Franz Neuhausen was a wealthy industrialist who became the special plenipotentiary for economic affairs in the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia during most of the German military occupation of that region of the partitioned Kingdom of Yugoslavia during World War II.
17 Facts About Franz Neuhausen
1.
2.
Franz Neuhausen worked as a representative of Germany and the Nazi Party in Belgrade throughout the 1930s, during which he amassed a huge fortune.
3.
Franz Neuhausen was handed over by the US to the Yugoslav authorities after the war, and was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.
4.
Franz Neuhausen was released in 1953 and died in Munich, West Germany in 1966.
5.
Franz Neuhausen was born on 13 December 1887 in the town of Merzig in the Rhine Province of the German Empire.
6.
Franz Neuhausen was stationed in Belgrade from 1931 onwards, first as the manager of the German Transportation Office, then as the official representative or party attache of the Nazi Party in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and finally as the German consul-general, with the rank of Consul-General Major of the Luftwaffe.
7.
Franz Neuhausen had effective networks in both government and political circles and kept himself well informed about political and economic conditions, becoming a wealthy industrialist in the process.
8.
In return, Franz Neuhausen provided Goring with foreign currency, and when he attended the Reichsmarshall's birthday party each year he gave Goring a 30-pound bar of gold or silver.
9.
On 9 December 1942, Franz Neuhausen was appointed to the important role of plenipotentiary for metal ore production in south-east Europe, which was initially limited to the occupied territory and the areas of Yugoslavia annexed by Bulgaria, and he was empowered as plenipotentiary for labour in the occupied territory.
10.
Franz Neuhausen remained the chairman of the Bor mining company, which in July 1943 brought in 6,200 Jewish forced labourers from Hungary and territories it had occupied to alleviate the shortage of manpower to work the mine.
11.
Franz Neuhausen was chair of the German banking corporation Bankverein fur Serbien in the occupied territory, as well as several other important companies.
12.
Franz Neuhausen was a powerful figure who had complete control of the economy and state finances of the occupied territory, and successfully exploited them to make a significant contribution to the German war effort.
13.
Franz Neuhausen was described as being "notoriously corrupt" and "sleazy and unscrupulous", and had numerous disagreements with other senior officials of the occupation regime regarding the extent of his jurisdiction.
14.
Neubacher believed that Franz Neuhausen was corrupt and that he had amassed a huge fortune while serving in Belgrade.
15.
Franz Neuhausen was replaced as plenipotentiary for economic affairs by his mining chief Theo Keyser, and as Chief of the Military Administration in Serbia by Dr Justus Danckwerts.
16.
Franz Neuhausen spent five months in a concentration camp and, although Goring arranged his release, and the award of the Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross to him, he still spent the remainder of the war in detention.
17.
Franz Neuhausen died on 14 April 1966 in Munich, West Germany.