Leader Accompanying Command

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The Führer Accompanying Command in action

The Führerbegleitkommando ( FBK ) was a unit established on February 29, 1932 at the instigation of Heinrich Himmler , which was entrusted with the personal protection of Adolf Hitler . The Führer Accompanying Command should not be confused with the “Command for the Protection of the Führer” (Kriminalkommando, Kommando z. B. V.), established as an independent unit in 1933, or the Führer Accompanying Battalion provided by the Wehrmacht during the Second World War . While the Kriminalkommando was absorbed into the Reich Security Service in 1934 , the Führer Accompanying Command remained as an independent unit until 1945.

history

Hitler and Mussolini with a driver during a Wehrmacht maneuver in 1937

After Hitler had been accompanied by various bodyguards since the early 1920s, his personal protection was put on a new basis in the spring of 1932, in the run-up to the Reichstag elections in July 1932 : Heinrich Himmler selected twelve SS men for this purpose , whom he met Hitler as a potential bodyguard. From these, Hitler selected eight, which from then on remained constantly in his vicinity as the narrowest ring of his personal personal protection under the name of the Führerbegleitkommando.

The eight men who made up the original Fuhrer Accompanying Command were:

The Führer Accompanying Command appeared for the first time during Hitler's campaign trips in 1932. In March 1933, the Führer Accompanying Command faced competition from the Himmler Command to protect the Führer , which, according to Hitler's inclination, had several organizations with identical responsibilities standing side by side and competing for his favor was entrusted with the same tasks. In contrast to the Fuehrer Accompanying Command, whose members were mainly long-serving SS “ruffians” without special training, the command to protect the Fuehrer consisted of professional detectives with experience in personal protection.

Since 1934, the members of the Führer Accompanying Command were administratively part of the staff of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler , founded in 1933, Hitler's personal bodyguard. The leader escort command was increased several times by the end of the war. From 1937 there were 17, from 1939 30 and from July 1941 53 men. From January 13, 1943 until the end of the war in 1945, the Führer Accompanying Command consisted of 31 officers and 112 NCOs.

The Führer Accompanying Command existed until Hitler's death on April 30, 1945. Its last commander, Franz Schädle, shot himself one day after Hitler's suicide . The hauptsturmführer Helmut Beermann was at the outbreak of the Reich Chancellery to the night of May 2, 1945 Russian troops escape.

In the post-war period , the surviving members of the Kommando were frequently questioned by historians as witnesses investigating the history of the Nazi era in general and Hitler's political and private biography in particular.

Miscellaneous
On December 15, 1937, the SD leader of the SS-Oberabschnitt-West initiated disciplinary proceedings against Willy Herzberger because he had used a man named Hermann Rix with multiple criminal records as an agent and had recommended the customs investigation office as an employee as well as a personal friendship with him was received, which was considered to be incompatible with his service interests. These proceedings were discontinued in 1939 due to Himmler's general SS amnesty in 1939.

On February 19, 1942, Herzberger was arrested because he "had, in breach of duty, contributed to the release of imprisoned Jews from protective custody" after their relatives had paid substantial sums of money to the economic office run by the Jew Weiss and the detective, Siedler. Herzberger had received loans and gifts from Weiss and Siedler. On August 29, 1942, the SS and Police Court III sentenced him to a prison term of ten years for “ military disobedience , severe passive bribery and unfaithfulness”. In the renegotiation on October 25, 1943, he was first sentenced to a prison term of twelve years and revocation of civil rights for a period of twelve years, expelled from the SS and declared unworthy of defense. Later the prison sentence was increased to 15 years and the revocation of civil rights was reduced to ten years.

tasks

The driver escort command in and on the escort vehicles

The Führer Accompanying Command had the task of shielding Hitler against attacks and harassment outside his apartments, official seats and headquarters. These tasks were u. a. on foot as well as on vehicles in columns of cars (see picture).

August Körber z. B. had to go to the front in the summer of 1944, as Hitler insisted that his bodyguards should also have experience at the front; Körber performed his front service with a mortar battery of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler .

