Karl Strölin

Supported by Wilhelm Murr, Gauleiter of Württemberg, Strölin removed not only mayor Lautenschlager, but also all the SPD deputies from the city council.

This organisation, originally designed in 1917 for the care and documentation of ethnic Germans abroad, became deeply involved in Nazi Volkstum racial policies.

As the war turned against Germany, Strölin had contact with Leipzig Mayor Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, who was involved in the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler.

In April 1945, as French and American troops were advancing on Stuttgart, Gauleiter Wilhelm Murr called for the city to be defended at all costs.

The city centre had already been heavily damaged by Allied bombing raids, and ground combat would not only destroy the remaining intact buildings and utilities but also kill thousands more inhabitants.

Through his personal intervention, he prevented demolition of the bridge over the River Neckar, over which the main water supply lines ran into Stuttgart.

[3] The next day Strölin surrendered the city to a French General and suggested the non-Nazi affiliated and unencumbered lawyer Arnulf Klett as the new mayor.

[citation needed] Strölin was also the author of a lengthy and tightly reasoned pamphlet entitled Verräter oder Patrioten in which he submitted that, although they had pledged allegiance to Hitler, those involved in the 20 July plot were not traitors but patriots.