Hans Hinkel

Who was Hans Hinkel?

Hans Hinkel was a German journalist and ministerial official in Nazi Germany. He studied at the University of Bonn, where he was a member of the academic fencing fraternity Sugambria.

Hinkel, who joined the NSDAP in 1921, and had served in the Freikorps, was from 1930 to 1932 the editor of the Völkischer Beobachter in Berlin. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, he became Reich Organization Leader of the Militant League for German Culture and manager of the Reich Culture Chamber.

From 1935, Hinkel was responsible as a special commissioner for "cultural particulars" at the Reich Ministry for the People's Enlightenment and Propaganda. In this function, Hinkel, an SS officer and member of the Blood Order, was responsible for Anti-Semitic issues and particularly for the removal of Jews from cultural undertakings. Hans Hinkel was, for instance, the driving force behind the pressure brought to bear on the popular actor Joachim Gottschalk to get him to separate from his Jewish wife. In late 1942, Hans Hinkel took over the leadership of the film department at the Reich Ministry for the People's Enlightenment and Propaganda.