August Meyszner

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August Meyszner (1938)

August Meyszner (born August 3, 1886 in Graz as August Edler von Meyszner , † January 24, 1947 in Belgrade ) was an Austrian police officer, politician, SA and SS leader. During the interwar period he was a leader of the Styrian Homeland Security , during the Nazi era a member of the Reichstag and was promoted to SS group leader and lieutenant general of the police during the Second World War . He was jointly responsible for mass murders of the Jewish population in Serbia and was executed in Yugoslavia after the end of the war .

Life

Childhood, youth and World War I

August Meyszner was the son of the professional soldier Rudolf Edler von Meyszner, who reached the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Austro-Hungarian army and was knighted in 1884. His uncle was Lieutenant Field Marshal Ferdinand von Meyszner . His brother Rudolf Ferdinand (1866–1947) married Alice Strauss , a Jewess, in 1929 , a stepdaughter of the "Waltz King" Johann Strauss .

Meyszner attended elementary and lower secondary school in his hometown and entered the Landwehr cadet school in Vienna in 1903 in order to pursue an officer career. In 1906 he was retired from Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 3, where he was promoted to lieutenant on May 1, 1908 and transferred to the Leoben battalion. Until April 30, 1913 he served there as a company officer and leader of the signal and telephone department. He also directed ski training in the battalion. At his own request, he then did a trial service in State Gendarmerie Command No. 7 ( Trieste ), passed the gendarmerie examination in 1914 and was accepted into gendarmerie service on May 1, 1914.

After he had commanded the gendarmerie detachment command No. 5 ( Gorizia ) until August 1914 and was promoted to gendarmerie lieutenant on June 23, 1914 , Meyszner took part in various assignments in the First World War. In 1915, he led a gendarmerie company and the high mountain and storm company No. 12 on the Italian front . Promoted to Gendarmerie Rittmeister in August 1916 , he was section commander in 1916/17 and in 1917 alpine advisor of the 15th Mountain Brigade. Meyszner took part in the Isonzo battles. On August 13, 1917, he was recalled to State Gendarmerie Command No. 7, and on November 2, 1918, he entered the State Gendarmerie Command of Styria, where he was employed as a gendarmerie department inspector. He had married shortly after the war began; the marriage resulted in two children.

In the Republic of Austria during the interwar period

With the abolition of the Austrian nobility after the fall of the Habsburg monarchy , Meyszner lost his title of nobility. First in 1919 he commanded the border police on the border with Yugoslavia . He was involved in combat operations, for example in association with the Lower Styrian Peasant Command in the recapture of the Yugoslav-occupied Radkersburg in south-eastern Styria. From December 1919 to the end of 1928 he was the leader of the Judenburg gendarmerie division . During the conquest of Burgenland in 1921, he was shot in the thigh as the commandant of a gendarmerie division. Under his command, the gendarmerie put down workers' unrest in the Judenburg area in 1922 and took action against a general strike in the wake of the Vienna Justice Palace fire in 1927 .

Meyszner was politically involved in the German national right early on . In 1919 he acted as a Dietwart in the Deutschvölkischer Turnverein in Judenburg and in the same year was one of the founders of the Styrian Homeland Security with Walter Pfrimer and Hanns Albin Rauter . In September 1925 he joined the Austrian NSDAP ( membership number 10.617). For unknown reasons and at an unknown point in time, this membership expired. In May 1927, however, Meyszner traveled with Pfrimer and Rauter to meet Hitler in Freilassing in Bavaria . According to his own statements because of his "political activities" he was transferred to Graz on January 1, 1929 as commandant of the gendarmerie department . But he remained politically active, took part in the deployment of right-wing military associations and used his position to equip the Styrian Homeland Security and other military associations with weapons.

