Hans Kammler, the Reichsführer-SS of NeuSchwabenland

SS-Obergruppenführer Hans Kammler is an important, yet largely unknown figure, within the history of the post-war Riech. Hans Kammler was born in Stettin, German Empire (now Szczecin, Poland), on the 26^th of August 1901. Not much is known of Hans Kamlmler but his father, Franz Kammler, was a First Lieutenant in the German Imperial Army and would rise to the rank of Colonel of Infantry. From 1908 to 1918, Hans Kammler would attend school and humanistic gymnasiums in Bromberg, Ulm, and Danzig, where he passed his final exams in 1919.

Hans Kammler was strongly nationalistic and conservative in his orientation and, therefore, joined the 2nd Life Hussars Regiment "Queen Victoria of Prussia" No. 2 as a volunteer in early February 1919. Due to the impending demobilization of his unit however, he transferred to the Freikorps Roßbach in border security from late May to late July 1919. In October 1919, Kammler would then begin to study architecture with a focus on structural engineering at the Technical University of Danzig. He also studied for one semester at the Technical University of Munich. During his studies, Kammler was a member of the dueling student fraternity ATV Cimbria. On October 25, 1923, he completed his exams at the Technical University of Danzig, earning the academic degree of Diplom-Ingenieur (graduate engineer).

As part of his training, from 1924 onward, he worked as a government construction supervisor in Prussian state service, specializing in structural engineering. From February 1924 to February 1925, he oversaw the construction of the large Zehlendorf housing estate. Between 1925 and 1928, he designed and supervised functional buildings for authorities, such as garages, workshops, and others. He planned settlements and individual settlement houses, participated in competitions for general development plans, and carried out large-scale construction projects. On February 4, 1928, he passed the state examination and was appointed Government Building Officer. The young architect's strength lay not so much in design but in planning and organizing workflows for larger construction projects. After three years of unemployment until March 1931, Kammler became an adjunct scientific staff member at the Reich Research Society for Economic Efficiency in Construction and Housing.

On June 14, 1930, he married Jutta Horn. The couple had several children, including Jörg Kammler, who became a professor of political science in Kassel and published works on deserters during the Nazi era and Georg Lukács. From April 1, 1931, to September 1, 1933, Kammler was employed by the Foundation for the Advancement of Construction Research in Berlin under the Reich Ministry of Labor. On November 29, 1932, he received his doctorate in engineering sciences from the Technical University of Hanover.

Kammler's career would rise as he became involved in the National Socialist movement. From 1931 to 1933, he worked as an honorary officer in an engineering department within the Gauleitung of Greater Berlin for the NSDAP. Due to the insidiousness of the Weimar Republic, which represented everything the Kammler was against, his political views radicalized and culminated with him joining the NSDAP on March 1, 1932 (membership number 1,011,855). However, he would not just join the NSDAP party but on May 20, 1933, he would also join the SS (SS number 113,619). Kammler would then be given responsible for Aryan certifications within the SS and would lead the housing and settlement department of the Gauleitung of Greater Berlin from 1933 to 1936. Starting in 1933, Kammler headed the Reich Association of Allotment Gardeners and Small Settlers of Germany, which had over one million members, on behalf of his party. In 1937, he then would serve as a lecturer for the Berlin police.

On October 10, Kammler was appointed to the Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture (RMEL). As a consultant for rural settlements in Department VII, he also chaired the Reich Advisory Committee on Building Contracts, was a member of the Senate of the German Academy for Building Research, and served as a liaison officer for the RMEL to other Reich ministries in matters of building regulations. In August 1934, he was promoted to Government Councilor at the RMEL. On June 1, 1936, Kammler was transferred to the Reich Ministry of Aviation (RLM) as a consultant for construction matters. He was promoted to Government Building Councilor on November 1, 1936, and to Senior Government Building Councilor on June 1, 1937. In 1939, he became head of the High-Construction Division in the RLM.

On August 1, 1940, Kammler was assigned to the SS Main Office for Administration and Economy. On June 1, 1941, he transferred to the Waffen-SS and was appointed head of the SS Main Office for Budget and Construction. After the establishment of the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office (WVHA) in early February 1942, he led Department C (Construction) of the WVHA until the end of the war.

