Kondar Meyer (1901-1973)Konrad Meyer or Konrad Meyer-Hetling (15 May 1901 – 25 April 1973) was a German agronomist. He is known for his involvement in the development of the infamous Generalplan Ost.

Konrad Meyer-Hetling in Allied custody

Rudolf Heß, Heinrich Himmler, Philipp Bouhler, Fritz Todt and Reinhard Heydrich (from left), listening to Meyer at a Generalplan Ost exhibition, 20 March 1941

Meyer was born in Salzderhelden near Einbeck, in southern Lower Saxony, as the son of a school teacher.[1] He studied agronomy at the University of Göttingen and received his doctorate in 1926 with a thesis on crop production. [1] He became an

assistant at the university and did his habilitation in 1930.[1] From 1930 to 1933 Meyer worked as a docent at the University of Göttingen, and in 1934 became a full professor at the University of Jena.[1] Within the same year, he became a professor at the University of Berlin.[1] In November 1934 he became a consultant for the Reich Ministry of Science and Education on the reformation of German agricultural education and research.[1] Meyer was one of the key agricultural scientist and spatial planners of the Nazi era, and served as the chief editor of the main journals of the field.[2]

Meyer joined the NSDAP on 1 February 1932 (member number 908.471),[1] and the SS in 20 June 1933 (member number 74.695).[2] In 1935, he was recruited to the Race and Settlement Main Office of the SS (RuSHA).[2] In 1939, he became the head of the Planning Office under Himmler's office of Reich Commissioner for Strengthening of German Nationhood (RKF), and also worked in Himmler's personal staff.[2] In early 1940, the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) produced in collaboration with Konrad Meyer the initial version of the General Plan East, a plan for the Germanization of Eastern Europe.[1] Meyer's subordinates in RKF creating the memorandum included, among others, geographer Walter Christallerand landscape architect Heinrich Wiepking-Jürgensmann. From 1944 until the end of the war, Meyer fought as an officer in the Waffen-SS.[2]

After the war, Meyer was charged by the U.S. authorities in the RuSHA Trial. He was found guilty of being a member of a criminal organization (SS), but was found not guilty of war crimes or crimes against humanity.[1] He was released in 1948, and in 1956 was appointed professor of agriculture and regional planning at the University of Hanover, where he worked until his retirement in 1964.[1]

References:

[1] The Nuremberg Medical Trial 1946/47 - Guide to the Microfiche Edition: With an Introduction to the Trial's History by Angelika Ebbinghaus and Short Biographies of the Participants, 2001, Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 3110950073, p. 119.

[2] Jump up to: DFG (German Research Foundation) - Konrad Meyer, Umsiedlungsplaner der SS at the Wayback Machine(archived August 20, 2007).