At the end of 1930 Meyszner was elected as one of six members of the home bloc in the Styrian state parliament and entered the Styrian state government as a regional councilor according to the proportional system. He took part in the Pfrimer putsch of September 13, 1931, but stayed in the background and later claimed in the state parliament that he had no knowledge of the putsch plans. As Pfrimer and other homeland security officials had fled, Meyszner took over provisional management of the Styrian homeland security in September 1931. Together with Rauter, he soon sought cooperation with the NSDAP. Meyszner was more flexible and more open to the demands of the National Socialists than Pfrimer, who had placed great value on the autonomy of homeland security. Meyszner distanced himself from the legitimistic efforts aimed at a restoration of the Habsburg monarchy and the ideas of a Danube federation , which were virulent in the Heimwehr overall, and ran counter to the concept of annexation to the German Empire. He later took credit for having pushed all legitimists from the leadership of Homeland Security. With the regional manager of the Austrian NSDAP, Theo Habicht , a combat group of Heimatschutz and National Socialists was agreed and at the end of 1933 it was finally decided in the “Venice Agreement” that Heimatschutz should be transferred to the NSDAP. At this point, Meyszner had lost his mandate in the state parliament, as the Styrian Homeland Security was included in the NSDAP ban, which had been issued on June 15 by Federal Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss , who had ruled authoritarian since March 1933 . Membership of federal employees in the NSDAP was also banned. At the end of September 1933 Meyszner was forcibly retired as a major in the gendarmerie.

In May 1933 Meyszner became a member of the SA and, in accordance with the Venice Agreement, in November with the rank of SA Obersturmbannführer, deputy leader of the banned SA Brigade Central Styria. Meyszner later stated to have held numerous meetings and to have participated in "leaders' meetings" in Hungary and Yugoslavia. He was arrested on February 2, 1934 and, after three months in police custody, was interned in May for another three and a half months in the Wöllersdorf detention center . Freed again in June, he took over the leadership of the SA Brigade in Central Styria and was arrested on the day of the National Socialist putsch on July 25, 1934 .

According to the historian Martin Moll, Meyszner does not seem to have appeared in a prominent position during the coup. Although he was later certified to have actively prepared the putsch , neither the Styrian Homeland Security nor Meyszner were mentioned separately in the Nazi representations that were fasted after the “Anschluss” of Austria . For the historian Hans Schafranek , Meyszner did not orientate himself on the orders of his superiors in the SA, Hermann Reschny and Friedrich Fenz , who lived in Munich , but acted like Konstantin Kammerhofer and Rauter on the secret mandate of the SS and the NSDAP state leadership under Habicht. Contrary to the instructions of the emigrated SA leadership on July 23, to start the armed uprising only on the slogan “Summer party with price shooting”, Meyszner gave the order for the slogan elementary event occurred in agreement with the putschists of the Vienna SS .

After he had escaped from police custody, the Meyszner, who was now wanted, fled to Yugoslavia in July 1934. The Republic of Austria naturalized him and canceled his pension entitlements. In Yugoslavia he worked in the NSDAP refugee center and traveled to Germany by ship in November / December 1934 .

In the German Empire

In Germany, Meyszner initially worked as a camp leader of the Rummelsburg camp (Pomerania) and then worked for the NSDAP refugee agency in Berlin. At his own request, together with Kammerhofer and Rauter, he transferred from the SA to the SS with effect from February 20, 1935 (SS No. 263,406). He received the rank of SS Oberführer and was employed as SS leader "for special use" by the Reichsführer SS . After he had been able to join the police force on September 1 with the old rank of major , he was released from the SS on October 10, 1935 at his own request. Promoted to lieutenant colonel with effect from April 20, 1934, he took over command of the Central Police Section and became the deputy of the commanding officer of the Eastern Police Group Command in Berlin. At the same time he exercised the office of honorary judge at the People's Court . On October 11, 1937, he was re-admitted to the SS.

