Friedrich Altrichter

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Friedrich Altrichter (born September 3, 1890 in Berlin , † December 10, 1948 in the camp department No. 13 Karaganda near Bidaik , Karaganda Oblast , Kazakh SSR ) was a German lieutenant general of the Wehrmacht and influential military writer. From 1936 to 1939 he was a teacher at the war school in Dresden and in 1941 commander of the 1st Infantry Division .

Military background

Promotions

Prussian Army

Friedrich Altrichter, originally from Berlin, resigned in March 1910 as an ensign in the Grenadier Regiment "King Friedrich Wilhelm II." (1st Silesian) no. 10 of the Prussian army in Swidnica and was in the same year the military college in Neisse commanded . In May 1914 he was briefly assigned to the Danzig rifle factory .

After the outbreak of World War I he became adjutant of the replacement battalion of his regular regiment. The same task followed in 1914 with the stage inspection of the 9th Army and in 1915 with the 99th Reserve Infantry Brigade. In November 1917 he was with the staff of the 1st Battalion in Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 230; he eventually became a company commander. From January 1918 he was used as a battery leader in the Reserve Artillery Regiment No. 50. In addition, Altrichter was alternately active as second general staff officer with the staff of the 50th Reserve Division . At the end of the war, he was transferred to Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 229.

Reichswehr and lectureship

In the Reichswehr he was employed in infantry regiments until he became a teacher at the infantry school in 1929 . During this time his military writing began.

In October 1933 he became an officer for special use with the Chief of Army Command in the Reichswehr Ministry, General of the Infantry Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord , in Berlin. He also became a lecturer in defense science and defense psychology at the University of Frankfurt am Main . In March 1934 he came to Potsdam as a battalion commander for the 9th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment . His adjutants included Henning von Tresckow and Wolf Graf von Baudissin .

Wehrmacht and captivity

In 1936 he was at the Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg to the Dr. phil. PhD (topic: The mental powers of the German army in peace and in world wars ). In October 1936 he became course director (D) at the war school in Dresden . He taught a not inconsiderable number of young officers under the perceived "shock" of defeat in World War I, but he was not a representative of the stab in the back legend . In 1938 he was also commander of the 54th Infantry Regiment of the Wehrmacht . At the end of the year he was employed as a teaching group commander (A) at the war school.

After the beginning of the Second World War he was initially commander of the 188 Infantry Regiment of the 68th Infantry Division . From January 1940 to March 1941 he was responsible for infantry courses and parked in the Führerreserve . In July 1941 he was entrusted with the leadership of the 1st Infantry Division . From September 1941 to April 1942 he was in command of the 58th Infantry Division and received the German Cross in Gold on January 23, 1942 . From April 3 to May 31, 1942 Altrichter was again in the Führerreserve and was then commander of Division No. 154. In April 1945 he was still commander of the field training corps center.

As such, he was taken prisoner by the Soviets in May 1945 . In the prisoner of war camp 5110/48 Woikowo near Ivanovo , he came into contact with " anti-fascist officers " of the National Committee for Free Germany (NKFD), but without joining them. At the end of 1948 he died of heart failure in the Bedaik prison camp near Bidaik in the Kazakh SSR .

Military science work

Literature in the Weimar Republic

Even his work The Battle-Ready Company (1929) was described by the German-friendly Swiss officer Gustav Däniker as "valuable" for troop command and training.

According to the military sociologist Paul Klein et al. (1998), his sociological study The Psychological Forces of the German Army in Peace and World War (1932) is one of the most important military psychological publications during the Weimar Republic; it was sometimes published with Carl von Clausewitz 's main work compared and also honored at the time in the Anglo-American area by Paul F. Douglass . The British military historian Hew Strachan (2002) regards it as the “only serious analysis” of the fighting morale of the German army in the First World War. The German military historian Christian Stachelbeck (2013) also made a comparable assessment. Strachan (1996) described Altrichter as a patriotic but not uncritical observer of this time. The editors of the Allgemeine Schweizerische Militär-Zeitung (ASMZ) wrote a review as early as 1934 of "one of the most significant phenomena in the field of military psychology".

