with a memorial plaque, 2008 portrait, 1932 Born in
Enkhausen,
Westphalia, Lübke had a very humble upbringing. He was the son of a shoemaker and farmer from the
Sauerland, and was a surveyor by training. He volunteered for service in
World War I in August 1914. He completed his basic training first with the Westphalian Foot Artillery Regiment No.7, with which he was then deployed on the
Eastern and
Western Fronts. In 1916, he was promoted to
Vizefeldwebel. After a gas attack, he was taken to a field hospital. In 1917, he was promoted to
lieutenant and became deputy battery chief in the
52nd Reserve Division. He then became an orderly officer and was involved in the
Battle of Passchendaele. Before the end of the war, he was transferred to the GHQ of the
Supreme Army Command. During the war, he received the
Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class. He was discharged from military service in December 1918. Lübke resumed his studies and received an examination as a surveying and cultural engineer in 1921. During his studies in Bonn, he joined the student association K.D.St.V. Ascania Bonn in the
Cartellverband. From 1921 to 1924, he studied economics in
Münster and
Berlin. From 1921 to 1922, he was employed by the Westphalia tenants and settlers association in Münster. From October 1922, he was managing director of the Reich Association of Small Agricultural Enterprises (from 1925 also medium-sized enterprises). After 1924, he was also a member of the executive committee of the
Deutscher Bund für Bodenreform. In 1926, he became managing director of the
Deutsche Bauernschaft. From 1927, he was also the managing director of the Bauernland AG settlement company. In 1929, Lübke married
Wilhelmine Keuthen (1885–1981) in Berlin-Wilmersdorf. In 1930, he became a member of the
Roman Catholic Centre Party (Zentrumspartei) and in April 1932 was elected as a member of the
Prussian Parliament. From 1932 to 1933, Lübke was a member of the Prussian state parliament for the German Center Party. He was re-elected in the state elections on 5 March 1933. On 18 May 1933, as in the Reich, the state parliament approved an enabling law for Prussia against the votes of the SPD. After that, it never met again. On 14 October 1933, the representative bodies of the federal states were dissolved and finally repealed without replacement on 30 January 1934. After the seizure of power by the
National Socialists in 1933 and the subsequent dissolution of the
Zentrumspartei, Lübke was accused of misappropriating public funds and imprisoned; after 20 months in prison, he was released, when no evidence could be produced to back up the politically motivated charges. It was not until 1937 that he was able to get a senior position with a
building society (German:
Wohnungsbaugesellschaft). In 1939, just before the outbreak of
World War II, he moved to a company of building engineers managed by the architect . Here he came to the notice of
Albert Speer and was given responsibility for major building projects, some of which were under the aegis of the Armaments Ministry run by Speer. One of these was the extension of the "Army Research Center
Peenemünde" (
Heeresversuchsanstalt Peenemünde in German, abbreviated HVP) and the "Air Force Test Centre"(
Erprobungsstelle der Luftwaffe in German), Peenemünde-West. In February 1945, Lübke was charged by Speer with setting up a "post-war office for planning prefabricated housing" alongside architect
Rudolf Wolters. He performed three military exercises in the
Wehrmacht as a reserve officer and was promoted to first lieutenant in the reserve. In 1942, he was promoted to captain of the reserve. == Post-war political career ==