Hans Josef Maria Globke (10 September 1898–13 February 1973) was a jurist and high rank public servant after WWII in the newly formed Federal Republic of Germany.

Early life and studies

Hans Globke was born in Düsseldorf to Josef Globke and Sophie Erberich, both devout Catholics and Zentrum-supporters. Shortly after Globke's birth the family moved to Aachen, where his father opened a draper's shop. When he finished his highschool studies at the Catholic Kaiser-Karl-Gymnasium in 1916, he was drafted into the army until 1918, when he subsequently *** studied Law and Political Sciences at the universities of Bonn and Cologne, graduating in 1922 at the university of Gießen with a dissertation on the immunity of the members of the Reichs- and Landtags.

During his studies -- having joined while being enlisted in the army -- he was a member of Katholische Deutsche Studentenverbindung Bavaria Bonn, which was the local chapter of the Cartellverband der katholischen deutschen Studentenverbindungen. The close contacts with fellow KdStV-members will, together with his membership since 1922 of the Zentrum-Party, play a significant role in his later (political) life. This was also true for Augusta Vaillant, who was a sister of one of Globke's Bundesbruders and whom he married in 1934.

Pre-war public service

Having finished his Assessorexamen in 1924, he was briefly active as a judge in the police court of Aachen, after which he climbed to vice police-chief of Aachen in 1925 and Regierungsassessor in 1926. In December 1929 Globke became administrative councillor to the Prussian Ministry of the Interior.

He helped to formulate the emergency legislation that gave Hitler unlimited dictorial powers. He was also the author of the law concerning the dissolution of the Prussian State Council in 10 July 1933 and of further legislation which 'co-ordinated' all Prussian parliamentary bodies.

He also wrote a law commentary on the new Reich Citizenship Law.

His superior resigned when he learned of the Nazi plan to exterminate European Jews, after which Globke took his place.

His membership application for the Nazi Party was rejected on 24 October 1940 by Martin Bormann due to his close alliance with the Zentrum-Party which had been representing the Catholic voters in Weimar Germany. He thus escaped de-Nazification and the War Crime Trials.

Post-war public service and controversy

He was Director of the Federal Chancellory of the Federal Republic of Germany between 1953 and 1963 and as such was one of the closest aides to Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. He is reported to have placed numerous former Nazis in top posts in Germany.

Globke's key position as an national security advisor to Adenauer and his involvement in anticommunist activities in post-war Germany made both the West German government and CIA-officials wary of exposing his Nazi-past. This led for instance to the witholding of Adolf Eichmann's alias from the Israeli government and Nazi hunter's in the late '50, and CIA pressure in 1960 on Life magazine to delete references to Globke from its recently obtained Eichmann memoirs.

Works

See also

• Theodor Oberländer

References