Publications in the time of National Socialism

Altrichter's next work The Essence of Soldier Education (1935) dealt with soldier education. This, too, was received positively in some cases, the German-friendly officer Eugen Bircher found that there was “a lot of inspiration for military instruction”. On the other hand, there were also many critics such as the history didactician Erich Less , who warned above all that the work would result in a “depersonalization” of the soldier. After the “ seizure of power ”, the work was initially written in such a way that it was “acceptable to the NSDAP”, according to Strachan. Altrichter wrote, among other things, that military training is “not just the conveyance of technical knowledge and physical skills”, but that “true soldierhood” has “its roots in the area of morality , it expresses itself in a certain mental attitude and is fulfilled to the highest degree heightened state sentiment, which is always ready to sacrifice life out of love for the people and fatherland . ”The volume has been published several times, most recently under the impression of the national socialist community. For example, it was said that one had to "relate to racial principles". The military historian Manfred Messerschmidt (1969) - the Altrichter counted among the “most productive theorists in the field of military education” - dealt in detail with the “overvaluations” of Altrichter and, above all, the problematic National Socialist components.

As the successor to Albert Dilthey's standard work Der Einjahrig-Freiwillige der Reserve-Officeraspantant and the officer of the infantry on leave , which appeared in the 54th edition in 1918, the publisher ES Mittler & Sohn in its commemorative publication of 1939 considered the old judge Der Officer of the leave of absence. (1935), which was last published for the 15th time.

Bircher, who reviewed a work by Altrichter as early as 1935, found that Der Soldati Fuehrer (1938) was "a very excellent book", which he would recommend to every officer of all armed forces and from which he could learn a great deal. At the same time, he distanced himself from individual chapters with a “specifically German National Socialist worldview”.

The Swiss officer and lawyer Hans Ulrich von Erlach praised Altrichter's contribution Development of the Educational Principles of Offspring in the Prussian-German Army (1938) in a review on internalized soldierhood .

Overall view

As can be seen from specialist reviews by Erich Less , published, among others, in Wissen und Wehr , The Education and Journal for Child Research of the 1930s and 1940s, Altrichter was one of the trend-setting military psychologists of the Third Reich alongside Max Simoneit . All individual works (mostly the 1940s editions) were placed on the list of literature to be sorted out in 1946 by the German Administration for Public Education in the Soviet Zone , where, among other things, militaristic works appeared.

In 1984 the doctorate historian and ministerial official Hans Karl Fritzsche , once a resistance fighter of July 20, 1944 , remarked in his memoirs: “Lieutenant Colonel von Altrichter considered himself a National Socialist because he wrote against backward commissioners and wanted to relax the training company. Even today he is denounced as a Nazi by older survivors of the regiment. But it wasn't at all. In some of his writings you can confidently delete the adjective 'National Socialist' and use it as 'reformist' and you have Count Baudissin, who was regimental adjutant at IR 9 at the time. The aim is nothing at all about, Inner Guidance to be said ', only so much that it is precisely in Potsdam reform ideas already for Reichswehr time in the air "were.

A small question from MPs Ulla Jelpke , Sevim Dağdelen , Hakkı Keskin , other MPs and the DIE LINKE parliamentary group in the German Bundestag addressed the research of the political television magazine Kontraste ( RBB ) on the topic of maintaining traditions in the Bundeswehr in 2009 . For example, in the training book Practicing and Shooting, Aid for Combat Service of the Army Office, individual passages from Altrichter's work The Nature of Soldier Education are printed, which the political scientist Wolfgang Gessenharter criticized in the report by Caroline Walter and Alexander Kobylinski . Brigadier General Walter Spindler , Head of Division II (Training) in the Army Office, commented: “Nonetheless, there are basic military wisdom that individual shooters and the leaders of units have to internalize. And basic military wisdom also existed during the 12 years of a totalitarian regime. "The then black and yellow federal government answered the small question with:" The content in question was not included in the documents in the understanding of 'Wehrmacht / Landsergeschichten'. "

Fonts (selection)

