Martin Mutschmann was the Nazi Regional Leader of the state of Saxony during the time of the Third Reich.
Biography
Born in Hirschberg on the Saale in the Principality of Reuss-Gera, Germany, Mutschmann moved while he was young with his family to Plauen in Saxony. He served an apprenticeship as an embroiderer and from 1896 to 1901 was employed as a master embroiderer, department head and warehouse director in lace and linen factories in Plauen, Herford and Köln. That was followed by military service from 1901-1903, after which he returned to employment in the Plauen Lace Factory. He established his own lace factory, Mutschmann & Eisentraut, in Plauen in October 1907. During World War I, he served on the Western Front until he was severely wounded in April 1916. He was discharged from the Army as unfit for field service on 24 December 1916, and resumed the direction of his factory in Plauen. After the war, he was an early participant in the nationalist and anti-Semitic Deutschvölkischer Schutz und Trutzbund. He was a founding member of the local branch of the National Socialist German Workers Party in Plauen and made personal donations of capital to the Nazi Party. Mutschmann lost his lace business in the Great Depression, but he continued to solicit donations from other businesses. His fundraising skills found favour with the Nazi Party, and Mutschmann was nominated Gauleiter of Saxony in 1925, maintaining that position until the end of World War II. Generally his political activity concentrated on Saxony rather than on Germany as a whole. Mutschmann was passionately interested in the preservation of Saxon arts and crafts. On 30 January 1933, after the Nazis came to power, Mutschmann was appointed Nazi Governor of Saxony. A passionate hunter, he was the Gau-jägermeister of Saxony. He was often accused of being more interested in his hobby than the welfare of Saxony. The bombing of Dresden reinforced those accusations. Mutschmann has been blamed for not preparing the city for the horrific bombing, which occurred from 13 February to 15 February 1945. On 1 May 1945, Mutschmann was in Dresden. As the Gauleiter of Saxony, he insisted that the city go into public mourning after the suicide of German dictator Adolf Hitler on 30 April 1945. On 5 May, Mutschmann let it be known that a large-scale German offensive on the Eastern Front was about to be launched. Two days later, on 7 May, he was captured by Soviet troops while trying to escape. Mutschmann was sentenced to death in Moscow and shot on 14 February 1947.
