he was named Landeshauptmann for the state of Lower Austria, thus uniting under his control the highest party and governmental offices in his jurisdiction. In March 1939 he became the head of the party liaison office for the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. On 15 March 1940 he was appointed as Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor) of Lower Austria, effective 1 April. On 16 November 1942, he became the Reich Defense Commissioner for his Gau. On 15 June 1943, Heinrich Himmler named him the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationality in his Gau. He was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer on 21 June 1943. Hugo Jury was an ardent advocate of Nazi racial policies. He supported the persecution of Jews, Sinti and Roma, as well as the mentally or physically incapacitated. Jury particularly was interested in “Germanizing” his home region of Moravia, some administrative districts of which were administered as part of Reichsgau Niederdonau. On 23 March 1945, Jury attended a conference with Heinrich Himmler, other Austrian Nazi leaders and the commandant of the Mauthausen concentration camp. Himmler ordered the evacuation of all camp inmates in Austria, decreeing that none should fall into Allied hands. On 15 April, Jury ordered the execution of 44 prisoners at the Stein prison in Krems. Towards the end of the war, when Vienna was in peril of falling to the Red Army, Jury fled westward and arrived in Krems. Jury, a fanatical Nazi, continued to call for armed resistance, personally commanding a Volkssturm force against Soviet forces. After the final collapse of Nazi Germany, on the night of 8 May 1945, Hugo Jury committed suicide by shooting himself in the town of Zwettl. He was reputed to have been one of the lovers of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. Awards and decorations War Merit Cross 2nd Class without Swords Notes References Karl Höffkes: Hitlers Politische Generale. Die Gauleiter des Dritten Reiches: ein biographisches Nachschlagewerk. Grabert-Verlag, Tübingen, 1986, . 1887 births 1945 deaths People from Svitavy District Moravian-German people Austrian politicians Gauleiters Nazi Party officials Nazis who committed suicide in Austria Suicides by firearm in Austria Austrian people of Moravian-German descent Members of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany 1945 suicides Volkssturm personnel Austrian mass murderers