August Korreng

August Alexander Karl Korreng (born May 1, 1878 in Trier ; † June 7, 1945 in Plettenberg ) was a German SS brigade leader and from 1941 to 1945 police chief of Düsseldorf .

Life

Korreng was the son of the foot policeman and later administrator Gustav Adolf Korreng (born June 28, 1838 in Groß-Osnig; † December 2, 1918 in Trier) and his wife Sophie Friederike Marie, née Selbmann (born November 22, 1848 in Brandenburg ; † April 26, 1924 in Trier).

He attended the community school in Trier, then worked as a trainee in the L. Frère machine factory and completed an apprenticeship for technical machine careers at a technical college. From October 15, 1896 to April 10, 1900 Korreng did his military service in the 7th Rhenish Infantry Regiment No. 69 ; he was released as a lieutenant in the reserve.

In April 1907 Korreng joined the police force, in 1912 he was promoted to police commissioner and in 1920 to police inspector. He took part in the First World War, first as a platoon leader in the Landwehr and later as a company commander in the Queen Elisabeth Guard Grenadier Regiment No. 3 . As a result of an illness, it could no longer be used in the field from the end of 1915. He then became head of the secret police in occupied Brussels. Until the end of the war, Korreng had various uses in counter-espionage at Army High Command 6 , Army High Command 18 and in the occupied territory of Crimea. After the end of the war, he was released from military service as a first lieutenant on December 31, 1918 and returned to the police.

Korreng joined the NSDAP on February 1, 1931 ( membership number 449,807) and on November 21, 1931, as a Untersturmführer in the SS (SS number 29,625). After the death of the SS-Obergruppenführer and Düsseldorf police chief Fritz Weitzel on June 19, 1940, he was initially acting police chief. On February 12, 1941, the Reichsführer SS and chief of the German police, Heinrich Himmler , confirmed him in this position. On March 15, 1941 Korreng was appointed SS-Oberführer, on November 9, 1942 SS-Brigadführer with the authorization to wear the uniform of a major general of the police.

On the penultimate day of his service, April 16, 1945, a resistance group around the Düsseldorf citizens Aloys Odenthal and Karl August Wiedenhofen as well as the lieutenant colonel of the police station Franz Jürgens arrested him at the police headquarters in order to carry out the Rhineland campaign. However, Korreng was liberated by members of the Wehrmacht and the NSDAP Gauleiter Friedrich Karl Florian and was able to escape the city. On April 17th, Düsseldorf was liberated from US units.

Korreng committed in 1945 on June 7 suicide .

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
• Air Defense Medal of Honor 1st level on May 18, 1944
• Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords on March 26, 1945

literature

• Horst Romeyk : The leading state and municipal administrative officials of the Rhine Province 1816–1945 (=  publications of the Society for Rhenish History . Volume 69 ). Droste, Düsseldorf 1994, ISBN 3-7700-7585-4 .
• Joachim Lilla : The state police administration in Düsseldorf from 1926 to 1945. In: Düsseldorfer Jahrbuch, contributions to the history of the Lower Rhine , No. 73/2002.
• Dermot Bradley (ed.), Andreas Schulz , Günter Wegmann: The generals of the Waffen-SS and the police. The military careers of the generals, as well as the doctors, veterinarians, intendants, judges and ministerial officials with the rank of general. Volume 2: Hachtel – Kutschera. Biblio Publishing House. Bissendorf 2005. ISBN 3-7648-2592-8 . Pp. 563-568.