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2nd Kanzler (Chancellor) of Nationalist Germany | |
| Predecessor | Alfred Hugenberg |
| Successor | Office abolished |
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4th Chairman of the DNVP | |
| Predecessor | Alfred Hugenberg |
| Successor | Office abolished |
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1st Minister of Propaganda for Nationalist Germany | |
| Born | October 29, 1897 Rheydt, Prussia, Germany |
| Died | November 27, 1966 Strasbourg, France |
| Spouse | Gertrud Adickes |
| Political Party | Deutschnationale Volkspartei (DNVP), Parti Populaire Nationaliste (PPN) |
Early Life[]
Political activist[]
NSDAP[]
DNVP[]
Minister of Propaganda[]
Great World War and Hugenberg's Death[]
Later Life[]
Defeat and Escape to France[]
Mere months after his ascension to the chancellorship, Göbbels was forced to evacuate. On April 7, 1951, the Kommfrei seized Berlin. Göbbels barely escaped under cover, his very noticeable limp almost giving him away multiple times. Over the next several weeks, Göbbels was smuggled across Germany, eventually settling in Strasbourg, France. He lived in relative obscurity until he and a group of others founded the Parti Populaire Nationaliste (PPN) in 1953. Göbbels was the head of the party, which rose into prominence during the 1960's and remains a formidable party today.
Göbbels's wife Gertrud remained in Germany, along with their children. She killed herself shortly after the Socialist Revolution, but all of their children survived, having resisted their mother's attempt to force them to swallow cyanide. Göbbels' children visited him in 1958, after the war's end. Göbbels had grown distant from his children, who he rarely saw later in life. He died in Strasbourg on November 27, 1966.