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Konrad Meyer or Konrad Meyer-Hetling (15 May 1901 25 April 1973) was a
German agronomist. He is known for his involvement in the development of the
infamous Generalplan Ost.
Rudolf He, Heinrich Himmler, Philipp Bouhler, Fritz Todt and Reinhard Heydrich (from left),
listening to Meyer at a Generalplan Ost exhibition, 20 March 1941
Meyer was born in Salzderhelden near Einbeck, in southern Lower Saxony, as the
son of a school teacher.[1] He studied agronomy at the University of Gttingen and
received his doctorate in 1926 with a thesis on crop production. [1] He became an
assistant at the university and did his habilitation in 1930.[1] From 1930 to 1933
Meyer worked as a docent at the University of Gttingen, and in 1934 became a full
professor at the University of Jena.[1] Within the same year, he became a professor
at the University of Berlin.[1] In November 1934 he became a consultant for the
Reich Ministry of Science and Education on the reformation of German agricultural
education and research.[1] Meyer was one of the key agricultural scientist and spatial
planners of the Nazi era, and served as the chief editor of the main journals of the
field.[2]
Meyer joined the NSDAP on 1 February 1932 (member number 908.471), [1] and the
SS in 20 June 1933 (member number 74.695). [2] In 1935, he was recruited to the
Race and Settlement Main Office of the SS (RuSHA).[2] In 1939, he became the
head of the Planning Office under Himmler's office of Reich Commissioner for
Strengthening of German Nationhood (RKF), and also worked in Himmler's personal
staff.[2] In early 1940, the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) produced in
collaboration with Konrad Meyer the initial version of the General Plan East, a plan
for the Germanization of Eastern Europe.[1] Meyer's subordinates in RKF creating
the memorandum included, among others, geographer Walter Christallerand
landscape architect Heinrich Wiepking-Jrgensmann. From 1944 until the end of the
war, Meyer fought as an officer in the Waffen-SS.[2]
After the war, Meyer was charged by the U.S. authorities in the RuSHA Trial. He was
found guilty of being a member of a criminal organization (SS), but was found not
guilty of war crimes or crimes against humanity.[1] He was released in 1948, and in
1956 was appointed professor of agriculture and regional planning at the University
of Hanover, where he worked until his retirement in 1964.[1]
References:
[1] The Nuremberg Medical Trial 1946/47 - Guide to the Microfiche Edition: With an
Introduction to the Trial's History by Angelika Ebbinghaus and Short Biographies of
the Participants, 2001, Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 3110950073, p. 119.
[2] Jump up to: DFG (German Research Foundation) - Konrad Meyer,
Umsiedlungsplaner der SS at the Wayback Machine(archived August 20, 2007).