  • The company ready to fight. Practical guide for combat training. Mittler, Berlin 1929. (4th revised edition 1940)
  • The mental powers of the German army in peace and in world wars. Mittler, Berlin 1933 [ed. 1932]. (recognized as dissertation in 1936)
  • The essence of military education. Gerh. Stalling, Oldenburg et al. 1935. (Translation into Italian 1942; last edition 1943)
  • The officer of the leave of absence. Handbook for the officer and officer cadet for the leave status of all weapons. Mittler, Berlin 1936 [ed. 1935]. (15th revised edition 1943: Der Reserveoffizier. )
  • The soldier leader. Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg et al. 1938. (4th edition 1943)
  • with Friedrich von Cochenhausen , Wilhelm Dieckmann , Eberhard Kessel : Internalized soldierhood. Contributions to military education. Edited by the German Society for Defense Policy and Science , Mittler, Berlin 1938.

literature

  • Dermot Bradley , Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Markus Brockmann: The Generals of the Army 1921–1945. The military careers of the generals, as well as the doctors, veterinarians, intendants, judges and ministerial officials with the rank of general. (= Germany's generals and admirals; Part IV), Volume 1: Abberger – Bitthorn. Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, ISBN 3-7648-2423-9 , pp. 48-49.

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Irina V. Bezborodova: The generals of the Third Reich in Soviet hands. (= Publications of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on the Consequences of War . Vol. 4). Translation by Hermine Prügger, Association for the Promotion of Research into Consequences after Conflicts and Wars, Graz / Moscow 1998, ISBN 978-3-901661-03-7 , p. 27; different date of death (April 14, 1949) in Bradley et al. (1993).
  2. ^ Jürgen Förster : Wolf Graf von Baudissin in academia, Reichswehr and Wehrmacht. In: Rudolf J. Schlaffer , Wolfgang Schmidt (ed.): Wolf Graf von Baudissin 1907–1993. Modernizer between totalitarian rule and free order. Oldenbourg, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-486-58283-3 , p. 24.
  3. ↑ Register of persons. In: Military History Research Office (Hrsg.): Aufstand des Gewissens. The military resistance against Hitler and the Nazi regime 1933–1945. On behalf of the Federal Ministry of Defense, Mittler, Herford et al. 1985, ISBN 3-8132-0213-5 , p. 535.
  4. ↑ Georg Meyer: Effects of July 20, 1944 on the internal structure of the Wehrmacht and on the soldier's self-image in the run-up to the West German defense contribution until 1950/51. In: Thomas Vogel (Ed.): Uprising of conscience. Military resistance against Hitler and the Nazi regime 1933 to 1945. Volume accompanying the traveling exhibition of the Military History Research Office. Commissioned by the Military History Research Office, 5th completely revised and expanded edition, Mittler, Hamburg et al. 2000, ISBN 3-8132-0708-0 , p. 327.
  5. ^ Hew Strachan : The Morale of the German Army 1917-18. In: Hugh Cecil , Peter Liddle (Eds.): Facing Armageddon: The First World War Experience . Pen & Sword Books, Barnsley 1996, ISBN 0-85052-506-3 , pp. 395 f.
  6. ↑ Wilhelm Adam : The difficult decision. Autobiography. 15th edition, Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1974, p. 403.
  7. ↑ Gustav Däniker : The combat-ready company . In: Allgemeine Schweizerische Militär-Zeitung 75 = 95 (1929) 6, p. 314.
  8. ^ Paul Klein , Peter Michael Kozielski: The military and the social sciences in Germany . In: Paul Klein, Andreas Prüfert (ed.): Military and science in Europe - critical distance or helpful addition? 25 years of the Military and Social Sciences Working Group (= Military and Social Sciences . Volume 23). Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden 1998, ISBN 3-7890-5758-4 , p. 19.
  9. ↑ Paul F. Douglass : The mental powers of the German army in peace and in world wars by Friedrich Altrichter . In: Books Abroad 8 (1934) 2, p. 199.
  10. ↑ a b Hew Strachan : Training, fighting spirit and the two world wars . In: Bruno Thoss , Hans-Erich Volkmann (ed.): First World War - Second World War. A comparison. War, war experience, war experience in Germany . Commissioned by the Military History Research Office, Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2002, ISBN 3-506-79161-3 , p. 280.
