This microfilm collection contains copies of the several versions of Richard Korherr’s infamous report on the numbers of Jews deported to camps in Poland, c1943, along with material generated by Korherr after the war concerning his role as statistician of the Reichsführer SS, in particular correspondence between him and Gerald Reitlinger, regarding the latter’s portrayal of Korherr’s role in his book The Final Solution; also affidavits and other material supporting Korherr’s claim that he was not a nazi. The latter includes an affidavit from Oswald Spengler’s niece, whose uncle was a friend of Korherr- the earliest material in the collection consists of letters from Spengler to Korherr, c1926.

With regard to provenance, a letter dated July 1956 from Korherr to Paul Franken of the Bundeszentrale für Heimatdienst states that copies of the material will be deposited at the Wiener Library and the Institut für Zeitgeschichte. There follow some biographical notes.

Richard Korherr born in Regensburg, 1903, graduated from his academic studies with honours and went on to publish statistical works, which earned him high praise. In 1928 he joined the Reich Bureau of Statistics. The Bavarian prime minister appointed him chairman of the board of Reich und Heimat, a government-sponsored society. Korherr’s book Geburtenrückgang was well received; Benito Mussolini personally translated the Italian version. The 1936 edition had a foreward by Himmler. From 1935 to 1940 he was director of the Würzburg municipal bureau of statistics and also lectured at the local university. From 1934 he worked concurrently as head of the section of statistics and demographic policy in the headquarters of Rudolf Hess, then deputy Führer. In 1937 and 1938 Korherr published Untergang der alten Kulturvölker and in 1938 an atlas under the title Volk und Raum. In May 1937 Korherr joined the Nazi party but he did not become a member of the SA or SS.

On 9 December 1940 He was appointed chief inspector of the statistical bureau of the Reichsführer SS und Chef der Deutschen Polizei and of the Reichskommisariat für die Festigung des Deutschen Volkstums, both posts under Himmler. In December he began processing data for the ‘Final Solution’, a task in which he was assisted by Dr. Erich Simon, a Jew, who was the statistician of the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland.

He became known for the ‘Korherr Bericht’, a detailed statistical report on the deportation of Jews which was updated every 3 months in 1943 and 1944. At his trial in Jerusalem Eichmann stated that the Korherr report had served him in the planning stages of the extermination. Gerald Reitlinger, in his book The Final Solution, describes the report as “a source of inestimable value… [as it] tallies with so many counter-checks that its honesty may be assumed where counter checks are lacking…”

After the war Korherr spent some time in the allies’ custody but was one of the earliest to be released, and emerged unscathed later from the de-nazification process. He was no doubt helped by the fact that he rescued Erich Simon, the Jewish statistician of the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland. An affidavit and correspondence, also in this collection, by the latter supports this. However, Korherr lost his job at the West German finance ministry after publication of the 1962 edition of Reitlinger’s book. In The Holocaust and the Neo-Nazi Mythomania, published by the Serge Klarsfeld Foundation, 1978, there is a current photograph of Korherr.

Arrangement

MF Doc 54/ Reel 8 contains 3 versions of Korherr’s report on the Final Solution, each circa 19 frames.

MF Doc 54/ Reel 9 contains another draft of Korherr’s report, circa 19 frames, also shorter drafts, circa 14 frames. The remaining material (circa 190 frames) was filmed in no particular order. All material is in German.