Wilhelm Gustloff

Wilhelm Gustloff (30 January 1895 – 4 February 1936) was a German politician and meteorologist who founded the Swiss branch of the Nazi Party/Foreign Organization (NSDAP/AO) at Davos in 1932. The NSDAP/AO was formed as the wing of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) for German citizens living outside Germany. Gustloff continued to lead the Swiss branch of the NSDAP/AO until 1936, when he was assassinated by David Frankfurter, a Croatian Jew who was outraged by the growth of the Nazi Party. After killing Gustloff, Frankfurter immediately surrendered to the authorities and confessed to the Swiss police that "I fired the shots because I am a Jew."

Life and assassination

Gustloff was a son of merchant Herrmann Gustloff and his wife. After his education, he worked for the Swiss government as a meteorologist, and joined the NSDAP in 1927. He assisted in the distribution of the antisemitic propaganda book The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (1903). Members of the Swiss Jewish community sued the book's distributor, the Swiss NSDAP/AO, for libel.

Gustloff was shot and killed in Davos in 1936 by David Frankfurter, a Yugoslav Jewish student (from what is now Croatia), who was incensed by the growth of the NSDAP and resolved to assassinate Gustloff.

Frankfurter found Gustloff's address, which was listed in the phone book. On 4 February, he went to the Gustloff home; Gustloff's wife Hedwig received him and showed him into the study, asking him to wait since her husband was on the telephone.

When Gustloff, who was in the adjoining room, entered his office where Frankfurter was sitting opposite a picture of Adolf Hitler, the young man pulled out his revolver and shot Gustloff five times: in the head, neck and chest. He left the premises and prepared to commit suicide. However, he was unable to follow through.