Walter Lohmann

Walter Lohmann (born 30 December 1878 in Bremen; died 29 April 1930 in Rome) was a German captain at sea of the Reichsmarine.[1] Lohmann ran a secret rearmament and research program run by on behalf of the Weimar Ministry of Defense in an attempt to circumvent the Versailles restrictions: when discovered 1927, became a major scandal in Germany that led to the resignation of Reichswehr Minister Otto Gessler in January 1928.[2]

Life

Lohmann was the youngest son of Johann Georg Lohmann (1830–1892), who was a director of the German shipping company Norddeutscher Lloyd, and the English women Clarissa, née Frost (1838–1920).[3] His older brother was Alfred Lohmann (born 1870), who was president of the Bremen Chamber of Commerce.

Career

After attending school, Lohmann joined the Imperial Navy as a naval cadet on 7 April 1897. After his officer training he was deployed to the Far East: first in 1903 to the gunboat SMS Tiger, and then from 1910 as company commander in the German colony of Tsingtau. With the outbreak of World War I, he was appointed to the rank of Korvettenkapitän I artillery officer aboard the grand liner Prinzregent Luitpold where he worked as a non-combat logistics officer.[4] In March 1918, he was transferred to the Imperial Naval Office (Reichsmarineamt), where he worked in the Sea Transport Department from December 1918.[5]

As a representative of the Sea Transport Department in the General Naval Office, Lohmann took part in the maritime armistice negotiations in 1919 in England.[6] He was still in England when the Kapp Putsch occurred on 13 March 1920, so his career was not compromised. When he returned he was appointed head of the Sea Transport Department (BS) on 28 October 1920. He was also on very good terms with Chief of Naval Headquarters, Admiral Paul Behncke and this further consolidated his position, receiving significant promotion of himself and the field of work.[6]

Lohmann's position involved executing procedures for the repatriation of German warships and the repatriation of German prisoners of war. His access to naval offices in Königsberg, Lübeck, Stettin, Hamburg, and Bremen gave him access to very specialized information and financial resources. He used this knowledge in his work in a way that was far beyond his authority and technical competence. Favoured by the interests of Behncke, it led to uncontrolled scope for legal violations, criminal activity and high-handed action by individuals developed within the Maritime Transport Department, over the next three years.

Death

During a business trip to Italy, Lohmann died of a heart attack in Rome on 29 April 1930, at the age of 52.[7]

Archives
  • "Newspaper articles about Walter Lohmann". Hamburg World Economic Archive (in German). Hamburg: Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft (ZBW). Retrieved 18 September 2023.

Citations

References
  1. "Otto Geßler 1875-1955" (in German). Deutsches Historisches Museum. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  2. Bird, Keith W. (1977). Weimar, the German Naval Officer Corps and the Rise of National Socialism. Amsterdam: Grüner. p. 180. ISBN 978-90-6032-094-5.
  3. Remmele 1997.
  4. Centre for the study of intelligence 1993, p. 1.
  5. Stoelzel, Albert (1930). Ehrenrangliste der Kaiserlich Deutschen Marine, 1914-1918 (in German). Berlin: Marine Offizier Verband. p. 166.
  6. Remmele 1997, p. 316.
  7. "Kapitän Lohmann gestorben : Der Stinnes des Reichswehrministeriums" (in German). Berlin: Social Democratic Party of Germany. Vorwärts. 2 May 1930. Retrieved 20 October 2023.

Bibliography

Further reading
  • Budraß, Lutz (1998). Flugzeugindustrie und Luftrüstung in Deutschland 1918 - 1945 [Aircraft Industry and Air Armament in Germany 1918 - 194]. Schriften des Bundesarchivs (in German). Vol. 50. Düsseldorf: Droste. ISBN 9783770016044.
  • Remmele, Bernd (1997). Die Lohmann Affäre. Geheime Rüstungsmaßnahmen der Reichsmarine in den Zwanziger Jahren [The Lohmann Affair. Secret Armament Measures of the Reichsmarine in the Twenties] (MA thesis) (in German). Freiburg: University of Freiburg.
  • Stöckel, Kurt (1954). Die Entwicklung der Reichsmarine nach dem ersten Weltkriege <1919-1935> Äußerer Aufbau u. innere Struktur [The Development of the Reichsmarine after the First World War (1919-1935) - External Structure and Internal Structure] (Phd thesis) (in German). Gottigen: University of Göttingen.
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