Helmut Roland Heinrich Pfeiffer (November 2, 1907 – April 17, 1945) was a German lawyer and SS officer who rescued people hunted by the Nazi regime.
Professional career
Pfeiffer was born in Eiringhausen, near Plettenberg in Westphalia (Germany) the only child of commercial manager Heinrich Pfeiffer and his wife Selma, née Breddermann. After passing his exams at Grammar school in Altena, he studied Law at Cologne University. He obtained a Master's degree (Referendarexamen) in 1931 and in 1935 he successfully completed his bar examinations (Assessorexamen).
From 1932 he was CEO of NSDAP Gaurechtsamt South-Westphalia and additionally in 1933 legal adviser to the Reich Labour Service District (Gau) 20B. From 1934 he was Organisationswalter of NS-Rechtswahrerbund and afterwards was promoted to Hauptstellenleiter at National HQ of NSDAP im Reichsrechtsamt. From 1934 he worked as an unpaid adviser to the Organisation of Industrial Commerce, and became chairman of an arbitration body for metal industries.
From November 1, 1939, Pfeiffer was head of the Department of Economy (Hauptabteilung Wirtschaft) of the Berlin Bureau of the Occupied Polish Territories, whose head, Reichsamtsleiter Dr. Wilhelm Heuber, had plenipotentiary power for the Governor General of the Occupied Polish Territories.
After the foundation of the International Chamber of Law in 1941 he was appointed its first general secretary. This organisation was founded by Hans Frank. Temporarily based in the building of the Nationalsozialistischer Rechtswahrerbund (20/21 Tiergartenstrasse, Berlin) it moved to permanent quarters at 27 Unter den Linden. From November 1941, Pfeiffer was SS-leader with the staff of SS-Hauptamt and from November 1942, an SS-leader with the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). In winter 1944 he was an SS-Hauptsturmführer (captain) with RSHA Amt VI-III-Kult.
Alongside his career in the Nazi Party, he had a private legal practice, which provided him with the cover for his rescue activities.
Political career
In 1927 as a student at Cologne University, Pfeiffer came into contact with National Socialism. From 1929 to 1931 he spent his university holidays as a legal counsellor to the local NSDAP-Ortsgruppenleiter. He joined the party on 1 February 1932 (Membership no. 894.201). He was probably a member of the Storm Detachment (Sturmabteilung - SA) between 1933 and 1934.
In November 9, 1938, thanks to a recommendation by Senior Group Leader (SS-Obergruppenführer) Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger, Pfeiffer joined the Protection Squadron (SS) (membership no 310.479) with the rank of a SS-Hauptsturmführer (Captain).
Pfeiffer was a student of the constitutional legal scientist Carl Schmitt and later on worked closely and socialised with him. Pfeiffer also worked for and got to know well the future Reichsminister Hans Frank (from 1941, the Governor-General of the General Government for the Occupied Polish Territories): first at the Rechtswahrerbund, then within the General Government and finally at the International Chamber of Law.
Early in summer of 1943 Pfeiffer was involved in communicating to the Nazi Government a separate treaty proposal by Joseph Stalin as can be read in the memoirs of Henry Picker: "When I was ordered by Bormann to see him in his residency at Obersalzberg to discuss my planned publication of "Hitler's Table Talks", I overcame my fear and informed him about a separate treaty proposal by Stalin which had been sent by Stalin to Stockholm. I did so at a request of a Berlin friend, the General Secretary of the International Rechtskammer, Dr. Helmut Pfeiffer."
Rescue operations
In the autumn of 1942, the Berlin Jewish pharmacist Dr. Ernst Silten was told "that [Pfeiffer] would be able to prevent my deportation, if it was claimed that I was working on projects of economic importance." His long-time business-partner, Lubeckian industrialist Dr. Heinrich Dräger, hired Helmut Pfeiffer to organise this, but before it could be arranged Dr. Ernst Silten committed suicide in March 1943 when the Gestapo came to arrest him.
In 1938, Ernst Silten's son Dr. Fritz Silten had already emigrated from Germany, together with his wife Ilse, their daughter Gabriele and his mother, and had settled in Amsterdam. After the occupation of the Netherlands by the German Wehrmacht, their planned emigration to Argentina was refused. In June 1943 the family was deported to the Westerbork transit camp, and in January 1944, to the Theresienstadt ghetto. Using his contacts, Pfeiffer sought to prevent or delay their deportation. Thanks to this and Dr. Dräger's efforts, Fritz, Ilse and Gabriele Silten eventually survived the Nazi regime.