In this role, Kammler oversaw all concentration camp construction projects, however the Allies specifically accuse him of overseeing the construction of the gas chambers and crematoria. This accusation has earned him the title "Technocrat of Extermination" from the jewish system. He was also the general representative for Adolf Hitler's German construction program under Robert Ley's staff. From August 1943 onward, Kammler was responsible for expanding underground production facilities for jet engines, aircraft, motors, and the A4 rocket program. On September 1, 1943, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler appointed him "Special Commissioner of the Reichsführer-SS for the A4 (V2 rockets) Program" under SS-Obergruppenführer Oswald Pohl. Under Kammler's leadership, rocket production was moved underground to the tunnel systems of the Kohnstein. This is confirmed by Speer in his book, The SS Empire;

“On that day, an agreement was also reached on the construction of an underground experimental center to develop an "Amerika" rocket with ten times the propulsion power. Vast caves were to be dug into the mountain near Traunstein. Kammler sent a report to Himmler on the matter: "After identifying an absolutely secure, bomb-proof location for the tests and obtaining General Dornberger's approval, the Waffen-SS today received the Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht's order to proceed with the construction project. In accordance with the conference held with General Fromm on October 20, we will now complete the preliminary design by November 10. General Fromm and Minister Speer will then specify the necessary conditions for construction and agree on their fulfillment. Preliminary work began today. I kindly request you to inform the Reichsführer of all these developments”

This quote is specifically important as if Kammler indeed escaped to the 211 base and then to NeuSchawbenland, then they would have a man will all the technical knowledge to begin setting up for developing underground complexes. This is backed up by Reichsführer-SS Himmler himself, as he would say in a speech delivered in Sonthofen on June 21, 1944, before generals:

“The deportees are currently working on the construction of vast underground factories. Recently, with the help of this workforce, we have built at an astounding pace—in two months—ten underground halls representing a surface area of several tens of thousands of square meters.”

6 months later, sometime in January of 1945, Kammler would give Reichsführer-SS Himmler a report on the industrial space constructed by the SS in 1944, bomb-proof underground factories for the Armaments Staff. This report contained a graphic representation of the feat accompanied this which showed that as late as the first of January, 1945, the SS had constructed 425,000 m² of underground or reinforced concrete shelters as industrial facilities. A truly amazing feat of engineering and determined methods as Kammler had, in just only 6 months accomplished a feat with a scale that roughly matched Hitler’s requirements for 600,000 m² of surface area distributed across six vast bunkers. This was not all that was attached to this report, as a paragraph was as well which projected that by June 1, 1945, this surface area would be increased to 1.25 million square meters. Meaning that in just 6 months Kammler believed that he could not just double the size of the facilities, but triple it, this is two pentagons being built completely underground in 1 years time. The overall plan was even more ambitious as it aimed for 3 million square meters.

Albert Speer loathed Kammler, this is because internally within the SS it was a standard rumor that the SS leadership wanted to replace Speer with Kammler, this is backed up by Speer’s own words in the SS Empire;

“The SS had their "heir" in the Ministry of Economy, as the case of Ohlendorf clearly demonstrated. But Himmler also managed, over time, to place his men in other important ministries. It was already being said within the SS at the time that Kammler was being considered as a potential successor to me. Whenever a position became available or a mistake needed to be corrected, Himmler promoted the individuals of his choice. In this way, he gradually gained influence in the respective sector step by step.”

However, Speer would still priase Kammler for the construction of the Mittelwerk near Nordhausen as a "truly unique accomplishment." Under Kammler's supervision, inmates from the Gusen II concentration camp constructed B8 Bergkristall, one of the largest and most modern underground factories for Me-262 jet fighters, starting in 1944.

