Rotary in the Third Reich: Survival or Internal Emigration 1937-1945

Dr. Manfred Wedemeyer

Rotary Club Sylt – Westerland, Germany

Governor 1998/99

Rotary International District 1890

A voluntary dissolution of the German Rotary Clubs on October 15, 1937 was the only way left for further meetings. That way no one exposed himself to accusations of meeting illegally in a non-existent organization. The club papers had mostly been confiscated by the Gestapo. The Rotary Clubs in Germany had ceased to exist but several of them changed to special discussion groups between 1937 and 1945.

The spirit of people of a common cause to stay in contact remained. Ways and means were found to maintain personal contacts. In any case the former Rotarians maintained the humanity in an age of bestiality. Unfortunately the connections to clubs in other countries and to Rotary International in Chicago were totally suspended. Therefore their goal to further understanding beyond national boundaries had been reached. Many German Rotarians missed their regular weekly meetings.

In a time of increasing insecurity and various interventions by the government into the daily and professional lives it seemed necessary to continue contacts with friends. Therefore many Rotarians agreed to informal gatherings. In cities where once Rotary Clubs existed, circles of friends were formed and met first in private residences and later in restaurants and other meeting places to maintain personal contacts. Members of the former Wilhelmshaven R.C. talked of an “Internal Emigration.” In respect to further meetings Friedrich von Wilpert said:  “The spirit of the Rotarians outlasted the inferno.”

A special publication of the R.C. Hannover says to that: “Even during the war the Rotarian friends never lost contact with one another. When we met we tried to be completely open and honest in assessing our situation and these talks among Rotarian friends were probably the only ones that in that time period could be held in full confidentiality. We believed in Rotary and a brighter and better future because we could again and again experience how people in Rotary extended their hands to one another.”

Before and during WWII the Circle of Friends met in various places in Munich. Walter Meuschel wrote about that: “While I was in the military, Miss Anna Weinzierl, who before the dissolution of the R.C. Munich helped me for many years to take care of the secretarial work, continued her work and since she was known to all Rotarians in Munich, she became a source of news for the Rotary. She kept me informed of all Rotary news and meetings when I returned for home leave”. In Nurnberg, the city of NS-party meetings, the Rotarians met again after 1937 where they had first met in 1929, i.e. at the round table of the Grand Hotel across from the Railroad Station. This was the gathering place for all the friends that were once scattered all over. The club minutes of meetings recall: “The voluntary dissolution of the R.C. Nurnberg does not at all mean the end of friendly gatherings of their members. The round table in the Grand Hotel, which can be called the point of origin of the R.C. Nurnberg was again the place where the scattered friends met. By invitation of its founder and president, Privy Counselor (Geheimrat) von Petri, more and more Rotarians came to the Sunday evening meetings, at times more than 20 men were present.

The Sunday meetings continued without interruption through the worst days of the war, fortunately all air raid information was relayed to the Chief of Police and the highest ranking military officer who met at the R.C. round table. Even if there was no possibility of true Rotary discussions, the well known circle of attendees never ceased to find a main subject which dealt with the present situation and its concerns. Only after the death of Mr. von Petri on May 26,1944 these meetings were suspended especially since the destruction and the emergency in Nurnberg no longer permitted any social gatherings”.

However a somewhat legitimate existence was still possible in Berlin. It was also to the credit of several Berlin Rotarians, among them especially Mr. WiIm (later a member of the R.C. Hamburg), that the dissolution of the R. C. Berlin did not stop the friendly gatherings of the members. First they met in the Bellevue-Strasse in the beautiful house of the German Guild of Goldsmiths, whose president Mr. WiIm was. Since the beginning of 1939 a larger number of members of the former R.C. and a number of other gentlemen, who were selected according to Rotary bylaws met at the Beuth-Table. This table was named after the Prussian Finance Minister Christian Peter Beuth (1781-1853) who met with other men of various occupations over lunch to discuss everyday occurrences. The Beuth-Table still met for several years during the war and created high interest among the Ca. 40 people gathered.

