Ludwig Steeg

Steeg was born in Ottweiler near Saarbrücken, the son of a teacher. As a young man he moved to Berlin and gained a junior post in the city administration. In World War I he served in the infantry, attaining the rank of Oberleutnant of reserves and earning the Iron Cross, 1st and 2nd class. Returning to Berlin in 1919, he rejoined the administration and was, among other things, responsible for the city sanitation services and transport. He joined the Nazi Party in 1933 (membership number 1,485,884) and thus gained rapid promotion as the majority of Berlin's civil servants who were loyal to the Social Democrats were removed from office. He became deputy to Julius Lippert, the Staatskommissar (State Commissioner) of Berlin from 1933, and who became Oberbürgermeister and Stadtpräsident in January 1937.

The real power in Berlin under the Nazis was, however, the Party Gauleiter (Regional Leader), Joseph Goebbels, and in July 1940 he persuaded Adolf Hitler to dismiss Lippert, who he believed had become a rival to his authority. Steeg, a loyal nonentity, was appointed in his place, "for lack of anyone better," as Goebbels put it. Steeg was appointed acting Oberbürgermeister and Stadtpräsident. A member of the SS (SS number 127,531), he attained the rank of SS-Brigadeführer on 30 January 1943.

Steeg was responsible, under Goebbels, for the city's budget, traffic, building regulations, schools, youth facilities and health services. All these came under increasing strain as World War II went on, partly because of the inexperience of the Nazi loyalists who had been placed in responsible jobs following the removal of experienced but politically unreliable officials, and partly because of the increasing shortage of staff as a result of wartime conscription.

Steeg was also responsible for preparing Berlin for the air-raids which were widely expected. He prepared plans for the production and distribution of food, the construction of shelters and the evacuation of women and children. At the time of the first severe raid on 23–24 August 1943, Goebbels blamed Steeg for the poor performance of municipal authorities and threatened to dismiss him if matters failed to improve.^[1] The raids began to occur with increasingly frequency and severity. About a million people were evacuated; even so, between 1943 and 1945 approximately 50,000 Berliners were killed in air-raids. Steeg performed his tasks competently but did not exercise a public leadership role, which was undertaken by Goebbels.