Christian Peter Kryssing

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Christian Peter Kryssing as Obersturmbannführer

Christian Peder Kryssing (* 7. July 1891 in Kolding , † 7. July 1976 in Hadersleben ) was a Danish Artillery - Officer , volunteer corps commander and SS Brigade Commander and Major General of the Waffen-SS .

Life

Like his father, the son of an officer embarked on a military career and at the beginning of the Second World War he was a lieutenant colonel and commander of the 5th artillery division of the 2nd Danish Field Artillery Regiment in Holbæk on Zealand . Kryssing was known for his ultra-conservative and strongly anti-communist sentiments. But he never joined the National Socialist Party.

Requested by the leadership of the Danish National Socialist Workers' Party (DNSAP) and with the approval of the Danish government, Kryssing became the first commander of the Frikorps Danmark on June 29, 1941 . Due to disputes between him and the National Socialists among the officers, he was replaced as commander on February 23, 1942 - while he was still training in Treskau near Posen . His successor was the National Socialist Danish life guard officer Christian Frederik von Schalburg .

Kryssing came to other SS units, first to the 5th SS Panzer Division "Wiking" , later to the 11th SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division "Nordland" and the III. SS Panzer Corps . Everywhere he showed himself to be an excellent artillery officer and was gradually promoted until, on August 1, 1943, he was one of the few foreigners to achieve the rank of SS Brigade Leader and Major General of the Waffen SS. In February 1944 he became commander of the SS combat group "Coast" , which was deployed to defend the north coast of Estonia , but resigned from active service in June of the same year for personal reasons. His two sons had died on the Eastern Front and his wife, who was a nurse in a German field hospital in Tallinn (Reval), was seriously injured in a bomb attack.

Kryssing and his wife spent the last months of the war in the SS recovery home "Externsteine" near Detmold . Here he surrendered to the American troops in April 1945, where - probably as a result of a misunderstanding - he suffered gunshot wounds on both lower legs. In June 1945 he was transferred to a British prisoner-of-war hospital and handed over to the Danish police a year later. On November 4, 1946, Kryssing was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment for his membership in the Waffen SS, but in May 1947 the sentence was reduced to four years on appeal. Because his time as a prisoner of war was credited to him, he was released in April 1948. The judgment was made after an addition to the Danish Penal Code , which was already heavily criticized at the time , stating that retrospectively all Danish volunteers who fought in Waffen SS units were punished for treason with no less than two years' imprisonment (see: Nazi trials in Denmark) .

In the years that followed, Kryssing repeatedly insisted that his cause should be resumed. He died in 1976 on his 85th birthday.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans Christian Bjerg: CP Kryssing . In: Svend Cedergreen Bech , Svend Dahl (eds.): Dansk biografisk leksikon . Founded by Carl Frederik Bricka , continued by Povl Engelstoft. 3. Edition. tape 8 : Kjærulf – Levetzow . Gyldendal, Copenhagen 1981, ISBN 87-01-77442-5 (Danish, biografiskleksikon.lex.dk - as of July 18, 2011).
  2. ↑ La Cour : Denmark under Besættelsen. Volume II, p. 514 f.
  3. ↑ Bundgård: Under hagekors og Dannebrog. P. 136 f.
  4. ↑ Tamm: Retsopgøret efter besættelsen. P. 280 ff.
personal data
SURNAME Kryssing, Christian Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kryssing, Christian Peder (Danish spelling)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish officer, SS brigade leader and major general of the Waffen SS
DATE OF BIRTH July 7, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Kolding
DATE OF DEATH 7th July 1976
Place of death Haderslev