The Rotary Group that met in Hamburg from 1939 to 1944 called itself the “Seniors Circle”. According to Rot. von der Goltz editor of the “Hamburger Chronik” “we also found a way to meet and we have fond memories of this time in which we were individualists in many ways but we were able to maintain our friendship as Rotarians.” The Senior Circle met in the restaurant “Rose” in City Hall. The second Circle met regularly, if we remember correctly, in the Christian Hospice and the third Circle which was more optimistic and more critical met in the hotel “Atlantik”. That is where we experienced the war which gave us a very different outlook on life and many unhappy days, no matter whether we remained at home or were at the various fronts. Until the end of 1944 our scheduled meetings at the hotel “Atlantik” never had to be cancelled due to low attendance and we always met numerous guests who enriched our meetings. The war made our meetings more and more difficult and they were suspended in early 1945”.

An extensive documentation of the years after the dissolution of the R.C. Kiel has been preserved in the archives of this club. After the dissolution in 1937 President Bernhard Goldschmidt invited all members to a gathering to commemorate the five years of working for a common cause. At this meeting on October 15, 1937 it was decided to continue the previous Rotarian community in a less formal way. It was decided to take the new name: Friday Society.

The well known historian Karl Jordan, member of the R.C. Kiel from 1950 to his death in 1984 was a member of the Friday Society in Kiel and recorded its history. “Mr. Goldschmidt acted as president of the society during this time. He was assisted by Mr. Alexander Beck who had become a Rotarian in 1936. The club met by special invitation, if possible, in intervals of two weeks at the former Skagerrak-Club, now called FordeClub. The high point of these meetings was mostly a lecture, in which the members, as before in the R.C. talked not only about questions of general interest in their trade/profession, but also about their hobbies. New friends came to the meeting on the recommendations of long time Rotarians, first as guests, but later on became members as well. The number of participants at these meetings was on the average 20-25. A somewhat smaller group met for lunch at Hoist’s Hotel. During the summer Otto invited all friends to a picnic at his house in Kitzeberg, where he showed his expertise as a magician.

Even after the beginning of WW II life of the Friday Society continued to meet as before, but more and more members were drafted. The evening meetings were changed to the late afternoon because of black outs and nightly air raids on Kiel. What made these meetings so valuable for all members was the absolute confidentiality of all conversations. Everyone was very careful with remarks about the political or military situation even in the smallest gatherings and otherwise concerned that he may be called a defeatist and brought before court. In these meetings one could speak openly about the worries which concerned everybody during the war.

The intensification of the air war that since 1944 brought heavy day air raids on Kiel also bad members of the Friday Society worried. Many of them were bombed out and had to look for smaller living accommodations in Kiel or in the surrounding area The home of the Skagerrak Club was heavily damaged. After Hoist’s Hotel, the meeting place during the war, was destroyed, the members met for lunch at the “Hotel Bellevue” whose owner Paustian, a well known man from the Probstei in Holstein, was in spite of shortage of food able to present a very good lunch. During that summer of 1944 life of the Friday Society came almost to a halt. Mr. Goldschmidt tried to maintain contact with all friends through correspondence.”

A memo to all from Bernhard Goldschmidt of October 12, 1944 is a moving document of the closeness among the Rotarians and of the spirit of the Friday Society:

Meeting places of Rotarian friends were everywhere in the Third Reich, not only in the above mentioned cities. They all felt the need to maintain the exchange of thoughts and ideas. The mentioned examples for the activity and continuity of the Rotarian Circles in the Nazi-State especially from 1937 to 1945 show clearly that the German R.C. kept up their spirits even after their dissolution. Officially they did not exist anymore but in their core many of them acknowledged consequently even after 1937 the idea of Rotary, the good of the people, service to your neighbor, to friends and to humanity. The aims of the Rotary were kept up and in everybody’s mind. They waited for the right time in which the Rotary in Germany could be reestablished.