At the end of February 1944, the fighter aviation staff was created and Kammler was given a permanent membership to it. The representatives of various ministries and offices were gathered around the large conference table within Speer’s ministry, however this staff was under the presidency of Saur. This committee was tasked with finding solutions to repair the damage that was being cause by the Allied aerial bombings. The level of damage that was being inflicted caused the rise of a new organizational structure and a new form of authority as all members of the staff now had to obey and adhere to the instructions of the president, regardless of if their sector was or was not subordinate to the ministry. Competence disputes within the Reich were now officially over; the Reich authorities understood the necessity of such measures. They could still raise protests afterward, but Speer reports in his SS Empire book that this never happened. The SS Building Administration greatly benefited from this however, as Speer says in the SS Empire;

“Unlike the meager allocations of 1943, the SS Building Administration was thus able to increase its housing capacity. "According to an order given by Himmler, the employment of deportees for transfer work, explained the head of Group B of the Higher Office for SS Economic Administration, does not fall under Group D but under Kammler personally, and not in his capacity as head of Group C (Construction). He had a dedicated service for this and the official designation of 'special delegate of the Reichsführer.” Since the responsibility for underground transfers had also been entrusted to Kammler by Göring on March 4, 1944, he was able to exploit all the advantages of a 'dual harness' and rely on one or the other service as needed.”

By this point in time, Kammler had become extremely powerful, as Georg Rickhey, the former General Director of Mittelwerk puts it;

“Kammler possessed unusual full powers; he could have anyone arrested without going through the SD section, which was personally subordinated to him, if he believed they were interfering without authorization in the execution of measures he had ordered. Since Kammler used this power at any time and without scruples, even against SS leaders, it was absolutely impossible for other individuals or services to intervene in the employment (of deportees), which constituted the most significant aspect of Kammler’s technical tasks.”

In August 1944, Kammler was assigned responsibility for deploying the V2 rocket under SS command. This is also repeated by Speer in the SS Empire;

“Thus, I had tried to curb the SS leadership's ambitions to take control of the entire A4 production, but my attempt quickly failed. On July 20, 1944, Himmler succeeded Fromm as "Supreme Commander of the Reserve Army and Chief of Armaments." On August 6, 1944, he transferred to Kammler "the responsibility for carrying out all preparatory work for the deployment of the A4 (...)," even though this fell exclusively under my authority and that of Jüttner, Chief of Staff to the Supreme Commander of the Reserve Army and Chief of Armament Staff.”

The SS division "z.V." (for retaliation) was placed under his command, consisting of several launcher batteries and approximately 11,000 men by early 1945. Known rocket launch sites were located in the Netherlands, Belgium, and western Germany by late 1944. Speer would protest this move however, again referring to the SS Empire;

“Shortly thereafter, Kammler wrote to Saur to clarify Himmler’s authority, which had been expressed too vaguely. Five days later, I protested to Jüttner: "A letter from Dr. Kammler to Mr. Saur informs me that the Reichsführer, in his capacity as Supreme Commander of the German Army, has given him responsibility for the production and deployment of the A4 device. However, the only person responsible for the production of this device under my authority is the special A4 commission chaired by Director Degenkolb, who falls under the general responsibility of Mr. Saur. I ask that the Reichsführer's order to Mr. Kammler be modified accordingly after consulting me." But I achieved little.”

The hatred that Speer feels for the SS and Reichsführer-SS Himmler due to the fact that Reichsführer-SS Himmler had out maneuvered him, similar to how Rosenberg would feel as described in his Memoir. Speer hated being out maneuvered and then humilated by a clearly better man, to quote the SS Empire;

“On December 31, 1944, Himmler no longer deemed it necessary to even respect "the division between his areas of work and responsibility in the A4 program" and my department. My ministry did not receive this decree; it was only to be sent to us "as a postscript." This was a clear humiliation because, in the jargon of German administration, it meant that I was not involved in this matter.”

However, he would praise the man that the SS wanted to replace him with, pulling from the SS Empire;

“Kammler was a genuine university-trained engineer and demonstrated abilities where the SS bureaucracy of the concentration camps had failed. He achieved a sensational success: for the production of the A4 rockets, he transformed "a raw underground facility (in the Harz) into a fully functioning factory in record time, within just a few months." I even wrote to him, "This example is unparalleled in Europe, far from it, and even the Americans have not done better." This amounted to admitting that I admired American production methods. ~ His remarkable success prompted me to entrust Kammler, as I informed Himmler on December 22, 1943, with "the execution of special tasks in the construction sector." Despite this, I was cautious and set limits to the extensive powers I granted him.”