When Austria was "Anschluss" on March 12, 1938, Meyszner entered Austria with Marching Group I of the Ordnungspolizei . For a month he acted as acting inspector of the regulatory police for Austria in Vienna . In the Reichstag election in 1938 , he was also elected as a member of the Reichstag for Austria . Promoted to Colonel of the Protection Police with effect from March 1, Meyszner took on the role of Inspector of the Ordnungspolizei with Ernst Kaltenbrunner , State Secretary for Security of the State Government of Austria, from mid-April 1938 to June 1939 . Kaltenbrunner, however, he already had a falling out in mid-April 1938 he that in early October 1938 as part commander of the police in the annexed Sudetenland was sent before him in June 1939 as Inspector of the Order Police to Prefect of the province of Hesse-Nassau to Kassel replied. Here he was also active as a senior police officer and political advisor to the senior president. On March 23, 1940, he was promoted to SS-Brigadführer .

In the spring of 1940 Meyszner was transferred to represent the Higher SS and Police Leader Fulda-Werra. On September 10, 1940, he took over the post of commander of the Ordnungspolizei in occupied Norway and political reference with the Reich Commissioner for the occupied Norwegian territories, without appearing particularly there. At the end of 1941, Himmler called him back to Germany. In mid-January 1942, Meyszner took part in a strategy conference in Himmler's field quarter in Hegewaldheim, where forced laborers , the planned murder of the Jews and Himmler's plans for an eastern settlement were discussed.

Higher SS and Police Leader in occupied Serbia

On January 24, 1942, Meyszner was appointed Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) in the territory of the Military Commander of the Occupied Territories in Serbia , based in Belgrade, and at the same time entrusted with the "use and consolidation of the German people" in Serbia. The background was the one that, after the German invasion of Yugoslavia and the destruction of the kingdom in German-occupied "Hull Serbia" in the second half of 1941 an uprising under the leadership of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito had come to the despite brutal German countermeasures, could only be held down with difficulty. New uprisings were expected in the spring of 1942. In this situation, Hitler decided to use an HSSPF responsible for security issues for Serbia, as was already the case in other occupied territories. On the other hand, Himmler saw the opportunity to use an HSSPF to influence occupation policy in his favor. Because the head of the German military administration, Harald Turner , pursued with a puppet government under the nationalist General Milan Nedić the plan of a so-called "supervisory administration", as it was practiced with the Vichy regime in France. Himmler found this too complicated, especially since he considered the Serbs to be "a people who had been trained and trained in the uprising for centuries". According to Martin Moll, the fact that Hitler wanted to exploit Meyszner's hatred of the Serbs can neither be proven nor refuted. Meyszner, to whom the slogan: "I prefer a dead Serb than a living one" is ascribed to him, Himmler seemed to be the right man to ensure security in Serbia. Meyszner was also commissioned to recruit Banat Swabians for the Waffen SS .

The structure of command and authority that Meyszner found when he arrived was even more confused than in other occupied territories. In addition to the military commander in Serbia, there was a representative of the Foreign Office authorized by the Führer decree for questions of a foreign policy character; a confidante of Hermann Göring was responsible for economic matters and the Nedić collaboration government had to be taken into account. With Meyszner as HSSPF, another actor was added to take over the police matters previously handled by the military commander's administrative staff. Meyszner was only subordinate to the military commander and received his orders from Himmler. The SS units and the Serbian police were subordinate to him.

The first project that Meyszer tackled between the beginning of February 1942 was the creation of a division of ethnic Germans for the Waffen SS. For this purpose, a “labor service obligation for the entire Serbian population or suitable years of the same” was decided in order to replace the ethnic German workers in agriculture. In the spring of 1942 the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen" was set up.

At the same time Meyszner tried to wrest control of the police duties from the military commander's administrative staff, led by SS-Gruppenführer Harald Turner. The conflict was exacerbated by Meyszer's categorical rejection of a cooperation with Nedić that went beyond tactically motivated claims. He insisted that the powers of the collaboration government be curtailed while Turner pursued his program of political oversight administration. Throughout 1942, the German military administration in Serbia was burdened by the disputes over competence between Meyszer and Turner. Even before Meyszner's arrival, however, there had been efforts on the part of the Wehrmacht to downgrade Turner's administrative staff to a purely administrative department. He was charged with the fact that, in contrast to occupied France, the 1941 uprising had made Serbia a combat zone for the Wehrmacht. Turner stood alone with his ideas, and Himmler also supported Meyszner's political line.

