Berend Roosen (officer)

Berend Roosen (born February 17, 1873 in Hamburg , † May 9, 1945 in Damerow ) was a German officer and 1933/35 police chief of Halle (Saale) .

Life

Military career

After visiting the cadet institutes in Bensberg and Lichterfelde , he was transferred in 1891 as an ensign to the Infantry Regiment No. 145 of the Prussian Army in Metz . For further training, Roosen graduated from the War Academy as a first lieutenant in 1902/05 . Subsequently, he was transferred to the protection force for German South West Africa and participated in the genocide of the Herero and Nama .

Berend VIII Roosen 1906

After his return to Germany, Roosen was re-employed as a company commander in his main regiment and promoted to captain . Two years later, he was transferred to the Guard Grenadier Regiment No. 5 in Spandau in the same position .

He initially participated in the First World War as a major and battalion commander in the Guard Grenadier Regiment No. 5. On April 25, 1917 he was appointed commander of the Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 93 and took part in the battles at Arras and Cambrai . For his behavior during the spring offensive of 1918 , he was awarded the Order Pour le Mérite on April 9, 1918 . The award was submitted with the words: "... because of outstanding bravery and exemplary personal behavior, especially when the Reserve Infantry Regiment 93 stormed Height 84 southeast of Mericourt on March 28, 1918.". This award was made for "Operation Michael". The RIR 93 fought very successfully in the breakthrough battle between Gouzeaucourt and Vermand on March 21 and 22, 1918. The storming of Höhe 84 on March 28, 1918 as part of "Operation Michael" was temporally and spatially assigned to the battle of Arras.

post war period

After the war, Berend was initially taken over by the Reichswehr and used as a staff officer in Reichswehr Infantry Regiment 30. In this position, he received the end of December 1919 be character as a lieutenant colonel . On October 1, 1920 he resigned in the course of the reduction in the armed forces and became a senior district councilor for the President of the Province of Brandenburg. On April 1, 1921, he was then employed by the police in Erfurt as a constable sergeant. From November 1923 he was in command of the protective police in Koenigsberg until Roosen was removed from office in early April 1828 by the Social Democratic Interior Minister Grzeszinsky in 1929 and then dismissed.

After the seizure of power by the National Socialists Roosen was appointed police chief of Halle (Saale) on 17 February 1,933th On October 31, 1935, he resigned from this post.

When the Russians invaded Germany in May 1945, Berend and his seriously ill wife fled from Eberswalde to Mecklenburg to meet friends in Damerau. He was shot there by the Russians who thought he was the owner. His wife returned to Eberswalde, where her house was expropriated because Roosen had been police chief during Hitler's time. She was taken in by a forester friend of hers and died on June 8, 1949 in Berlin / Nicolassee.

family

In 1900 Roosen married Esther von Pawlowski (1879–1949). She was the daughter of his regimental commander at the time and later Lieutenant General Max von Pawlowski and his wife, a née Lickfett. Berend's marriage did not result in any children.

literature

• Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the I. World War. Volume 3: P-Z. Biblio Verlag, Bissendorf 2011, ISBN 3-7648-2586-3 , pp. 139-140.
• Hanns Möller: History of the knights of the order pour le mérite in the world war. Volume II: M-Z. Bernard & Graefe publishing house, Berlin 1935, pp. 212-214.

Web links

• Family website with family tree and history