Fritz Wiedemann (officer)

Fritz Wiedemann

Fritz Wiedemann (born August 16, 1891 in Augsburg , † January 11, 1970 in Eggenfelden ) was a German officer , Adolf Hitler's adjutant and German diplomat. He had a longstanding relationship with Stéphanie zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst .

Life

After graduating from high school , Wiedemann joined the 3rd Infantry Regiment “Prince Karl of Bavaria” of the Bavarian Army in 1910 as a flag boy . He graduated from the Munich War School in 1912 and was subsequently promoted to lieutenant . Due to an accident in the First World War , Wiedemann was only deployed on the Western Front from October 1915 and became an adjutant in the regimental staff of Reserve Infantry Regiment 16 . Adolf Hitler was also posted there and Wiedemann was his superior. This is how the two men got to know each other.

After the war - Hitler and Wiedemann initially lost sight of each other - he worked as a farmer in the Allgäu and finally in Neuhofen. He was also co-founder of the dairy of parish churches .

In 1921 he met Hitler by chance at the regiment meeting, where he offered him leadership of the SA . Wiedemann initially refused, but when the dairy ran into economic difficulties in 1933, he asked Hitler for help through Max Amann .

At the end of 1933, he was finally offered a position as adjutant to Rudolf Hess , which Wiedemann took up on February 1, 1934. A few days later, despite record lock to be joining the NSDAP . After ten months with his deputy Rudolf Hess, Wiedemann became Hitler's adjutant on January 1, 1935, in whose offices he introduced a more professional office organization thanks to his previous economic knowledge. At the same time he became NSKK Brigadefinder and from 1938 a member of the Reichstag . In his role, Wiedemann ensured that the wife of the music critic Wilhelm Schmid, who was murdered by the SS due to a confusion of names, was able to marry a non-Jew despite her Jewish roots - which was the prerequisite for the couple to emigrate to the USA. Wiedemann is also said to have supported Jewish war comrades from the First World War and helped them to leave the country. The historian Thomas Weber assumes, for example, that Wiedemann obtained a so-called letter of protection for his former comrade Ernst Hess, according to which Hess should not impose any further restrictions beyond the statutory provisions because of his parentage.

In his new office, Wiedemann was entrusted with various foreign missions. Among other things, he helped prepare the connection of Austria to the German Empire and was a liaison to Lord Halifax in London .

These trips created a certain distance between Wiedemann and his "Führer". When the latter finally came to the conclusion that Wiedemann - whom he always referred to as an "ultra-pessimist" - distrusted his politics , Hitler dismissed Wiedemann on January 19, 1939 and appointed him consul general in San Francisco . In the USA, Wiedemann finally developed into an opponent of Hitler and National Socialism. He contacted the British secret service and expressly warned the British and Americans about Hitler. His successes went to his head. He is one of the cruellest people in the world, there can be no peace with him. Wiedemann also informed the British about the status of the German attack plans on Great Britain and recommended that they strike hard as soon as possible.

With the closure of all consulates in America in June 1941, Wiedemann returned to Germany on July 16. He was appointed Consul General in Tianjin on August 7, 1941 and took over the business on December 17. There he was arrested by the Allies in September 1945 and transported to Germany. On October 7, 1945, he was a witness at the Nuremberg trial of the major war criminals . On May 5, 1948, he was released from witness custody.

Wiedemann withdrew into private life as a farmer for the last two decades of his life. During an interrogation on June 9, 1961, he testified to the murders of the sick by Operation T4 that this was a well-known project by Hitler:

“I can say with certainty that even before I left for San Francisco I became aware of Hitler's intention to exterminate the incurable sick - not just the incurable mentally ill - in the event of war. The motive stated was that they were unnecessary eaters. "

Fonts

• The man who wanted to become a general. Experiences and experiences of Hitler's superior in World War I and his later personal adjutant. blick + picture publishing house for political education , Velbert / Kettwig 1964 (Wiedemann's memoirs).
• The second winter of the war at Fromelles. In: Fridolin Solleder (Ed.): Four years on the western front. History of the List RIR regiment [= Reserve Infantry Regiment]. 16, Max Schick Verlag, Munich 1932 (= memorial sheets of German regiments. Bavarian Army. Ed. By the Bavarian War Archives. Vol. 76). Chapter 7 (PDF; 20.2 MB).
• The battle at Fromelles on July 19 and 20, 1916. In: Solleder: Four Years of the Western Front. 1932, chapter 8 (PDF; 17.7 MB).
• The summer battle. In: Solleder: Four Years of the Western Front. 1932, chapter 9 (PDF; 18.7 MB).
• On the Vimy heights. Trench warfare October 1916 to February 1917. In: Solleder: Four Years of the Western Front. 1932, chapter 10 (PDF; 10.9 MB).

literature

• Johannes Hürter (Red.): Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service 1871–1945. 5. T - Z, supplements. Published by the Foreign Office, Historical Service. Volume 5: Bernd Isphording, Gerhard Keiper, Martin Kröger: Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2014, ISBN 978-3-506-71844-0 , p. 272 ​​f.
• Edmund Glaise von Horstenau , Peter Broucek (ed.): A general in the twilight. The memories of Edmund Glaise von Horstenau. Volume 2: Minister in the corporate state and general in the OKW (= series "Publications of the Commission for Modern History of Austria", Vol. 70). Böhlau, Vienna 1983, ISBN 978-3-205-08743-4 . Footnote 88 with short vita on Wiedemann on p. 316 (excerpt in Google Books) .
• Robert Wistrich : Who was who in the Third Reich? Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1987, ISBN 3-596-24373-4 .
• Thomas Weber : Hitler's First War: Private Hitler in the First World War - Myth and Truth. Propylaen Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-549-07405-3 .
• Erich Stockhorst: 5000 people. Who was what in the 3rd Reich . Arndt, Kiel 2000, ISBN 3-88741-116-1 (unchanged reprint of the first edition from 1967).
• Joachim Lilla , Martin Döring, Andreas Schulz: extras in uniform: the members of the Reichstag 1933–1945. A biographical manual. Including the Volkish and National Socialist members of the Reichstag from May 1924 . Droste, Düsseldorf 2004, ISBN 3-7700-5254-4 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Fritz Wiedemann in the catalog of the German National Library
• Newspaper article about Fritz Wiedemann in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
• Fritz Wiedemann in the database of members of the Reichstag
• Florian Diekmann: Documents found: Hitler's superior at the front conspired with the British. In: Spiegel Online . 17th August 2012.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ This is how Hitler's adjutant saved a pair of lovers from racial madness. Focus, December 17, 2014, accessed February 11, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Hitler protected Jewish frontline officers. Die Welt, July 7, 2012, accessed on February 11, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Document found: Hitler's superior at the front conspired with the British in: Spiegel Online, August 17, 2012
4. ^ Quotation from Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . Fischer Taschenbuch 2005, p. 675, with reference to the source: Js 17/59 GStA Ffm.