Günther Smend
Günther Smend (born November 29, 1912 in Trier ; † September 8, 1944 in Berlin-Plötzensee ) was a German officer and resistance fighter from July 20, 1944 .
Life
Günther Smend was born in Trier as the son of Captain Julius Smend. After a war injury father was taken to the Defense Ministry to Berlin added. There Smend attended grammar school in Friedenau . In 1924, the family moved to Mülheim an der Ruhr , where Smend 1932 at the State High School graduated.
In the same year Smend entered the Reichswehr as an officer candidate . As first lieutenant and chief of the 8th (MG) company in Infantry Regiment 18 , he was deployed in France and on the Eastern Front after the start of the Second World War . In March 1939 he married Renate von Cossel in Düsseldorf.
On April 1, 1943, Smend was transferred to the General Staff and on June 12, 1943, he was appointed Adjutant to the Army Chief of Staff , Colonel General Kurt Zeitzler . He came into contact with resistance groups within the General Staff and learned of the plans to assassinate Hitler. He tried in vain to persuade his superior Zeitzler to take part in the conspiracy, but the colonel general proved to be devoted to the Führer. After the assassination attempt on July 20, 1944 , Smend was arrested the next day, released a short time later and arrested again on August 1st; his accomplishment and his failed recruitment attempt were his undoing.
On August 30, 1944, he was sentenced to death by the People's Court under its president Roland Freisler as a confidante and on September 8, 1944 with a wire loop in Plötzensee together with the five other convicts Georg Alexander Hansen , Ulrich von Hassell , Paul Lejeune-Jung , Ulrich Wilhelm Graf Schwerin von Schwanenfeld and Josef Wirmer killed.
Smend had three children: Henriette, Rudolf and Axel. He was a lieutenant colonel in the general staff and bearer of the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class; on November 22, 1941, he was also awarded the German Cross in Gold.
In Lüneburg, where the family lived since January 1943, there is a memorial plaque for Günther Smend in the St. Nicolai Church .
literature
- Jens Roepstorff: Lieutenant Colonel Günther Smend - an officer from Mülheim in the resistance against Hitler , Mülheimer Jahrbuch 2005, pp. 213-214.
Other sources
- City Archives Mülheim an der Ruhr, 1550 No. 88
- City Archives Mülheim an der Ruhr, inventory 2001/1 No. 238
Web links
- Article about Günther Smend on the website of the Mülheim an der Ruhr city archive
- Short biography of the German Resistance Memorial Center
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ July 20, 1944. Plötzensee Memorial , 2003, accessed on February 17, 2019 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Smend, Günther |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German resistance fighter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 29, 1912 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | trier |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 8, 1944 |
| Place of death | Berlin-Plötzensee |