Alexis von Roenne

Alexis Freiherr von Roenne (born February 22, 1903 in Tuckum in the Russian Governorate of Courland ; † October 12, 1944 in Berlin-Plötzensee ) was a German colonel on the General Staff of the Wehrmacht and resistance fighter against Adolf Hitler and National Socialism .

Alexis Freiherr von Roenne

Life

Second World War

Alexis Freiherr von Roenne worked in the Foreign Armies West department in the Army High Command during World War II , which was responsible for the military reconnaissance of the Western Front and later the Atlantic Front. In March 1943 he became the head of the department as a colonel. Roenne had a talented eye for political and military issues. So he argued in September 1939 after the Soviet army invaded Poland: “ So within five years we will have war with Russia. And then the West will have its hands free, carry out its air armament program and destroy us. “Because Roenne still had Hitler's full confidence in his expertise in 1943, he convinced the German military leadership of the authenticity of the documents for Operation" Mincemeat " , which the Allies had put into German hands as a ruse , in which the invasion of Sicily was distracted .

Alexis Freiherr von Roenne saw Christian values threatened by National Socialism . Like Wilhelm Canaris and the Kreisau Circle , he was convinced that the foreseeable downfall of Germany as a result of the course of the war could only be averted by an assassination attempt on Hitler or the victory of the Allies .

resistance

Alexis von Roenne did not take part in the assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944 due to Christian conscience concerns, but was aware of it through the friendly connections that connected him to the leaders of the resistance against National Socialism . He was arrested immediately after July 20, then initially released. Two weeks later, Alexis von Roenne was finally arrested. Before his arrest , he refused the opportunity to go into hiding with the French Resistance , saying, "A Prussian officer does not break his oath," knowing full well that this decision would mean his death. Against the background that, due to his work in the military reconnaissance, he was well aware of numerous then secret crimes of the Nazi regime, this behavior exemplifies the tragedy of the conflict of conscience in which many staunch opponents of National Socialism found themselves among the officers of the Wehrmacht.

In his interrogations by the Gestapo , he stated that the Nazi state's racial policy in particular was incompatible with its Christian values. He was sentenced to death by the People's Court on October 5, 1944 and hanged on October 12, 1944 in Berlin - Plötzensee .

family

Von Roenne was married to Ursula von Bülow (1907–1994) from the Dieskau house near Halle (Saale) , whom he married on September 16, 1935 at the Bülow'schen Gut Rogeez . He left behind his wife and two young children.

Ursula Freifrau von Roenne was buried next to her parents in the cemetery of the Malchow monastery . Her tombstone also reminds of her husband Alexis, who was murdered by the National Socialists.

literature

Hans-Adolf Jacobsen (ed.): Mirror image of a conspiracy. The opposition to Hitler and the coup d'état of July 20, 1944 in the SD reporting. Secret documents from the former Reich Security Main Office. 2 volumes. Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-512-00657-4 .
Jost Müller-Bohn (Ed.): See, I see the sky open. Letters and reports from Christian martyrs 1933–1945. Hänssler, Holzgerlingen 2000, ISBN 3-7751-3518-9 .
Johannes Zechner: Ways to Resistance. July 20, 1944 in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In: Mecklenburgia Sacra. Vol. 7, 2004, ISSN 1436-7041 , pp. 119-133.

Web links

Literature by and about Alexis von Roenne in the catalog of the German National Library
Short biography of the German Resistance Memorial Center
Baltic Historical Commission (ed.): Entry on Alexis von Roenne. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital

Individual evidence

↑ Ulrich Liss: Western Front 1939/40. Memories of the enemy worker in the OKH (= The Wehrmacht im Kampf, Vol. 23, ISSN 0511-4233 ). Vowinckel-Verlag, Neckargemünd 1959, p. 29.
^ Baltic Historical Commission (Ed.): Entry on Alexis von Roenne. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital
↑ July 20, 1944 , modified and completed version of the special edition of the weekly newspaper Das Parlament , edited by Hans Royce, ed. from the Federal Center for Homeland Service . Without a year, around 1950. Page 90.

personal data
SURNAME	Roenne, Alexis von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Roenne, Alexis Freiherr von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German colonel in the General Staff, resistance fighter against National Socialism
DATE OF BIRTH	February 22, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH	Tuckum in Kurland, Russia
DATE OF DEATH	October 12, 1944
Place of death	Berlin-Plötzensee

[1] Ulrich Liss: Western Front 1939/40. Memories of the enemy worker in the OKH (= The Wehrmacht im Kampf, Vol. 23, ISSN 0511-4233 ). Vowinckel-Verlag, Neckargemünd 1959, p. 29.

[2] Baltic Historical Commission (Ed.): Entry on Alexis von Roenne. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital

[3] July 20, 1944 , modified and completed version of the special edition of the weekly newspaper Das Parlament , edited by Hans Royce, ed. from the Federal Center for Homeland Service . Without a year, around 1950. Page 90.