Formally, the commander of the Security Police and the SD (BdS), Obersturmbannführer Emanuel Schäfer , who had succeeded Wilhelm Fuchs as head of the Serbia Task Force , was subordinate to him. At the same time, however, Emanuel Schäfer received his instructions directly from the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) in Berlin. August Meyszner was only informed of Schäfer's actions. During his tenure, between March and May 10, 1942, 15,000 Jewish women and children were murdered. For this purpose, the RSHA sent a truck converted into a gas truck to the Sajmište concentration camp near Belgrade in early March 1942 .

In his role as SS-Gruppenführer , he took part in the Gruppenführer conference on October 4, 1943 in Poznan, where Heinrich Himmler gave the first speech in Poznan . From mid-March 1944 until the beginning of May 1945 he was inspector general of the gendarmerie and the municipal police force.

Like Wilhelm Fuchs, Meyszner was extradited to Yugoslavia at the end of the war. From December 9 to 22, 1946, he was tried before the Supreme Military Court in Belgrade, which resulted in a death sentence . It is not known exactly whether there was an appeal or a pardon. On January 24, 1947 August Meyszner in Belgrade by train executed .

Awards

Meyszner's SS and police ranks
date rank
February 1935 SS-Oberführer
April 1937 Police lieutenant colonel
March 1938 Police Colonel
April 1939 Major General of the Police
April 1940 SS Brigade Leader
January 1942 SS group leader and lieutenant general of the police

literature

  • Ruth Bettina Birn : The Higher SS and Police Leaders. Himmler's representative in the Reich and in the occupied territories. Droste, Düsseldorf 1986, ISBN 3-7700-0710-7 (also: Stuttgart, Universität, Dissertation, 1985).
  • Wolfgang Graf: Austrian SS generals. Himmler's reliable vassals. Hermagoras-Verlag, Klagenfurt u. a. 2012, ISBN 978-3-7086-0578-4 .
  • Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich . Who was what before and after 1945 (= Fischer. 16048). 2nd Edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 .
  • Joachim Lilla , Martin Döring, Andreas Schulz: extras in uniform: the members of the Reichstag 1933–1945. A biographical manual. Including the Volkish and National Socialist members of the Reichstag from May 1924 . Droste, Düsseldorf 2004, ISBN 3-7700-5254-4 .
  • Martin Moll : From Austrian gendarmerie officer to Higher SS and Police Leader Serbia, 1942–1944. August Meyszner: Stations in a Career. In: Danubiana Carpathica. Yearbook for the history and culture in the German settlement areas of Southeast Europe. Vol. 5 = Heft 52, 2011. Oldenbourg, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-71091-5 , pp. 249-318.

