Fritz Fabritius
Fritz Fabritius was a Transylvanian-Saxon politician, ethnic group leader, and military officer. He served in numerous ethnic group roles embracing Nazism, including as Chairman of the National-Socialist Party of Romanian Germans, the German Party of Romania, and the Association of German Minorities in Europe.
Fabritius was born in Sibiu, Romania, into a military family. He transferred to active military service in 1903, serving in the Uhlan Regiment No. 7 Galicia until 1907, when he switched to the reserves after achieving the rank of Rittmaster. He joined the military again on the outbreak of World War I. He was later sent on a trip to Germany, returning to Romania "full of enthusiasm" for then-unknown Adolf Hitler. Inspired by this, he founded the building society called Self-Help in 1922, which advocated for a home nation for Transylvanian Saxons, and which heavily embraced many Nazi Party sentiments. The society closed within a year, and Fabritius refounded it in 1927, where it grew rapidly and to the influence of youth organizations became more political. In 1932 it was transformed into the National Socialist Self-help Movement for Germans in Romania, which was explicitly pro-Nazi. The organization was banned multiple times by Ion G. Duca, a fierce opponent of far-right extremism, but still continued.
In 1935, Fabritius was elected Chairman of the German Party of Romania as a moderate, opposing Alfred Bonfert and Waldemar Gust. That year a split occurred between the radicals Nazis, led by Bonfert and Gust, and the moderates Nazis, led by Fabritius and Otto Jickeli. This effectively paralyzed the party, as Romanian Germans were heavily divided. The dispute was finally resolved in October 1938 by Edith von Coler, Germany's Special Representative who, after talks, established Fabritius as chairman and the radical group merged into the party. In December 1938, King Carol II founded the Frontul Renașterii Naționale, which Fabritius's party joined and Fabritius was cast aside because he did not have good relations with the current regime and for having sought autonomy. In February 1939, however, Fabritius became Chairman of the Association of German Minorities in Europe. Within a few months, he started endorsing a German empire, and Armand Călinescu accused him of forming paramilitary units loyal to him and endorsing the expansion of Germany into Romania. Fabritius was recalled to Germany after nearly being charged with high treason. He returned to Romania a few months later but resigned from his roles. This effectively ended his political career; although he was rehabilitated, he never sought political power again.
Early life
Fritz Fabritius was born on 27 March 1883 in Sibiu, Transylvania, Austria-Hungary. He was the son of a military sub-intendant and his wife Viktorine, who was part of a patrician family. He was part of the ethnic minority of Transylvanian Saxons in Romania.Fabritius first attended military schools in Košice and Hranice, before attending the Theresian Military Academy for secondary school. At the academy he received the rank of lieutenant on 18 August 1903 and was transferred to the military. He then served in the Uhlan Regiment No. 7 Galicia, and also served twice in brigade officer schools. In 1907 he transferred to the reserves after reaching the rank of Rittmaster and moved back to Hermannstadt after marrying Hermine Promper. After moving to the reserves, he worked at the Hermannstädter Sparkasse, a credit bank, for 7 years.
In 1912, Fabritius helped founded the "Transylvanian-Saxon Youth Brigade" in order to revive völkisch life. In August 1914, Fabritius left his job at the credit bank and returned to active duty in a lancers regiment during the start of World War I, and was then transferred to the dragoons where he was awarded the Militärverdienstmedaille am Bande des Militärverdienstkreuzes two months later. In October 1916 he was awarded the Iron Cross in Third Class, alongside being awarded with a "swords" to his Militarverdienstkreuz in February 1917. After he left, he rejoined Hermannstädter Sparkasse and worked closely with his client and confidant Carl Wolff, who shared his opposition to the state of Romania.
In 1918 he joined the genealogical association Deutscher Roland, which promoted Völkisch nationalism and anti-semitism. Alongside this, in 1921, he became a patron of Schirmherrschaft der deutschen Bauernhochschule, a German farmers' organization.
Political career
Self-help movement (1922-1930)
In 1922, he traveled to Germany on behalf of Wolff to inform Wolff about the new economic conditions in Germany. He returned from the trip full of enthusiasm for a then-unknown politician named Adolf Hitler and proposed building a new society.After his confidant Wolff's death in 1922, Fabritius lost his position at the bank since they only kept him due to his association with Wolff, so he lived off income from a farm until the end of 1922. Returning that year, he founded a building society called Self-Help in Sibiu. The goal, as explained by distributed leaflets from the society, was to build a home nation that was economically stable, achieve economic freedom and independence for Transylvanian Saxons, and not to become tributary by providing cheap credit to them. In fall 1922 construction of the first housing project began for the society. The organization also, heavily embraced Nazi Party sentiments, although it never directly mentioned the movement.