Even the snake himself, Speer, admits the skill that Kammler displays, how he was able to build amazing facilities that even surpassed the skill of the best Americans. Consider what such a man could construct in the amount of time that takes place between in disappearance and the Battle of the Antarctic, from May 1945 to December 31, 1946. Kammler would have a year and a half before the Americans would arrive and would have all the experience necessary to hold off the Americans assault on the base. He certainly would have earned the position of Reichsführer-SS by beating back the Americans and winning the final battle of the Second European Civil War.

Kammler would discuss a variety of architectural matters with Reichsführer-SS Himmler, for example, on may 8 1944, Reichsführer-SS Himmler brought up the idea of underwater facilities and Kammler responded with;

“The construction of manufacturing workshops underwater—as suggested by the Reichsführer—is entirely within the realm of possibility; however, it would require extensive preliminary work and highly significant construction installations, as well as highly specialized personnel. This would represent an enormous task, and given the urgency, it is currently out of the question to carry out this project. (...) However, it will be necessary to pursue a methodical and rational examination of this matter after the war, to draw practical conclusions and plan a large-scale program of underwater constructions enabling the establishment of manufacturing workshops.”

Given that many have seen UFO’s emerging from the water, this statement cannot be simply dismissed.

Sometime after May 1944, according to Speer himself in his the SS Empire, Speer would be completely stripped of all authority and Kammler’s power would expand further;

“Shortly thereafter, Kammler saw his powers extended as special delegate for underground constructions. I had been confirmed in my position, but stripped of my authority. Events unfolded before my eyes, as I had already experienced during my visit to Mittelwerk, though I was unwilling to fully admit it to myself.”

Rocket attacks on London, Paris, and later Antwerp and Brussels began in September 1944. With the Allied advance, launch sites in Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as those in western Germany, had to be abandoned.

Speer reports that Kammler was given even more power over the Luftwaffer, specifically their armament;

“On March 27, 1945, Hitler launched for the last time "a major initiative in the armament sector." On that day, he entrusted Kammler, who had by then become SS-Obergruppenführer, with the command of Luftwaffe armament. "He receives the most extensive powers from the Führer," noted Goebbels in his diary on March 28, 1945.”

Though Führer Hitler would receive criticism for not having brought Kammler in earlier, Führer Hitler clarified that he had never met Kammler before the preliminary stages of the V series of weaponry. At this point in time however, to Führer Hitler, Kammler was the only man capable of reviving activity in the Luftwaffe. Kammler would be carrying the entire responsibility for reforming the Luftwaffe on his shoulders. On April 3, 1945, Führer Hitler once again had "very long discussions with him. Kammler performed brilliantly, and great hopes were placed on him." By this time, Kammler had become Führer Hitler’s right hand man, becoming extremely prominent and taking a considerable deal of power.

Kammler’s end is unknown, his fate has been described by various people over the years yet no conclusive evidence of these claims has surfaced. Starting with Speer, who believed that Kammler was making a deal with the West, handing over advanced jet and rocket technology in exchange for his freedom. This would not be plausible however as if the statements concerning slave labor is true, the USA would not accept him and neither would the later state of Israel. If Kammler was taken in by the USA there would still be a high chance that he would be dragged off to Tel Aviv by Mossad just as Eichmann was. Kammler had become the driving force behind the SS construction organization, creating a true construction empire which would have been analogous to the SS industrial empire. The SS had assumed a great deal of power over the years and, given this, Führer Hitler certainly would have made Reichsführer-SS Himmler his successor. Propping he mainstream narrative of the Holocaust would mean that Mossad would not allow for Kammler to live in peace if he was taken in by the USA under Operation Paperclip.

