Gustav Halwax

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Gustav Halwax (born October 30, 1910 in Istvánvölgy ( German  Heideschüte ), Kingdom of Hungary , Austria-Hungary ; † September 1942 near Romny , Ukraine ) was the German publisher of the newspapers “Volksruf” and “Volk und Arbeit” in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia . As SS-Untersturmführer he was temporarily entrusted with the recruitment of " ethnic Germans " for the Waffen SS during World War II .

Life

Halwax received his school education in Vršac (German Werschetz ) and in Vrbas (German Werbass ). In the meantime he lived in Berlin , where he studied science, theology and economics, did his doctorate and dealt with the National Socialist ideology . During his vacation stays in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, he expressed his sympathy for the National Socialist movement, which is why the Yugoslav authorities arrested him and withheld his passport. Shortly afterwards he founded the “ Comradeship of the Renewal Movement ” with like-minded young National Socialists within the Swabian-German Cultural Association , which challenged the established and conservative leadership of the federal government. After he and his conspirators had been expelled from the League, he devoted himself to the publication of the renewal newspapers “Volksruf” and “Volk und Arbeit”.

Halwax became one of the leading and most influential ideologues of the renewal movement. In this position he often gave indoctrinating readings, which he addressed to the youth of the movement. In 1937 he reached an agreement with the fascist Yugoslav movement "Zbor" for cooperation and mutual support. In 1939 Halwax returned to Berlin and was naturalized in the German Reich with a certificate dated July 15, 1940 . On July 5, 1940, his SS personal sheet led him to the position of SS-Oberscharführer and chief of staff of the German renewal movement in Yugoslavia . On September 4th he was accepted into the Waffen SS. After participating in the western campaign , he was transferred from his SS office from France to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

After the German occupation of the Serbian Banat, Halwax received the order from then Waffen SS group leader Paul Hausser to hold a sample there with four acceptance commissions in the German-speaking communities. In this function he was to add new recruits to the SS disposal division “Das Reich” (mot.) (1941–1943) from December 1940 , for which there were no statutory requirements. Initially, his activity was viewed by the ethnic group leadership around Josef Janko as "interference in the internal affairs of the ethnic group leadership", which the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (VoMi) requested to recall Halwax to Germany on the grounds that he was under the "camouflage of organizing a labor service SS- To establish standards among the ethnic Germans ”. Halwax was recalled by " wire decree of January 17, 1941, which the German embassy in Belgrade brought to his attention".

However, Halwax returned to Novi Sad (German: Neusatz ) at the beginning of March with the task of mustering suitable men for military service within the framework of the sports business of the German minority, in order to bring them to a "sports organization" to be set up by him and to "discipline" them. Because of the pro-British military coup in Belgrade at the end of March and the resulting German attack on Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941, recruiting under the cover of sports teams was no longer necessary. Altogether Halwax led the SS disposal division "Das Reich" (motorized) (1941-1943) to April / May 1941 about 600 recruits, who were deployed under his leadership in the Ukraine. Halwax, now SS-Untersturmführer, died there in September 1941 in fighting for Romny .

After his death in occupied Serbia, a paramilitary “ethnic German” vigilante group of the “German team” was named after Gustav Halwax. He was revered as a hero by the “ethnic German” propaganda. The name was given as an attempt to maintain the ideological connection between the various members of the “German Team” and the Waffen-SS, in which not only the ethnic but also the family and personal threads were woven into a large German whole .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d e Marius Turda: The History of East-Central European Eugenics, 1900-1945: Sources and Commentaries. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015. ISBN 1-47253-136-1 , p. 534.
  2. ^ Johann Böhm : The German ethnic group in Yugoslavia 1918-1941: Domestic and foreign policy as symptoms of the relationship between the German minority and the Yugoslav government. Peter Lang Verlag, 2009. ISBN 3-63159-557-3 , p. 336.
  3. ^ A b c Hans-Ulrich Wehler : Nationality Policy in Yugoslavia. The German minority 1918-1978. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1980. ISBN 3-52501-322-1 , p. 60.
  4. ^ Johann Böhm: The German ethnic group in Yugoslavia 1918-1941: Domestic and foreign policy as symptoms of the relationship between the German minority and the Yugoslav government. Peter Lang Verlag, 2009. ISBN 3-63159-557-3 , p. 337.
  5. ^ Thomas Casagrande: The Volksdeutsche SS-Division "Prinz Eugen": the Banat Swabians and the National Socialist war crimes. Campus Verlag, 2003. ISBN 3-59337-234-7 , p. 267.
personal data
SURNAME Halwax, Gustav
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German editor and SS-Untersturmführer
DATE OF BIRTH October 30, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Istvánvölgy , Kingdom of Hungary , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH September 1942
Place of death Romny , Ukraine