  11. ↑ Christian Stachelbeck : Germany's Army and Navy in the First World War (= contributions to military history / military history compact . Vol. 5). Oldenbourg, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-486-71299-5 , p. 191.
  12. ^ Hew Strachan : The Morale of the German Army 1917-18 . In: Hugh Cecil , Peter Liddle (Eds.): Facing Armageddon: The First World War Experience . Pen & Sword Books, Barnsley 1996, ISBN 0-85052-506-3 , p. 388.
  13. ↑ Red .: The mental powers of the German army in peace and in world wars. In: Allgemeine Schweizerische Militär-Zeitung . 80 = 100 (1934) 3, pp. 183-184.
  14. ↑ Eugen Bircher : The essence of military education . In: Allgemeine Schweizerische Militär-Zeitung. 83 = 103 (1937) 4, p. 309.
  15. ↑ Uwe Hartmann : Education - no thanks? Why the Bundeswehr needs a return to military training. In: Uwe Hartmann, Claus von Rosen , Christian Walther (eds.): Jahrbuch Innereführung 2009. Hartmann, Miles-Verlag, Eschede 2009, ISBN 978-3-9-37885-18-6 , p. 153.
  16. ↑ Jörg Echternkamp : In the fight on the inner and outer front. Basic features of German society in the Second World War. In: The German Reich and the Second World War Volume 9. Volume 9: The German War Society 1939 to 1945. Half Volume 1: Politicization, Destruction, Survival. On behalf of the Military History Research Office, ed. by Jörg Echternkamp, ​​DVA, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-421-06236-6 , p. 54.
  17. ^ Manfred Messerschmidt : The Wehrmacht and the Volksgemeinschaft. In: Journal of Contemporary History . 18 (1983) 4, pp. 719-744.
  18. ^ Manfred Messerschmidt : Education and upbringing in the civil and military system. In: Manfred Messerschmidt, Klaus A. Maier , Werner Rahn , Bruno Thoss : Military history. Problems, theses, ways. (= Contributions to military and war history . Volume 25). On behalf of the Military History Research Office. DVA, Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-421-06122-X , p. 210.
  19. ↑ Manfred Messerschmidt : The Wehrmacht in the Nazi state. Time of indoctrination. With an introduction by Johann Adolf Graf Kielmansegg , v. Decker, Hamburg 1969, p. 170.
  20. ^ A b Manfred Messerschmidt : The Wehrmacht in the Nazi state. Time of indoctrination. With an introduction by Johann Adolf Graf Kielmansegg , v. Decker, Hamburg 1969, p. 163 ff .; mentioned here only 14th edition.
  21. ^ One hundred and fifty years of ES Mittler & Sohn, publishing bookstore and printing house, 1789–1939. Festschrift for March 3, 1939, the day of remembrance d. 150 years of existence. Mittler, Berlin 1939, p. 170.
  22. ^ Eugen Bircher : The soldier leader. In: Allgemeine Schweizerische Militär-Zeitung. 84 = 104 (1938) 10, p. 656.
  23. ↑ Hans Ulrich von Erlach : Internalized soldierhood. In: Allgemeine Schweizerische Militär-Zeitung. 105 (1939) 5, pp. 333-334.
  24. ^ Benjamin Ortmeyer : Erich Less and the Nazi era. Research paper. (= Frankfurt contributions to educational science. Series of research reports, 7.3). University of Frankfurt am Main , Faculty of Education, Frankfurt am Main 2008, ISBN 978-3-9810879-5-6 , pp. 205 ff.
  25. ↑ see: German Administration for National Education in the Soviet Occupation Zone (ed.): List of the literature to be sorted out . As of April 1, 1946, Deutscher Zentralverlag, Berlin 1946.
  26. ↑ Hans Karl Fritzsche : A life in the shadow of treason. Memories of a survivor on July 20, 1944. (= Herder Library . Vol. 1152). Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau et al. 1984, ISBN 3-451-08152-0 , p. 31.
  27. ↑ a b Answer of the Federal Government to the minor question from the MPs Ulla Jelpke, Sevim Dagdelen, Dr. Hakki Keskin, another MP and the DIE LINKE parliamentary group (printed matter 16/12953). German Bundestag, printed matter 16/13164, May 27, 2009, p. 3 f.
  28. ↑ Caroline Walter, Alexander Kobylinski: Unfortunate Traditions - How Much Wehrmacht is there in the Bundeswehr? . Contrasts ( RBB ), April 9, 2009.
personal data
SURNAME Altrichter, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lieutenant general, military writer
DATE OF BIRTH September 3, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH December 10, 1948
Place of death Camp section No. 13 Karaganda near Bidaik , Karaganda Oblast , Kazakh SSR