Central Office for Municipal Policy of the Nazi Party

The Nazi party’s Head Office for Municipal Affairs was established in 1934 under the party’s Reich Organizational Administration. Its predecessor organizations date back to 1927, when Hitler appointed the then Munich Nazi party city councilor and later mayor Karl Fiehler as the party’s advisor on municipal issues. Fiehler was the director of the Head Office until the end of the Nazi regime. In other municipalities, too, it was not uncommon for municipal and party positions to be combined in this way.

The responsibilities of the Head Office included advising the party leadership on municipal policy issues, advising and monitoring municipalities, training and educating municipal staff, and active involvement in passing municipal legislation. In practical terms, this resulted in the party exerting influence on the municipalities, which included municipal staff being replaced. The Head Office was also responsible for the German Association of Municipalities: Fiehler was also head of this umbrella body, which all municipalities were required to be members of. Despite the fact that he held both these positions, relations between the Head Office and the Association were not always free of tension. Both the Association and the municipalities themselves were independently and actively involved in perpetrating Nazi injustices such as the marginalization of Jews.