The society was closed that same year after his newspaper for the society was unable to find printing. During this time, starting in 1926, he became an editor of the magazine Sachs halte Wacht, which was created for Transylvanian Saxons that were friends with the Reich. However, after a few years of absence, Fabritius refounded the self-help society in 1927. The organization rapidly grew after its refounding, and by 1931 had capital of about 121 million lei. By 1930 the self-help organization had moved away from a business association for Transylvanian Saxons and became prominently political. This was in part to the influence of youth organizations who advocated for voluntary labor service and rural service. The most prominent of these organizations, the Good Templars, was an association of the Good Templars of Romania.
Renewal movement (1930-1935)
In 1930, he renamed his self-help movement to the renewal movement. "Renewal" to him and many Saxons meant an effort to generate internally the power needed to confront danger from outside sources, and it was a word he commonly repeated to describe his goals.On 22 May 1932 Fabritius officially founded the National Socialist Self-help Movement for Germans in Romania, with a twenty-five point program oriented towards the Nazi model. Although it experienced a temporary setback of being banned by the government because of its rhetoric on 29 November 1933, the movement continued. Ion G. Duca, the Prime Minister, had previously declared a "revolutionary state" to tackle far-right extremism, citing NSDR's acts of homage to Germany, their influence by Nazis, their marches of uniforms, and vocal disagreement about the German Party's moderate electoral agreements. Just ten days later, however, it was re-formed as the National Movement for Renewal of the Germans in Romania, allowing it to exist until it was banned again in July 1934.
German People's Community in Romania (1935-1938)
On 29 June 1935, after having headed the NEDR, Fabritius was elected Chairman of the German Party of Romania. This was prompted by Fabritius realizing that the more radical Romanian Germans wished to remove him from power, so he joined the moderate group around Otto Fritz Jickeli when the NEDR collapsed with moderates around Fabritius and Jickeli and radicals around Alfred Bonfert and Waldemar Gust. Thus, due to his more moderate stances, Fabritius was elected in a general meeting in Bucharest with the support of the deputies of the People's Council of Bukovina, Bessarabia, a majority of the Saxon deputies, and one-third of the Swabian deputies. Upon being elected he renamed the organization to Volksgemeinschaft der Deutschen in Rumänien.Only a few months before Fabritius was elected, the split between the moderates and radicals had gotten worse. Bonfert founded the German [People's Party (Romania)|German People's Party] on 10 February 1935, which included most of Fabritius's opponents, leading to disorganization and a split within the Nazi Romanian Germans. With the quarrel, Romanian German families were divided, children shouted in the streets that either Fabritius or Bonfert should rule, and battles occurred in cities. According to Tudor Georgescu, the "next three years descended into bitter feuding between the movement's moderate and radical wing", paralyzing the party.
Until 1938, the party remained divided. However, on 26 October 1938 when Germany's Special Representative in Romania, Edith von Coler, responded the problem was finally reconciled. Coler invited him and Helmut Wolff, Chairman of the People's Council for Transylvania, to her apartment to talk to the legation councilor Stelzer. Then on the next day, Coler invited Bonfert, Gust, and Hans Kaufmes, the regional farmer's leader, to the apartment of Artur Konradi who was regional group leader of the NSDAP's foreign organization in Romania. That evening, on 27 October, an agreement was concluded where Fabritius was affirmed as chairman of the organization, and the German People's Party was dissolved and incorporated into Volksgemeinschaft. Due to this unity, the new organization met in a massive rally on 6 November 1938 in Timișoara, with an attendance of 10,000, where he announced that the organization now disavowed autonomy but demanded some concessions from the Romanian government.
Eventually, on 15 December 1938, King of Romania Carol II founded the National Renaissance Front, and Volksgemeinschaft attempted to negotiate entry into the organization which was denied by the government which insisted on individual entry. Fabritius then resisted this, believing it was intended to divide the minority, despite pressure from the government. The group formally joined the FRN on 10 January 1939 alongside receiving state recognition. Fabritius was then recalled to Germany and was replaced by Wolfgang Bruckner and after a transitional period Andreas Schmidt because he did not have good relations with the regime of Carol and the fact that he had sought autonomy as opposed to unity.
Association of German Minorities in Europe (1939)
In February 1939, Fabritius was elected Chairman of the Association of German Minorities in Europe, succeeding Sudeten German Konrad Henlein.Early in July 1939, he gave a speech in Munich calling for a future German empire. This culminated in a report of a meeting on 13 July 1939 with Armand Călinescu, who accused him of forming paramilitary units who took an oath of allegiance to him and endorsing the expansion of Germany into Romania. Only the intervention of the plenipotentiary minister, Fabricius, prevented an indictment of Fabritius for high treason. Perhaps the most incriminating thing that he mentioned was Fabritius had adopted the unconstitutional title of Landesführer, which was viewed as reminiscent of "head of state".
On 14 August 1939, Fabritius arrived in Berlin where he was informed that the Romanian government was preparing for his arrest, and he was ordered to stay in Germany as he was endangering Germany and Romania's relationship. In November 1939 he returned to Romania where he was criticized for his "spa stay" in Berlin, and then continued to resume his duties. However, on 5 December 1939, a statement appeared in the press that Fabritius had resigned as Chairman of the German Party and of the Association of German Minorities in Europe.