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Otto Dietrich

(1887 - 1952)

Otto Dietrich was the Third Reich's Press Chief, and Hitler's confidante. He was born in August 1887, and died at the age of 55 in 1952, after serving time in Landberg Prison following the Nuremberg trials, at which he was convicted of “crimes against humanity.”

After his time as a soldier in WWI, he was awarded the Iron Cross (First Class). After this he went to the universities of Munich, Frankfurt am Main and Freiburg, from which he graduated with a doctorate in politcal science in 1921.

He strongly supported Nazi idelology, and became a member of the Party almost immediately after its foundation in 1919. On August 1, 1931, he was appointed Press Chief of the NSDAP and, the following year, joined the SS. By 1941 he had risen to the rank of SS-Obergruppenfuher.

His job as Press Chief overlapped with Goebbels' Ministry for Propaganda, and thus many anecdotes exist of their feuds. They were infamous for their disagreements, and both often felt obliged to “repair” the mistakes of the other.

Dietrich retained the confidence of the Fuhrer throughout the regime, and remained a strong Nazi supporter until his death.


Sources: What-Means.Com. This article is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License