Bernd Freytag from Loringhoven

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Bernd Freiherr Freytag von Loringhoven (born February 6, 1914 in Arensburg / Kuressaare , Ösel / Saaremaa , Estonia; † February 27, 2007 in Munich ) was a German officer, most recently Lieutenant General of the Army of the German Armed Forces as Deputy Inspector General .

Life

Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven came from the Baltic noble family Freytag von Loringhoven . During the Second World War he was a company commander in a tank regiment and division commander in the Battle of Stalingrad . During this battle he was awarded the German Cross in Gold on January 23, 1943 . Freytag von Loringhoven was flown out of the Stalingrad basin in one of the last machines . In 1944/1945 he was adjutant to the Army Chiefs of Staff Heinz Guderian and Hans Krebs , most recently in the rank of major . After the assassination attempt on July 20, 1944 , he was suspected of having been involved. Because a relative, Colonel i. G. Wessel Freytag von Loringhoven , had procured the explosives for the attack and took his own life shortly after it failed.

From July 1944 to April 30, 1945 Freytag von Loringhoven, as Guderian's adjutant, prepared the daily military briefing in the Führerbunker in Berlin. His escape plans were approved by Adolf Hitler . Von Loringhoven and Gerhard Boldt went west across the Havel and went into British captivity. Investigations by the United Kingdom armed forces found no involvement in war crimes. In 1948 he was released from captivity.

In 1956 he joined the German Armed Forces and was from April 1963 to July 30, 1964, with the rank of Brigadier General, in command of the 19 Panzer Grenadier Brigade in the Westfalen barracks in Ahlen. From October 1, 1967 to April 30, 1969, he was in command of the 5th Panzer Division and later became Deputy Inspector General of the Bundeswehr and the only German officer on the NATO planning staff until he retired in 1973 with the rank of Lieutenant General .

Freytag von Loringhoven's first marriage was to Renate von Arnim . From his second marriage to Ilse-Verna Kraul, his son Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven emerged in 1956 , who was Vice-President of the Federal Intelligence Service until August 2010, and NATO's intelligence coordinator since the end of 2016 .

Contemporary witness

Loringhoven was repeatedly asked to report on his experiences in the Führerbunker. As a prisoner of war he was interviewed by the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper , who later wrote a book about Hitler's last days. Von Loringhoven advised on the preparation of the film Der Untergang . His biography Mit Hitler im Bunker initially appeared in French, and was later translated into German and other languages.

Honors

1933-1945

  • 1939: Iron Cross, 2nd class
  • 1940: Iron Cross 1st class
  • 1943: German cross in gold

after 1945

publication

  • with François d'Alançon: Dans le bunker de Hitler: June 23, 1944 - April 29, 1945. Editions Perrin publisher, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-262-02478-2 .
    • German: With Hitler in the bunker - Notes from the Führer Headquarters July 1944 - April 1945. wjs, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-937989-14-5 .
    • engl .: In the Bunker with Hitler. The Last Witness Speaks. London 2006, ISBN 0-297-84555-1 .
  • [Ed.] In the service of peacekeeping: General Ulrich de Maizière. Contributions to his departure as General Inspector of the Bundeswehr (1966–1972), Frankfurt am Main, 1972.
  • together with Wilhelm-Karl Prince of Prussia: Johanniter and July 20, 1944. 2nd edition, Nieder-Weisel 1989 (Issue 14 of the series of publications of the Hessian Cooperative of the Order of St. John).

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b FAZ: The penultimate from Hitler's bunker
personal data
SURNAME Freytag from Loringhoven, Bernd
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Freytag von Loringhoven, Bernd Freiherr
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer
DATE OF BIRTH February 6, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Arensburg, today Kuressaare , Estonia
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 2007
Place of death Munich