Jan Paap

Jan Paap
Born	(1919-01-21)21 January 1919 Warendorf, Germany
Died	1999–2005 Tanoa
Era	Vader Era Middenvader Era Vriend Era
Known for	Founder of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Title	Führer of Tanoa
Term	13 May 1944 – January 1980
Predecessor	Office established
Successor	Eef Paap
Political party	NSTAP
Children	Eef Paap Daniel Paap Richard Nicolaas Paap
Father	Martinus Antonius Johannes Paap
Relatives	Antonie Ronald Paap (cousin)
Family	Paap family

Jan Paap (21 January 1919 – between 1999 and 2005) was a German-born dictator and former Wehrmacht soldier who founded the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen. He served as the first Führer of Tanoa from 1944 until his retirement in January 1980. After deserting from the Eastern Front, Paap formed the Argentine Einsatz in Rada Tilly and led its expedition to Tanoa. His son Eef Paap succeeded him as Führer.

Early life

Jan Paap was born in Warendorf, Germany, on 21 January 1919. He was the second son of Martinus Antonius Johannes Paap and was selected as the expected successor to the title of Great Paap. Paap resisted the discipline imposed by his family. He was arrested after repeatedly robbing bakeries at night and spent one week in jail.

Before the Second World War, Paap entered the external register of Glöbbery. The order later treated the political system he established in Tanoa as an instrument through which it could obtain foreign support and access to state authority.

Military service and departure from Europe

Paap joined the Wehrmacht in 1936. He served during the campaigns in France and the Soviet Union, reaching the rank of Gefreiter. In 1943, he encountered his cousin Antonie Ronald Paap during the recapture of an airfield on the Eastern Front. An argument developed into a physical fight in which Jan knocked out several of Antonie's teeth. Officers separated the two men, and both were reassigned.

After the confrontation, Paap rejected his expected succession as Great Paap. He severed ties with his father and withdrew from the traditions of the Paap family. Martin Paap I later assumed the family title in his place.

In 1944, Paap bribed Waffen-SS officer Georg Schäfer to assist his desertion from the Eastern Front. He escaped through Spain before travelling to Argentina.

Founding of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen

Paap arrived in Rada Tilly on 13 May 1944. He established contact with sympathetic political networks in Patagonia and with Jose Alem, the father of Chiche Alem. Paap learned Spanish while preparing a centralized authoritarian state intended to operate beyond the jurisdiction of an existing government.

Paap organized the Argentine Einsatz through recruitment cells in Patagonia. Former soldiers provided the movement with military personnel, while technical recruits prepared the equipment needed for a permanent settlement. By August 1944, the organization had approximately 3,400 members.

The expedition reached Tanoa on 9 August 1944 and landed first on Ravi-Ta. The Argentine Einsatz established its initial command base on the island before being reorganized as the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen. Paap became Führer and initially governed through direct military orders. Native inhabitants were compelled to construct the settlement and military infrastructure used by the expedition.

Paap founded the NSTAP in 1944 as the ruling political party of the emerging state. In 1945, he ordered the construction of Georgetown, which was named after Georg Schäfer. Paap also founded the Paapjugend as the regime's youth organization and established the Reichsschatzamt von Tanoa to control state property and financial accounting.

Rule as Führer

As Führer, Paap held supreme authority over the government and its security institutions. Territorial administration and major policy decisions remained subordinate to him. The regime did not have an independent legislature or judiciary capable of limiting his authority.

Paap's government expanded forced labour to construct infrastructure and extract natural resources. Security units confiscated property and used detention and violence against resistance. Later investigations documented torture during interrogations and killings carried out without judicial proceedings.

In 1950, Paap established the Oberkommando der Tanoa Einsatzgruppen as the central command authority of the state. The Reichsschatzamt later introduced the Tanoanische Reichsmark. Coins carried Paap's portrait, while access to currency was controlled through employment classification and political loyalty. He continued to create administrative offices during the 1950s, placing their leadership under the authority of the Führer.

The regime expanded beyond Tanoa during Paap's rule. Patagonia came under de facto Tanoan control in 1953, and Argentina was annexed in 1965. The annexed territory was incorporated into the regime's financial system and placed under its population registration and labour controls.

In 1974, the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen placed Liberia under a puppet administration known as Großliberia. Fiji was annexed the following year and placed under direct military government. Rwanda became a Tanoan puppet state in 1979. These territorial changes formed part of the Tanoa Einsatz Expansionist Campaign. In 1976, Paap's government introduced the Neger Buch as a compulsory population registration document for native inhabitants of Tanoa.

Retirement and death

During the late 1970s, Paap selected his son Eef as his successor. He formally retired in January 1980 after thirty-six years as Führer. Eef was promoted during a state ceremony in Georgetown on 6 November 1980. Because Eef was still a child, Jan continued to advise him informally until 1987.

Paap remained in Tanoa after withdrawing from government. The date of his death was not documented, although it was estimated to have occurred between 1999 and 2005 and was generally attributed to old age.

After the collapse of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen, members of the Fish Collective claimed that fragmented records recovered from the Führerhaus indicated that Eef Paap may have killed his father in 2005 to secure undisputed control over the regime. The surviving records did not conclusively establish the claim.

See also

• Tanoa Einsatzgruppen
• History of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen
• Argentine Einsatz
• Führer of Tanoa
• Eef Paap
• Great Paap
• Glöbbery