Friedrich von Rabenau

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Friedrich von Rabenau (1937)

Friedrich von Rabenau (born October 10, 1884 in Berlin , † April 14 or 15, 1945 in Flossenbürg concentration camp ) was a German officer (most recently retired general of the artillery ), Protestant theologian and victim of National Socialism .

Life

Friedrich von Rabenau was the youngest of three children of the gynecologist Friedrich Ludwig Eberhard von Rabenau and his wife Wally, nee. Noebel, born. His eight years older brother Karl Wilhelm Friedrich von Rabenau (born May 24, 1876 in Vienenburg / Harz; † November 22, 1952 in Werchow / Kreis Calau) was a German naval, colonial and army officer and farmer who from 1904 to 1905 participated in the suppression of the Nama uprising in the former German colony of German South West Africa in the Battle of Kub . His older sister was Elsa Mathilde Emma Hütterott, geb. v. Rabenau. Friedrich von Rabenau is the uncle of Reinhard Gehlen , who was the first foreign intelligence service in the post-war period to set up the Gehlen organization , which served as the predecessor organization of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and whose first president Gehlen was to become until 1968. After the early death of his father in 1885, von Rabenau grew up in the house of his grandfather and city councilor Ernst Noebel in Eberswalde .

Friedrich von Rabenau, who originally wanted to become a pastor, began his career as a professional officer in 1903 as a squire with the field artillery regiment "Hochmeister" No. 72 in Danzig-Marienwerder , because his widowed mother could not pay for a degree. During the First World War he was, among other things, first general staff officer of the 1st Guard Reserve Division . After the end of the World War, he fought against the Red Army in the Baltic States during the Latvian War of Independence .

From 1922 to 1927 he was an employee of the troop office in the Reichswehr Ministry and was promoted to major in 1924 and lieutenant colonel in 1929 . From 1927 to 1930 he was commander of the 2nd division of field artillery regiment 1 in Königsberg , then first general staff officer in the staff of group command 2 in Kassel. From 1932 to 1936 he attended war history lectures at the universities in Breslau and Münster . In 1932 he was promoted to colonel and commandant of Breslau , where from 1933 conflicts arose between him and the police chief and SA leader Edmund Heines . Rabenau received anonymous death threats against himself and his family, which only stopped after the " Röhm Putsch " and the SA's disempowerment. At the same time he gave lectures at the University of Breslau , for which he was awarded an honorary doctorate in philosophy in 1935. From 1934 to 1936, as major general, he was chief of the military replacement inspection in military district VI in Münster . During this time, Rabenau became friends with the then Bishop of Münster, Clemens August Graf von Galen .

In 1936 he was commissioned by the then Chief of the General Staff, Colonel General Ludwig Beck , to set up an independent central German army archive in Potsdam for the first time , based on the Reich Archives . As “chief of the army archives”, he was also responsible for the army and war archives in Dresden, Stuttgart and Munich, and later also those in Vienna, Prague and Gdansk. The scientific seriousness of the collected sources was more important to him, and he wanted to prevent ideological falsifications.

A cousin of his, Pastor Eitel-Friedrich von Rabenau , an active member of the Confessing Church , wrote to him in letters, in which he asked to stand in the church fight for the Confessing Church and to move the fight against National Socialism from the purely ecclesiastical to the political wear. Friedrich von Rabenau's turn to theology was the logical consequence of his intellectual preoccupation with the question of the ethical meaning of being a soldier. His Christian convictions made him an early opponent of National Socialism . He made his anti-National Socialist attitude clear in his entire literary work, something that was not hidden from those in power in the Nazi state. New editions of his writings were partly forbidden, and any writings that appeared (in particular the biography of Hans von Seeckts ) were subject to recognizable censorship. Von Rabenau also demonstrated his deep Christian commitment through his membership in the Order of St. John . Although the Nazi regime did not like it, he, like many of his fellow knights, as a legal knight of the Order of St. John, wore the symbol of the order in public in his uniform. As a Protestant Christian and general, he stood up resolutely and successfully to the then Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler for the preservation of the Maria Laach Abbey , which Cardinal Graf von Galen had asked him to do in Münster. This mission made him suspect once more among the National Socialists.

In autumn 1937 von Rabenau signed the declaration of the 96 Protestant church leaders against Alfred Rosenberg because of his writing Protestant Rome Pilgrims .

Rabenau did not join any resistance group, but became a liaison between Colonel General Ludwig Beck and Carl Friedrich Goerdeler , whom he knew from his service in Königsberg. In this function he became a consultant and member of the Kreisau Circle around Helmuth James Graf von Moltke and Peter Graf Yorck von Wartenburg .

During the attack on Poland he was in command of the 73rd Infantry Division , then again head of the army archives, and since 1940 with the rank of general of the artillery . After the experience of the attack on Poland, he criticized Hitler's inhuman warfare. With this and the adherence to his Christian creed, Rabenau made himself unpopular, was relieved of his position in 1942 and put into early retirement ( Führer reserve ). At the age of 59 he studied Protestant theology at the University of Berlin and was awarded the title Licentiatus theologiae in 1943 . He did his doctorate on military chaplaincy . In his sermons his growing rejection of National Socialist ideology became more and more evident.

