IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 1556 WL 526
Held at: Wiener Library
Title: Korherr, Richard (1903-): statistical report on 'the final solution to the Jewish question' and other papers (microfilm)
Date(s): 1926-1962
Level of description: Collection level
Extent: 270 frames
Name of creator(s): Korherr | Richard | b 1903 | statistician
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Richard Korherr was born in Regensburg, 1903, graduated from his academic studies with honours and went on to publish statistical works, which earned him high praise; joined the National Bureau of Statistics, 1928. The Bavarian prime minister appointed him chairman of the board of Reich und Heimat, a government-sponsored society. Korherr's book Geburtenrückgang (Decline in Birth Rate) was well received; Benito Mussolini personally translated the Italian version. The 1936 edition had a foreward by Himmler. Director of the Würzburg municipal bureau of statistics, 1935-1940, and also lectured at the local university. From 1934 he worked concurrently as head of the section of statistics and demographic policy in the headquarters of Rudolf Hess, then deputy Führer. In 1937 and 1938 Korherr published Untergang der alten Kulturvölker (The Demise of the Old Civilized Peoples) and in 1938 an atlas under the title Volk und Raum (People and Space). In May 1937 Korherr joined the Nazi party but he did not become a member of the SA or SS. On 9 December 1940 He was appointed chief inspector of the statistical bureau of the Reichsführer SS und Chef der Deutschen Polizei (SS Head and Chief of Police) and of the Reichskommisariat für die Festigung des Deutschen Volkstums (National Commission for the Strengthening of German Folklore), both posts under Himmler. In December he began processing data for the 'Final Solution', a task in which he was assisted by Dr. Erich Simon, a Jew, who was the statistician of the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland.
He became known for the 'Korherr Bericht', a detailed statistical report on the deportation of Jews which was updated every 3 months in 1943 and 1944. At his trial in Jerusalem, Eichmann stated that the Korherr report had served him in the planning stages of the extermination. Gerald Reitlinger, in his book The Final Solution, describes the report as 'a source of inestimable value... [as it] tallies with so many counter-checks that its honesty may be assumed where counter checks are lacking...'.
After the war Korherr spent some time in the allies' custody but was one of the earliest to be released, and later emerged unscathed from the de-nazification process. He was no doubt helped by the fact that he rescued Erich Simon, the Jewish statistician of the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland. An affidavit and correspondence, also in this collection, by the latter supports this. However, Korherr lost his job at the West German finance ministry after publication of the 1962 edition of Reitlinger's book.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Copies of the several versions of Richard Korherr's report on the numbers of Jews deported to camps in Poland, c1943, along with material generated by Korherr after the war concerning his role as statistician of the Reichsführer SS, in particular correspondence between him and Gerald Reitlinger, regarding the latter's portrayal of Korherr's role in his book The Final Solution; also affidavits and other material supporting Korherr's claim that he was not a Nazi. The latter includes a statement from Oswald Spengler's niece, whose uncle was a friend of Korherr - the earliest material in the collection consists of letters from Spengler to Korherr, c 1926.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: German
System of arrangement:
Material is arranged into two groups: various versions of the Korherr reports; correspondence
Conditions governing access:
Open
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.
Physical characteristics:
Microfilm
Finding aids:
Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Richard Korherr
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Wiener Collection, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Munich, Germany
Related material:
Publication note:
Reitlinger, Gerald and Brügel, Johann Wolfgang, Hitlers Versuch der Ausrottung der Juden Europas, 1939-1945, (Colloquium, Berlin, 1957)
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, Israel Gutman, editor, (Macmillan, New York, 1990). Entry compiled by Howard Falksohn.
Date(s) of descriptions: October 2007