Erich Hilgenfeldt Georg Paul Erich Hilgenfeldt ( born 2 July 1897 in Heinitz / Ottweiler ; likely died in April / May 1945 in Berlin ) was a German official and a high NSDAP ( or Nazi Party ) government official . Life . Early life and education . Hilgenfeldt was born on 2 July 1897 in Heinitz . He went to the " Oberrealschule " in Saarbrücken , whereafter he went to Halle until " Obersekunda " ( roughly Grade or Year 11 ) on the " " Frankesch " " endowment . Personal life . Married on 24 . April 1922 to Marie - Charlotte Köhler , they separated around 1935 and finally divorced 30 November 1940 . They had two children together , Reinhard ( 2 March 1923 – killed in action 2 November 1943 at the Trigno River area 1 km south of Tufillo / Italy ) and another boy ( 1 October 1927 ) . Hildgenfeldt then remarried on 6 December 1940 to Leopoldine Statischek ( 23 September 1907 at Novi Sad / Serbia – suicide by poison ? April / May 1945 at Berlin ) from Wien . World War I service and employment . Hilgenfeldt served in the First World War as an officer and pilot . After school , he was first an office staffer in the timber industry and head of sales for a building business . From 1928 , Hilgenfeldt was a staffer at the Reich Statistical Office . Nazi Party service . On 1 August 1929 , Hilgenfeldt became an NSDAP member ( no . 143642 ) , and by 1932 he had become NSDAP " Kreisleiter " ( District Leader ) and by 1933 NSDAP " Gauinspektor " for " Inspektion I Groß - Berlin " . By 1931 he was a municipal councillor for Berlin - Welmersdorf . Hilgenfeldt worked as office head at the NSDAP Office for People ' s Welfare and in close association with the " Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt " ( NSV ) , or the National Socialist People ' s Welfare . By organizing a charity drive to celebrate Hitler ' s Birthday on 20 April 1931 , Joseph Goebbels named him the head of the NSV . The NSV was named the single Nazi Party welfare organ in May 1933 . On 21 September 1933 he was appointed as Reich Commissioner for the Nazi Winter Support Programme ( " Winterhilfswerk " ) . Under Hilgenfeldt the programme was massively expanded , so that the régime deemed it worthy to be called the " greatest social institution in the world . " One method of expansion was to absorb , or in NSDAP parlance coordinate , already existing but non - Nazi charity organizations . NSV was the second largest Nazi group organization by 1939 , second only to the German Labor Front . From November of the same year , Hilgenfeldt was a member of the Reich Work Chamber ( " Reichsarbeitskammer " ) , as well as the Academy for German Law and Honorary Judge at the Supreme Honour and Disciplinary Court . As NSV leader , he was also Reich Women ' s Leader ( " Reichsfrauenführerin " ) Gertrud Scholtz - Klink ' s superior . Also by virtue of his NSV office , he was the head of the German union of private charitable organizations , which included among its members the Protestant Inner Mission organization and the Catholic Caritas , as well as the NSV itself . From 1933 , he also served in the Prussian Landetag as well as being a member of the Reichstag . Hilgenfeldt spoke at the Nuremberg Party Rally in 1936 , during the Third Session of the Party Conference . On 9 September 1937 , Hilgenfeldt became SS member no . 289225 , and then in 1939 a Brigadeführer in the Waffen - SS , and moreover a Main Office Leader . In the course of Hilgenfeldt ' s career , he was not only made an honorary judge , but also appointed Chairman of the Reich Association for Offender Support ( " Reichsverband für Straffälligenbetreuung " ) . Furthermore , he was also awarded the " Danziger Kreuz " , First Class . Death . Since May 1945 , Hilgenfeldt has been missing . He is thought to have committed suicide in Berlin , but the circumstances of his death are still unclear . Hilgenfeldt had a sister named Hedwig who officially declared Erich and his wife Leopoldine dead at the register ' s office in Berlin - Charlottenburg , in 1957 .