Adalbert Lontschar

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Adalbert Lontschar (born September 10, 1885 in Marburg an der Drau , † January 27, 1947 in Belgrade ) was an Austrian major general in the Wehrmacht . During the Second World War he served in occupied Yugoslavia , including as city ​​commander of Belgrade. After the war ended, he was sentenced to death by a Yugoslav court for war crimes and hanged in 1947 .

Life

Lontschar was born in Marburg an der Drau (today Maribor ) and joined the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1905 as a cadet officer deputy (comparable to ensign ) . In 1908 he was appointed lieutenant in the 24th Infantry Regiment , and then in 1913 as first lieutenant . In this regiment, Lontschar served almost the entire time of the First World War , among other things as platoon leader , company commander , then as battalion commander as well as teacher and then commander of the one-year volunteer school. In 1915 he was promoted to captain , after the end of the war he was transferred to the replacement battalion of the IR 24.

From 1919 he served in the militia -Bataillon 16. In 1920, he joined the army about where he 1921 Major was promoted. From 1921 to 1933 he served with the Styrian Alpine Hunter Regiment No. 9 , followed by assignments with the Styrian Infantry Regiment No. 11 and the Lower Austrian Infantry Regiment No. 1 . From 1937 he commanded the Tyrolean Jägerregiment .

After the “Anschluss” of Austria , Lontschar was accepted into the Wehrmacht in 1938. In 1939 he was promoted to colonel and appointed commander of the 53rd Infantry Regiment of the 14th Infantry Division . He led this regiment during the attack on Poland . In April 1941 he took over the newly established 724 Infantry Regiment. This regiment was formed as part of the 15th wave of replacement companies for the occupation service in Serbia and belonged to the 704th Infantry Division there . On July 1, 1941, Lonchar was appointed major general. On July 18, 1941, he survived an assassination attempt by Yugoslav partisans near Užice , in which his adjutant was seriously injured. In retaliation for the attack, the local command office shot 52 hostages . In February 1942, Lontschar took over the management of Field Command 599 (Belgrade Region), and in 1943 he was appointed City Commandant of Belgrade. In December 1943, Lontschar was transferred to the Führerreserve and received his departure in late 1944.

In 1945, Lontschar was transferred to Yugoslav captivity and sentenced to death for war crimes (including the shooting of hostages). The sentence was carried out by hanging in Belgrade.

literature

  • Walter Manoschek: “Serbia is free of Jews”: military occupation policy and the extermination of Jews in Serbia 1941/42 , 2nd edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 1995, ISBN 978-3-486-56137-1 .
  • Kurt W. Böhme: The German prisoners of war in Yugoslavia , part 1 (1941-1949). Scientific Commission for German Prisoner of War History, Munich 1962.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Manoschek: “Serbia is free of Jews” . Munich 1995, p. 25.
  2. ↑ Manoschek: “Serbia is free of Jews” . Munich 1995, p. 52.
  3. ↑ Ben H. Shepherd: Terror in the Balkans . Harvard University Press, Cambridge (MA) 2012, ISBN 9780674048911 , p. 102.
personal data
SURNAME Lontschar, Adalbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian officer and general of the German Wehrmacht, executed as a war criminal
DATE OF BIRTH September 10, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Marburg on the Drau
DATE OF DEATH January 27, 1947
Place of death Belgrade