Likewise, there is no evidence of the USSR capturing Kammler. It is generally believed that Kammler died of an alleged suicide yet a special report commissioned by the military governor of Hesse in 1949 on Kammler's political behavior during the Third Reich concluded that "the presumed and allegedly confirmed suicide" was "contradicted by precise accounts of his capture and escape in May 1945." Did he escaped due to the USA not offering him favorable conditions? Was he even captured? Given that nothing on him has appeared since his disappearance it is extremely doubtful that the USA took him into custody.

The answer is obvious to me, Kammler escaped the fall of the Reich with Führer Hitler and the Vril-Gesellschaft (along with many others) to the 211 base in the Antarctic continent. However, some details concerning other personnel are in need of being explained and recontextualized. Specifically Reichsführer-SS Himmler's and Goebbels actions. SS-Man Wilhelm Landig does give various statements on a secret circle existing within the SS, not only that but various officials, materials, military equipment (including U-boats) have never been found. Even if you disagree with my assertions that this secret group is the Vril-Gesellschaft, the point still stands that this group has never been found. Reichsführer-SS Himmler's daughter makes a statement concerning the death of her father, his suicide. She believes that he was not capable of doing this, that instead the Allies murdered him. However, I feel that she is wrong about this. Before I believed she was correct but given the information about the secret society within the SS, I believe he did commit honorable suicide. He took actions which sought to distract from this groups escape and to insure that they would never be found, he took that info to the grave. Ultimately, though this will not convince some, I believe he offered himself up as the sacrificial lamb. Reichsführer-SS Himmler sought to protect his family, the secret society within the SS, and in doing so put his own life on the line. A similar fate would befall Francis Parker Yockey, who also would commit honorable suicide so as to protect his contacts.

This brings me to Goebbels as if there was an escape plan why did he choose that way out and not to escape? This is harder to understand, but given the state of the Reich at that time, escaping to the Antarctic probably didn't sit well with Goebbels. The options must have been a heavy weight for him and Magda to bear. Psychologically, their choice is one that I could not make and stay the same person. Ultimately, the choice was theirs and theirs alone. If the bodies that the soviets destroyed were in fact the Goebbels family, then it is a tragedy that they felt that was truly their only option.

What Hans Kammler would have done once he reached NeuSchwabenland is strictly speculative but given that he was extremely skilled and if they had enough manpower to form a dedicated workforce, Kammler could achieve a lot in just one and a half years time. If the Dönitz quote is true, that a fortress had already been built in the Antarctic, then there would be quality facilities and equipment untouched by war waiting for Kammler to put to work. If Kammler was able to work at the same pace as in 1944, then he would have constructed the combined area of two pentagons underground, around 1.25 million square meters and this is not taking into account whatever square meter the facilities of the Kriegsmarine already constructed.

Operation Highjump began in December 1946 and would end with the Naval ships and personnel being withdrawn back to the United States in late February 1947. The official reason give for the expedition being terminated due to the early approach of winter and worsening weather conditions. Task Force 68 of the United States Navy was sent to establish the Antarctic research base Little America IV, however this would end in a failure. Admiral Richard Byrd would give an interview which appeared in the Wednesday, March 5, 1947, edition of the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio, and read in part:

“Admiral Richard E. Byrd warned today that the United States should adopt measures of protection against the possibility of an invasion of the country by hostile planes coming from the polar regions. The admiral explained that he was not trying to scare anyone, but the cruel reality is that in case of a new war, the United States could be attacked by planes flying over one or both poles. This statement was made as part of a recapitulation of his own polar experience, in an exclusive interview with International News Service. Talking about the recently completed expedition, Byrd said that the most important result of his observations and discoveries is the potential effect that they have in relation to the security of the United States. The fantastic speed with which the world is shrinking – recalled the admiral – is one of the most important lessons learned during his recent Antarctic exploration. I have to warn my compatriots that the time has ended when we were able to take refuge in our isolation and rely on the certainty that the distances, the oceans, and the poles were a guarantee of safety.”

NeuSchwabenland survived Operation Highjump, however if it survived the continued Operation Deepfreeze of the United States is another question, as then personnel of NeuSchwabenland either went deeper into the Earth’s crust or left the planet completely in the Haunebu.