Commanders of the Führer Escort Command

  • March to autumn 1932: Bodo Gelzenleuchter
  • Autumn 1932 to April 11, 1933: Willy Herzberger
  • April 11, 1933 to June 15, 1934: Kurt Gildisch
  • June 15, 1934 to December 1944 / January 1945: Bruno Gesche
  • January to April 1945: Franz Schädle

Although the respective commanders were formally subordinate to Sepp Dietrich from the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, they received their orders directly from Hitler or, in recent years, from his chief adjutant Julius Schaub .

Other members (selection)

See also

literature

  • Peter Hoffmann : The security of the dictator. R. Pieper & Co., Munich 1975, ISBN 3-492-02120-4 .
    • Peter Hoffmann: Hitler's Personal Security: Protecting the Fuhrer 1921-1945 . 2nd Edition. Da Capo Press, New York, USA 2000, ISBN 0-306-80947-8 (English).
  • Thomas Fischer: From Berlin to Caen: Development and use of the division and corps artillery of the LAH 1939–1945. Helios, 2004, ISBN 3-933608-99-6 .
  • Rochus Misch : The last witness. I was Hitler's operator, courier, and bodyguard. Piper, Zurich / Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-86612-194-2 .
  • SS Fuehrer Personnel File August Koerber, Federal Archives Lichterfelde.
  • Documents of the Reichsführer SS and Chief of German Police. US National Archives - NARA T175.
  • Uwe Bahnsen , James O'Donnell: The Catacomb - The End in the Reich Chancellery. 1st edition, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1975, ISBN 3-421-01712-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anton Joachimsthaler : Hitler's List. A document of personal relationships , Herbig 2003, ISBN 3-7766-2328-4 , p. 235.
  2. ^ Peter Hoffmann : Resistance, coup d'état, assassination. The fight of the opposition against Hitler, Ullstein 1969, ISBN 3-548-03077-7 , p. 646.
  3. ↑ Peter Hoffmann: The security of the dictator. Piper 1975, ISBN 3-492-02120-4 .
  4. ↑ Der Spiegel 15/1976. Retrieved February 19, 2014 .
  5. ↑ Peter Hoffmann: Hitler's Personal Security. Protecting the Fuhrer 1921-1945. P. 54.
  6. ^ Sven Felix Kellerhoff : The Myth of the Führerbunker: Hitler's Last Refuge. Berlin Story Verlag 2006, ISBN 3-929829-43-6 , p. 95.
  7. ↑ Uwe Bahnsen, James O'Donnell: The catacomb - the end in the Reich Chancellery. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt , first edition 1975 Stuttgart, ISBN 3-421-01712-3 , p. 17.
  8. ↑ Peter Hoffmann: Hitler's Personal Security. Protecting the Fuhrer 1921-1945. Da Capo Press 2000, ISBN 0-306-80947-8 .
  9. ↑ Peter Hoffmann: The security of the dictator. R. Pieper & Co., Munich 1975, p. 73.
  10. ↑ Thomas Fischer: From Berlin to Caen: Development and use of the division and corps artillery of the LAH 1939–1945. Pp. 145, 165, 199.
  11. ↑ Peter Hoffmann: Hitler's Personal Security. Protecting the Fuhrer 1921-1945.
  12. ^ Anton Joachimsthaler: Hitler's end. Bechtermünz Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-8289-0285-5 , pp. 86, 229, 291, 317, 339, 346, 349.
  13. ^ Anton Joachimsthaler: Hitler's end. Bechtermünz Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-8289-0285-5 , p. 464.
  14. ^ Anton Joachimsthaler: Hitler's end. Bechtermünz Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-8289-0285-5 , p. 463.
  15. ^ Anton Joachimsthaler: Hitler's end. P. 218.
  16. ↑ Hitler in the bunker - the real Hitler. In: Die Welt (book tip: The catacomb by Uwe Bahnsen and James P. O'Donnell).