Von Rabenau tried to win higher Wehrmacht leaders for the resistance and had personal talks with Generals Walther von Brauchitsch , Heinz Guderian and Friedrich Fromm . At the time as head of the Army Archives, these activities could be disguised as business trips. With his political stance, however, the Gestapo quickly became aware of him and from 1941 monitored his telephone and correspondence.

Memorial plaque in the former Flossenbürg concentration camp

His Christian faith forbade him to take part in the assassination attempt on Hitler . Nevertheless, after July 20, 1944, he was arrested as a confidante and on August 11, 1944, he was taken to the Berlin-Moabit military prison together with the resistance fighters Heinrich Graf zu Dohna and Ferdinand Freiherr von Lüninck . From there, von Rabenau was brought to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp on January 13, 1945 and then to the Buchenwald concentration camp , where he met the infantry general Alexander Freiherr von Falkenhausen , the former state secretary Hermann Pünder and the evangelical pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer , with whom he divided the cell, met. On April 14 or 15, 1945, Friedrich von Rabenau was one of the last inmates in the Flossenbürg concentration camp to be murdered on the express orders of Heinrich Himmler, without a case ever being opened against him or even a charge being brought against him. The date of his death comes out fairly precisely from an intercepted radio telegram to SS-Gruppenführer Richard Glücks and Heinrich Müller , which SS-Sturmbannführer Kurt Stawizki posted on April 15 at 8:03 a.m.

Von Rabenau was married to Eva Kautz and had two daughters.

Awards

Publications (selection military)

a) Articles and essays

  • Defense and culture. In: Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung. Special Volume No. 4685 v. November 26, 1936. The German Wehrmacht. Ullstein, Berlin 1936.
  • On the 90th anniversary of the death of Field Marshal von Boyen. In: Military Scientific Review. 3rd year 1938, issue 1, Verlag ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1938.
  • On the 125th year of Scharnhorst's death. In: Monthly of the German Society for Defense Policy and Defense Sciences. May 1938, issue 4, Verlag ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1938.

b) books

  • The old army and the young generation. Mittler, Berlin 1925.
  • Operational decisions against a numerically superior opponent. Mittler, Berlin 1935.
  • Seeckt. v. Hase & Koehler, Leipzig 1938.
    • Hans von Seeckt. From my life 1866–1917.
    • Hans von Seeckt. From his life 1918–1936.
  • Scharnhorst after 1808 – Seeckt after 1918. Regional history association for the Mark Brandenburg, Berlin 1939.
  • Book and sword. Speech on the occasion of the autumn events for German literature on October 18, 1940. Bibliographical Institute, Leipzig 1940.
  • Of the mind and soul of the soldier. Rather, Berlin 1940.
  • Spiritual and emotional problems in the current war. Rather, Berlin 1940.
  • The sense of being a soldier. Du Mont Schauberg, Cologne 1941.

He also wrote forewords and prefaces:

  • Memories and documents from Marshal Josef Pilsudski, Volume III Military Lectures. Essen Publishing House, Essen 1935–36.
  • World armor by Michael Freund, Essen publishing house, Essen 1936. from: List of literature to be sorted out . (Berlin: Zentralverlag, 1946), German administration for popular education in the Soviet zone of occupation
  • Moltke. A role model from Colonel General v. Seeckt, 2nd edition, Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1938.

Publications (selection theological)

  • Serious layman's thoughts. (Manuscript) Berlin 1943.
  • 19 lay sermons. (Manuscript) Berlin 1943.
  • The development of the basic features of the German army chaplaincy up to 1929 with special consideration of the 100,000-man army. (Licentiate writing) Berlin 1943.

Memorial sites

Friedrich von Rabenau is remembered in the following public places:

  • Honor plaque for victims of the resistance of July 20, 1944 in the permanent exhibition of the German Resistance Memorial Center, Berlin, 1968.
  • Memorial plaque in the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial, courtyard of the detention building, 1970.
  • Memorial plaque in the Komturkirche of the Order of St. John Nieder-Weisel , 1984.
  • Commemorative plaque in the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial, entrance to the detention cell of the SS barracks, 1999.
  • Memorial plaque in the St. Egidienkirche, Rabenau, 2004.

