the development of a special collection of books on occult topics such as theosophy and astrology, a project that had been devised by Ernst Kaltenbrunner and in which SS chief Heinrich Himmler took a keen interest.[6]
Dittel was imprisoned after World War II. Following his release in 1948, he moved to Mönchengladbach where he was employed as a clerk until at least 1973.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ Glossary - D
- ^ Pringle, Heather, The Master Plan: Himmler's Scholars and the Holocaust, Hyperion, 2006, p. 201
- ^ Stackelberg, Roderick, The Routledge Companion to Nazi Germany, Routledge, 2007, p. 297
- ^ a b Borak, Mecislav, 'Restitution of Confiscated Art Works - Wish or Reality?', p. 130
- ^ Borak, 'Restitution of Confiscated Art Works', p. 134
- ^ Borak, 'Restitution of Confiscated Art Works', p. 158