Alfred Wünnenberg

Alfred Wünnenberg (1942)

Alfred Bernhard Julius Ernst Wünnenberg (born July 20, 1891 in Saarburg , Alsace-Lorraine , † December 30, 1963 in Krefeld ) was a German officer and, in the National Socialist German Reich, last SS-Obergruppenführer and general of the Waffen-SS and police.

Life

Wünnenberg joined the Infantry Regiment No. 56 of the Prussian Army on February 25, 1913 as a flag junior . During the First World War , Wünnenberg was wounded on the western front in September 1914 and 1915 on the eastern front (already as a company commander). From June 1916 he received a pilot training and in August 1917 he was assigned to Field Aviation Department 47 as a reconnaissance pilot.

After the end of the First World War, Wünnenberg joined the Eastern Border Guard in April 1919 and a volunteer corps in Upper Silesia in October 1919 . After his promotion to captain , he finally left the army in September 1920 and was accepted as a first lieutenant in the Prussian police .

In April 1920 he received a post as a dog train driver at the Higher Police School in Essen and was transferred from February 1920 to April 1921 as a trainer at the Higher Police School Potsdam-Eiche . He then returned to the Essen Police School in early May 1921 as a dog trainer and was in command of the police dog unit until February 1924. Further assignments followed at the Krefeld Police School and from 1926 to 1928 at the Cologne Police School , where he was a member of the police administration from May 1928. He then became a trainer at the Charlottenburg Police Institute . In 1929 he married and had a daughter. This was followed by a transfer to the police inspection department in Hindenburg until the end of July 1933. In the meantime, he had joined the NSDAP on May 1, 1933 ( membership number 2.222.600).

From August 1933 he commanded the police in Beuthen , from May 1934 in Gleiwitz , from February 1935 in Saarbrücken , from October 1937 in Bremen and from October 1937 in Mannheim . In December 1938 he became the first general staff officer (Ia) in the staff of the inspector of the Stuttgart order police .

Wünnenberg joined the SS (SS No. 405.898) and on October 2, 1939, he became the commander of the Police Rifle Regiment 3 of the Police Division. In the course of the equalization of rank , he received the rank of SS-Standartenführer . With this regiment he took part in the campaign in the west and the attack on the Soviet Union in 1941 . For his work he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on November 15, 1941 .

On December 15, 1941, he took command of Walter Krüger's police division . In recognition of the heavy fighting of his unit, Wünnenberg was awarded the Knight's Cross as an SS Brigade Leader and Major General of the Police on April 23, 1942 .

On June 10, 1943, he was relieved of his position, and with effect from June 1, 1943, he switched to the IV. SS Panzer Corps as commanding general . On August 31, 1943 he succeeded Kurt Daluege , head of the main office of the Ordnungspolizei. He remained in this office until the end of the war . In the last days of the war, after Heinrich Himmler fell out of favor with Adolf Hitler , Wünnenberg was appointed chief of the German police.

In the last days of the war he fled to Flensburg via the Rattenlinie Nord . After the war, Wünnenberg was interned in Dachau in 1946 , but was released the following year. He died on December 30, 1963 in Krefeld.

Awards

Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
Wound badge (1918) in gold
Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class
Medal Winter Battle in the East 1941/42
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with oak leaves
- Knight's Cross on November 15, 1941
- Oak leaves on April 23, 1942 (91st award)
Honorary sword of the Reichsführer SS
SS skull ring

Web links

Commons : Alfred Wünnenberg - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ Excerpt from the German lists of losses (Prussian list of losses No. 61) of October 27, 1914, p. 1868
^ Excerpt from the German lists of losses (Prussian list of losses No. 291) of August 3, 1915, p. 7960
↑ Stephan Link: "Rattenlinie Nord". War criminals in Flensburg and the surrounding area in May 1945. In: Gerhard Paul, Broder Schwensen (Hrsg.): Mai '45. End of the war in Flensburg. Flensburg 2015, p. 21.
^ Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich . Fischer, Frankfurt 2005, p. 687 f.
↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939-1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 798.

personal data
SURNAME	Wünnenberg, Alfred
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Wünnenberg, Alfred Bernhard Julius Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German officer, SS-Obergruppenführer and lieutenant general of the Waffen SS and police
DATE OF BIRTH	July 20, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH	Saarburg / Lorraine
DATE OF DEATH	December 30, 1963
Place of death	Krefeld

[1] Excerpt from the German lists of losses (Prussian list of losses No. 61) of October 27, 1914, p. 1868

[2] Excerpt from the German lists of losses (Prussian list of losses No. 291) of August 3, 1915, p. 7960

[3] Stephan Link: "Rattenlinie Nord". War criminals in Flensburg and the surrounding area in May 1945. In: Gerhard Paul, Broder Schwensen (Hrsg.): Mai '45. End of the war in Flensburg. Flensburg 2015, p. 21.

[4] Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich . Fischer, Frankfurt 2005, p. 687 f.

[5] Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939-1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 798.