Web links

Individual evidence

  • Martin Moll: From Austrian gendarmerie officer to Higher SS and Police Leader Serbia, 1942–1944. August Meyszner: Stations in a Career. In: Danubiana Carpathica. Yearbook for the history and culture in the German settlement areas of Southeast Europe. Volume 5 = Issue 52, 2011. Oldenbourg, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-71091-5 , pp. 249-318.
  1. ↑ p. 252 f.
  2. ↑ p. 253. Moll incorrectly describes Alice as the wife of Johann Strauss. In fact, Strauss was married to her mother Adele (1856–1930).
  3. ↑ p. 253.
  4. ↑ p. 252 f.
  5. ↑ p. 254.
  6. ↑ p. 254.
  7. ↑ p. 255.
  8. ↑ p. 256.
  9. ↑ p. 257 f.
  10. ↑ p. 257 f.
  11. ↑ p. 258 f.
  12. ↑ p. 259.
  13. ↑ p. 259.
  14. ↑ p. 259 f.
  15. ↑ p. 260.
  16. ↑ p. 262.
  17. ↑ p. 262 f.
  18. ↑ p. 263.
  19. ↑ p. 264.
  20. ↑ p. 264 f.
  21. ↑ p. 268.
  22. ↑ pp. 268-272.
  23. ↑ p. 272.
  24. ↑ pp. 273-287.
  • Further individual evidence
  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Joachim Lilla , Martin Döring, Andreas Schulz: Extras in uniform: The members of the Reichstag 1933–1945. A biographical manual. Including the Volkish and National Socialist members of the Reichstag from May 1924 . Droste, Düsseldorf 2004, ISBN 3-7700-5254-4 , Sp. 706.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Joachim Lilla , Martin Döring, Andreas Schulz: Extras in Uniform: The Members of the Reichstag 1933–1945. A biographical manual. Including the Volkish and National Socialist members of the Reichstag from May 1924 . Droste, Düsseldorf 2004, ISBN 3-7700-5254-4 , Sp. 707.
  3. ↑ a b Hans Schafranek : Biographies of Styrian NS actors . In the S. u. Herbert Blatnik (Ed.): From the Nazi ban to the "Anschluss". Styrian National Socialists 1933–1938. Czernin Verlag, Vienna 2015, p. 496.
  4. ↑ Martin Moll: "Ultimately, the Styrian homeland security was very decent and orderly". The rise of the Styrian Homeland Security in the NSDAP: from confrontation to cooperation . In: Hans Schafranek u. Herbert Blatnik (Ed.): From the Nazi ban to the "Anschluss". Styrian National Socialists 1933–1938 . Czernin Verlag, Vienna 2015, p. 21 f., 24.
  5. ↑ a b Hans Schafranek: Biographies of Styrian NS actors . In the S. u. Herbert Blatnik (Ed.): From the Nazi ban to the "Anschluss". Styrian National Socialists 1933–1938 . Czernin Verlag, Vienna 2015, p. 497.
  6. ↑ Hans Schafranek: Biographies of Styrian Nazi Actors . In the S. u. Herbert Blatnik (Ed.): From the Nazi ban to the "Anschluss". Styrian National Socialists 1933–1938 . Czernin Verlag, Vienna 2015, p. 497 f.
  7. ↑ Joachim Lilla , Martin Döring, Andreas Schulz: Extras in Uniform: The members of the Reichstag 1933-1945. A biographical manual. Including the Volkish and National Socialist members of the Reichstag from May 1924 . Droste, Düsseldorf 2004, ISBN 3-7700-5254-4 , Sp. 708.
  8. ^ Mark Mazower : Hitler's Empire. Europe under the rule of National Socialism . CH Beck, Munich 2009, p. 222 f.
  9. ^ Mark Mazower : Hitler's Empire. Europe under the rule of National Socialism . CH Beck, Munich 2009, p. 222 f., Cited above. P. 223.
  10. ^ Peter Longerich: Heinrich Himmler. Biography . Siedler, Munich 2008, p. 631.
  11. ↑ Thomas Casagrande: The Volksdeutsche SS division "Prinz Eugen". The Banat Swabians and the National Socialist war crimes . Campus, Frankfurt / M. 2003, pp. 189-191.
  12. ^ Romuald Karmakar : The Himmler project . Manfred Zapatka and Heinrich Himmler's speech at the SS group leader conference in Posen on October 4, 1943 (= Absolut Medien 719 documents ). Absolut Medien, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89848-719-9 (DVD-Video (image format: 16: 9, DVD 9, 182 min. + Extras)).
  13. ^ Wolfgang Graf: Austrian SS Generals. Himmler's reliable vassals. 2012, p. 252.
personal data
SURNAME Meyszner, August
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meyszner, August Edler von (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian politician (home bloc, NSDAP), member of the state parliament, MdR, lieutenant general of the police under National Socialism and member of the Reichstag
DATE OF BIRTH August 3, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Graz
DATE OF DEATH January 24, 1947
Place of death Belgrade