Furthermore, the user room of the Federal Archives - Military Archives in Freiburg / Brsg. named after him in July 2002.

literature

  • Kurt von Rabenau: Chronicle of the von Rabenau family. Part III D, Schertendorf House, Luisenlund 1927.
  • Wilhelm Vorberg: Friedrich v. Rabenau. A picture of life. Unpublished manuscript, no details, ca.1950.
  • Reinhard v. Plessen: soldier and theologian. On the 15th anniversary of the death of General d. Art. Dr.hc.Lic. Friedrich v. Rabenau. In: German Aristocratic Archives. No. 4, April 15, 1960, pp. 72-73.
  • Hans-Wendel v. Rabenau: In Memoriam Friedrich v. Rabenau. In: Deutsches Adelsblatt. No. 4, April 15, 1985, pp. 79 ff, Kirchbrak, 1985.
  • Hans-Joachim Ramm: Christian elements in the military resistance against Hitler. In: Contributions from the Ev. Military chaplaincy. 1/1992.
  • Reinhard v. Plessen: Friedrich von Rabenau. Soldier in resistance out of Christian responsibility. Self-published, Celle 1994.
  • Horst Mühleisen : Friedrich von Rabenau: soldier, archivist and scholar. On the fiftieth anniversary of his death. In: Archival Journal. 79: 127-140 (1996). [1]
  • Hans-Joachim Ramm: officer, Christian and academic. In: "... always responsible to someone higher ..." Basic Christian beliefs in internal military resistance against Hitler. Hänssler, Neuhausen 1996, ISBN 3-7751-2635-X , pp. 241-249.
  • Reinhard v. Plessen: Friedrich von Rabenau: Military, Christian, Oppositionist. In: Damals No. 6/1998, pp. 35–38.
  • From war school to parliament. Historical notes on the Am Havelblick building complex 8. Ed. President of the Brandenburg State Parliament. In: Writings of the Landtag Brandenburg. Issue 3/2000.
  • Manfred Kehrig:  Rabenau, Friedrich v .. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-11202-4 , p. 67 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Gerhard Ringshausen : The theologian and General Friedrich v. Rabenau. In: Ders .: Resistance and Christian Faith in the Face of National Socialism. Lüneburg Theological Contributions, Volume 3, 2nd edition, Lüneburg 2008.
  • Hans-Joachim Ramm: My faith sustains me. Friedrich von Rabenau. General and Christian in the resistance. Diary of a Gestapo detention. Saarbrücken 2011, ISBN 978-3-8416-0218-3 .
  • Ines Reich: Potsdam and July 20, 1944. On the trail of the resistance against National Socialism. Accompanying document to the exhibition of the Military History Research Office and the Potsdam Museum . Rombach, Freiburg im Breisgau 1994, ISBN 3-7930-0697-2 , pp. 87 f.

Web links

Commons : Friedrich von Rabenau  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Weierud, Frode: The Murder of General Friedrich von Rabenau
  2. ↑ Müller, Rolf-Dieter, 1948-: Reinhard Gehlen, head of the secret service in the background of the Bonn Republic: the biography . 1st edition. Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-86153-966-7 , pp. 97 .
  3. ^ A b Willfried Meyer: Conspirators in the concentration camp. Volume No. 5 Edition Hentrich Berlin 1999
  4. ^ Wilhelm Lenz : The German Reich Policy, the Bermondt Company and the Baltic Germans 1918/1919 . In: Boris Meissner , Dietrich André Loeber, Detlef Henning (eds.): The German ethnic group in Latvia during the interwar period and current issues in German-Latvian relations . Bibliotheca Baltica, Tallinn 2000, ISBN 9985-800-21-4 , pp. 15–39, here p. 21.
  5. ^ Wilhelm Lenz: The German Reich Policy, the Bermondt Company and the Baltic Germans 1918/1919 . In: Boris Meissner, Dietrich André Loeber, Detlef Henning (eds.): The German ethnic group in Latvia during the interwar period and current issues in German-Latvian relations . Bibliotheca Baltica, Tallinn 2000, ISBN 9985-800-21-4 , pp. 15–39, here pp. 21–23.
  6. ↑ Friedrich Siegmund-Schultze (Ed.): Ecumenical Yearbook 1936–1937 . Max Niehans, Zurich 1939, pp. 240–247.
  7. ^ Günter Brakelmann: Peter Yorck von Wartenburg 1904–1944, Eine Biographie , CH Beck oHG, Munich 2012, pp. 170–171.
  8. ^ Günter Brakelmann: Helmuth James von Moltke 1907-1945, Eine Biographie , CH Beck oHG, Munich 2007, p. 148.
  9. ^ Estate in the Federal Archives
  10. ↑ uprising of conscience. ES Mittler & Sohn GmbH, Herford 1985, pp. 112-114.
  11. ^ A b Willfried Meyer: Conspirators in the concentration camp. Volume No. 5 Edition Hentrich Berlin 1999, p. 330
  12. ↑ "... and the rope is waiting for all of them". The Lehrter Strasse cell prison ... "by Tuchel, Johannes
  13. ↑ Heiko Roskamp: Persecution and Resistance. Tiergarten - A district caught between 1933–1945 history . Berlin 1988, p. 115.
  14. ↑ Manfred Kehrig: Rabenau, Friedrich von
  15. ↑ The Murder of General Friedrich von Rabenau When, Where and How Did It Happen? , on cryptocellar.org
  16. ↑ a b c d e Ranking list of the German Imperial Army. Ed .: Reichswehr Ministry , Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1924, p. 141.
  17. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: database font and image 1900–1960@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.polunbi.de
personal data
SURNAME Rabenau, Friedrich von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German artillery general, theologian and military historian
DATE OF BIRTH October 10, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 14, 1945 or April 15, 1945
Place of death Flossenbürg concentration camp