Three Official Documents on an Expelled Party Member’s Effort to be Reinstated in the Nazi Party

The group is comprised of three pieces of correspondence that were sent to the Supreme Court of the Nazi Party (“Das Oberste Parteigericht”). Two of the letters originated with the office of Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess, with the stationary bearing the letterhead of the Nazi Party and having impressed 1934 pattern political eagles at the top, and each identifying the office of origin as “Der Stellvertreter des Fuhrers” (“The Deputy Fuhrer”). A letter dated 8 July of 1938 is sent to the Supreme Party Court from Hess’s office and it bears as a reference “Request of the stud. Med. Wolfgang Westhoff, Bremen, Contrescarpe 80, dated 5.4.1938, for admission to the medical examination before the Examination Board in Hamburg”, and the letter states “Enclosed I am sending you a photocopy of a petition by Pg. [“Parteigenosse”, or “Fellow Party Member”) Wolfgang Westhoff dated April 5, 1938, and a photocopy of a letter from the Reich Minister of the Interior [Wilhelm Frick, later executed at Nuremberg] dated June 29, 1938, requesting that it be processed competently. I would ask you to inform me of your resolution” (“In der Anlage ubersende ich Ihnen die Fotokopie eines Gesuches des Pg. Wolfgang Westhoff vom 5.4.1938 und die Fotokopie eines Schreibens des Reichministers des Innern vom 29 Juni 1938 mit der Bitte um zustandige Bearbeitung. Von Ihrer Entschliessung bitte ich mich zu unterrichten”). This was followed by another letter from Hess’s office dated August 3, 1938, again to the Supreme Party Court: “As a follow-up to my letter of July 8 of this year, I am sending you a further submission from Westhoff together with 14 annexes with the request that it be taken into account in the processing of the original application” (“Im Nachgang zu meinem Schreiben vom 8 Juli ds.Jrs. uber sende ich Ihnen eine weitere Eingabe des Westhoff nebst 14 Anlagen mit der Bitte, dieselbe bei der Bearbeitung des ursprunglichen Gesuches mit zu berucksichtigen”). As “annexes”, that letter was accompanied by Petitions; Grounds; Testimonies; Study Books; and a Photograph. The third document is dated May 24, 1940, and it originated with the “Amt fur Gnadensachen” (“Office for Matters of Clemency”) within the Chancellery of the Fuhrer of the National Socialist Party, that of course being Adolf Hitler. The document is approximately 7-3/4 inches by 8 inches. The upper corner bears a raised political eagle and swastika. The document is the carbon copy that was sent to the Supreme Court of the Nazi Party. The original correspondence was sent to stretcher bearer Wolfgang Westhoff in response to an application that he had made to be readmitted to the Nazi Party. The reference on the correspondence is “Ihr Gnadengesuch um Wiedersufnahme in die Partei vom 18 Februar 1939” (“Your plea for clemency to be readmitted to the Party on February 18, 1939”). Westhoff, an applicant for clemency and readmission, was advised that “Nach mir vorliegenden Unterlagn genugen Sie zur Zeit Ihrer Wehrpflicht. Da die Parteizugehorigkeit aller Wehrmachtsangehorigen ohnehin ruht, muse die weitere Bearbeitug Ihrews Gnadengesuches bis zu Ihrer Entlasung aus den Wehrdienst zuruckgestellt werden. Ich sehe zu gegebener Zeit einer entsprechended Mitteilung entgegen” (“According to the documents available to me, you are sufficient at the time of your military service. Since the party membership of all members of the Wehrmacht is suspended anyway, the further processing of your petition for clemency must be postponed until you are released from military service. I look forward to receiving an appropriate communication in due course”). The reverse side of the document bears an original typed communication to the Supreme Party Court, indicating that it was being sent this copy as a request for further information from the Fuhrer Chancellery (“Mit der Bitte um Kenntnisnahme Uberreicht”, or “Handed over with a request for information”). The reverse side bears an original signature of a Party official in the Chancellery, with a chancellery stamp. The margins of all three documents have two holes for placement in a file folder. The letters from the office of Rudolf Hess are approximately 8-1/4 inches by 11-1/2 inches.

Taken together, the three documents suggest that, in 1938, Wolfgang Westhoff was a medical student preparing to sit for his examinations, and he was also a member of the Nazi Party. However, something obviously happened with Westhoff and, whatever that was, it apparently wasn’t very good, for by May of 1940 he is no longer a member of the Nazi Party, nor is he a medical student or a doctor. In fact, at that time he was serving in the army as a stretcher bearer (“Krankentrager”), and he was petitioning the Office of Clemency in the Fuhrer Chancellery to obtain readmission to the Party, a request that was deferred since he was on active duty. Copies of the personnel files of most members of the Nazi Party are in the U.S. National Archives at College Park, Maryland. These documents suggest that research into Westhoff’s Nazi Party file would prove interesting and informative, since something highly unusual seems to have occurred in his life, something that apparently derailed his medical career and led to his expulsion from the Nazi Party.