Erich Blankenhorn

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Erich Blankenhorn (born March 14, 1878 in Karlsruhe , † January 15, 1963 in Badenweiler ) was a German officer in the Baden Army . He took part in the First World War as a professional soldier and as a major made it to the position of Chief of the General Staff at the State Commander Baden in Karlsruhe. As a colonel in the Baden state police, he was loyal to the Weimar Republic. Dismissed in 1933, from 1934 he was honorary director of the Baden Army Museum in Karlsruhe, now the Rastatt Military History Museum .

Life

Military background

After graduating from a high school in Karlsruhe stepped Blankenhorn 1896 as one-year volunteer the dragoons in the first Badisches Leib-Dragoon Regiment. 20 his hometown one. In 1897 he came to the 3rd Badisches Dragoon Regiment "Prince Karl" No. 22 in Mulhouse / Alsace as a flag junior .

A year later, the Dragoons was promoted to lieutenant . In 1909 he was promoted to lieutenant . In 1910 he switched to the hussars ; he was assigned to the 2nd Rhenish Hussar Regiment No. 9 in Strasbourg. From 1912 to 1914 he spent with the Great General Staff under Colonel General Helmuth von Moltke the Elder. J. in Berlin. In 1913 he was promoted to Rittmeister as an officer in the cavalry . In 1914 the captain was transferred to the Prussian Army General Staff .

From 1914 he served as Second General Staff Officer (Ib) and then as a substitute as First General Staff Officer (Ia) in the General Staff of the 4th Cavalry Division . He was deployed on the Western Front in France and "in the East". In 1915 he was involved in the fighting on the Eastern Front in Galicia and Poland as a member of the General Staff Army High Command 11th Army . He was later transferred to the general staff of Army Group Mackensen , which took part in the Balkan campaigns in Macedonia and Serbia . In 1916 he became the first general staff officer of the 35th Reserve Division . He was employed in the General Staff of the 1st Army in 1916 and as the first General Staff Officer in the General Staff of the 240th Division in Upper Alsace in 1917. In 1917 it was also used by the Chief of the General Staff of the Field Army in Bad Kreuznach. In 1918 he became a general staff officer of the 236th division that took part in the 1918 German spring offensive . In 1918 he was commanded as a major to the general staff of the German Alpine Corps , which was involved in the defensive battles in the west and in the retreat battles in Macedonia and Serbia.

After the demobilization in Munich in 1918, he became first general staff officer of General Command XVIII in 1919. AK / Salzburg. He was also involved in the establishment of the Reichswehr Brigade 14 in Karlsruhe. In 1919 he finally became chief of the general staff at the state commandant Baden in Karlsruhe. In 1920 he was retired from active service.

Baden police

In the course of the Versailles peace treaty , he was commissioned by the Baden Minister of the Interior, Adam Remmele (SPD), to install a "barracked security police". He made use of former soldiers and people's military units who were integrated into a police department and subordinated to the Ministry of the Interior (today riot police ). From 1920 to 1933, Colonel Police Blankenhorn was the head of the Baden State Police. He also headed the Badischer Police Sports Association until 1933.

He deployed the state police against both Communist and National Socialist enemies of the republic . He was loyal to the democratic republic of Baden during the Kapp Putsch in 1920 and the so-called Upper Baden riots in 1923 . In 1933 he tried to prevent Nazi flags from being hoisted on office buildings in Karlsruhe. After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists in 1933, he was placed in protective custody ; In April 1933 he was given interim retirement and in July 1933.

Museum management

He helped Karlsruhe a military history collection. In May 1934 it was opened to the public in the former stables of Karlsruhe Palace . He ran the "Badische Army Museum" (from 1936: "Army Museum Karlsruhe / German Wehr am Oberrhein") there on a voluntary basis. A library was also added, today the library of the Defense History Museum.

After the end of the war , he combined the relocated exhibits in the New Palace on the Florentinerberg in Baden-Baden. In 1949 the "Badisches Historisches Museum" was re-established. In 1956 it was relocated to Rastatt Castle ("Historisches Museum Schloß Rastatt"). The collection served as the basis for the Defense History Museum , which was placed under the Bundeswehr in 1969 .

Family and estate

Erich Blankenhorn's grave

Blankenhorn, Protestant, was born as the son of the viticulture researcher and founder of the German Viticulture Association Adolph Blankenhorn (1843–1906) and his wife Adolphine, nee. Blankenhorn (1845–1928), born as one of five children. Blankenhorn was from 1904 with Klara, geb. Dieckhoff, daughter of the police chief of Mulhouse i. E., married and father of three children, including the later diplomat Herbert Blankenhorn (1904–1991).

His estate with lectures on the history of Baden police and its activities in the Baden Police Department from 1919 to 1933 is in the State Archive of Baden-Wuerttemberg , State Archives Friborg as stock 1 Blankenhorn, Erich T secures.

The regional museum Markgräfler Museum Müllheim houses the "Badische Bibliothek" from the family estate, which was sponsored and preserved by Blankenhorn.

Awards

In 1952 Blankenhorn was awarded the Cross of Merit (Steckkreuz) of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Fonts (selection)

  • Guide to the Rastatt Castle Historical Museum . 3 volumes, Historical Museum Schloss Rastatt, Rastatt 1960 ff.

literature

  • Wolfram Hartig: A hundred years ago. Erich Blankenhorn and the founding of the Baden Security Police. In: Das Markgräflerland, Volume 2019, pp. 88–110
  • Reiner Haehling von Lanzenauer : Erich Blankenhorn . In: Blick in die Geschichte , 2007, 75, p. 1.
  • Kurt Hochstuhl : Police officer and promoter of sport. Colonel Erich Blankenhorn . in: Archive news Baden-Württemberg , 2011, 43, p. 24.
  • A. Rentschler: In memorian Erich Blankenhorn . In: Newsletter of the preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg 6 (1963) 1, p. 28.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Blankenhorn, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer
DATE OF BIRTH March 14, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Karlsruhe
DATE OF DEATH January 15, 1963
Place of death Badenweiler