page_title: Former German nobility in the Nazi Party
section_title: Grand Duchy of Hesse
hierarchical_section_title: Former German nobility in the Nazi Party / Grand Duchy of Hesse
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. ADN-ZB/Archiv Deutschland 1933: Reichstreffen des Reichsbundes Volkstum und Heimat in Kassel. Unter den offiziellen Gästen sind Prinz Philipp von Hessen 1.R.2.v.r. und Generalleutnant Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb 1.R1.v.r.
context_page_description: Beginning in 1925, some members of higher levels of the German nobility joined the Nazi Party, registered by their title, date of birth, NSDAP Party registration number, and date of joining the Nazi Party, from the registration of their first prince into NSDAP in 1928, until the end of WWII in 1945.
  Following the Wilhelm II abdication and the German Revolution, all German nobility as a legally defined class was abolished. On promulgation of the Weimar Constitution on 11 September 1919, all such Germans were declared equal before the law. There were 22 heads of these former federal states, titled as the 4 Kings of Germany; Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Württemberg, there were also 6 Grand Dukes, 5 Dukes, and 7 Princes, who along with all of their heirs, successors and families, lost their titles and domains. In appeasement of such losses, Hitler, Goring, Himmler, and other Nazi leaders, frequently appealed to these princes, and especially to Wilhelm II and his families from the former Prussian kingdom, by expressing sympathy for a restoration of their abolished monarchies, and such lost inheritances.
context_section_description: (Abolished 9 November 1918)
  Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse
  Prince Frederick Charles was the brother-in-law of the German Emperor Wilhelm II. Frederick Charles was elected as the King of Finland by the Parliament of Finland on 9 October 1918. However, with the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany ending monarchies in Germany, Finland adopted a republican constitution. His first son Philipp, Landgrave of Hesse joined the Nazi Party in 1930, and the SA. Stormtroopers in 1932. In 1933 his three other brothers joined the (SS) and the SA. Prince Philipp of Hesse became a particularly close friend of Hermann Göring, the future head of the Luftwaffe. After Hindenburg's appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor in 1933, Philipp was appointed Oberpräsident (Governor) of Hesse-Nassau, and a member of the Reichstag, and of the Prussian Staatsrat. Philipp played an important role in the consolidation of Nazi rule in Germany. He introduced other aristocrats to NSDAP officials and, as son-in-law of the king of Italy, was a frequent go-between for Hitler and Benito Mussolini. As Governor of Hesse-Kassel, Philipp was complicit in the T-4 Euthanasia Program. In February 1941, Philipp signed the contract placing the sanitarium of Hadamar Clinic at the disposal of the Reich Interior Ministry. Over 10,000 mentally ill people were killed there. In 1946, Prince Philipp of Hesse was charged with murder, but the charges were later dropped.
  Prince Fredericks other son Prince Christoph of Hesse was a SS. Schutzstaffel officer. Prince Christophe was a director in the Third Reich's Ministry of Air Forces, Commander of the Air Reserves, with a rank of Oberführer in the SS. In 1943, he was killed in an airplane accident in a war zone near Italy. Prince Christoph was a great-grandson of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha through their daughter Victoria, Princess Royal, wife of Frederick III, German Emperor. Christoph married Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark. Princess Sophie was the youngest daughter of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, and the sister of the future Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
  Prince Wilhelm of Hesse, was heir to the Hesse-Philippsthal line. Prince Wilhelm was the eldest child of Prince Chlodwig of Hesse and Princess Caroline of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich. In 1932 he joined the Nazi party and SS rising to the rank SS-Hauptsturmführer. Prince Wilhelm married Princess Marianne, the daughter of Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia. During WWII Prince Wilhelm refused to join an SS unit, instead switching to the regular German Army, where he became a captain of infantry. He was killed in action during the fighting at Gor on the Eastern Front.
caption: Philip of Hesse, second from right in first row. Kassel, 1933
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