Hans-Georg Benthack

Hans-Georg Benthack (born March 2, 1894 in Hamburg ; died August 17, 1973 there ) was a German spice trader and major general in the Wehrmacht during World War II .

Life

Benthack was the son of a Hamburg judicial inspector. He attended secondary school in Borgfelde up to secondary school leaving certificate and completed a commercial apprenticeship with a spice importer.

After the outbreak of World War I , on November 21, 1914, he volunteered in the foot artillery regiment "von Hindersin" (1st Pomeranian) No. 2 and took part in the fighting on the Western Front . From the end of July 1915 to the end of October 1916, Benthack was active in the foot artillery battery 273 and was then transferred to the 10th Artillery Measuring Squad. It was here that he was promoted to lieutenant of the reserve on November 20, 1917 . As such, he was transferred to the replacement battalion of the Lorraine Foot Artillery Regiment No. 16 on December 16, 1917 . For his achievements, Benthack received both classes of the Iron Cross and the Hanseatic Cross . After the end of the war he advanced to regimental adjutant and resigned from military service on June 10, 1919 with the demobilization of his regiment.

He worked again in the spice import business and went into business for himself in 1925. When the business went bankrupt, he was engaged in financing, brokerage and insurance business from 1927.

After the transfer of power to the National Socialists , Benthack completed a selection exercise at Observer Department 3 in Jüterbog in May 1936 . From July to the end of October 1936 he then did a trial service as an E-Officer trainee in observation departments 3 and 20. Subsequently, Benthack was employed as a captain with seniority from October 1, 1934 and an E-officer in the army of the Wehrmacht . He initially served with the staff of the observation department 20 and was accepted into active employment on January 2, 1937. From October 12, 1937, Benthack acted as battery boss .

In this capacity he took part in the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 after the beginning of World War II . On October 21, 1939, Benthack was appointed commander of the observation department 20, advanced to major on January 1, 1940 and worked in the western campaign and in the war against the Soviet Union . In November 1941, he gave up his command and became a course leader at Faculty B of Artillery School II in Jüterbog. With seniority of November 1, 1941, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on December 17, 1941 . On March 30, 1943, Benthack briefly received a troop command again and served until May 16 as commander of the 2nd division of the 25th artillery regiment. Subsequently, transferred to the Führerreserve and promoted to colonel , he was commander of the artillery on August 15, 1943 -Regiment 619 that was stationed in Crete at the time. From December 1, 1943, he was employed as a fortress artillery commander in Crete. On October 9, 1944, Benthack was commissioned as the successor to Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller with the management of the business of the commandant of the fortress of Crete and at the same time with the management of the 133rd fortress division . With his promotion to major general on December 1, 1944, he was appointed division commander. His two predecessors, Generals Bruno Bräuer and Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller, were sentenced to death by Allied courts after the war for the shooting of hostages and the deportation of Greek Jews and executed.

After the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht , the British initially left Benthack in the superior position of the approximately 12,000 German prisoners of war in Crete. He was sent to a POW camp in Egypt on June 19, then to Island Farm in England, and was released in May 1948. Benthack then found a job as a commercial clerk at Edeka in Hamburg .

In 1953, Benthack, along with other former Wehrmacht soldiers, including a division judge, was indicted before the Hamburg Regional Court of having ordered the shooting of recalcitrant soldiers in Crete at the end of the war. Five soldiers were executed without trial on May 11 and 12, 1945, two days after the Wehrmacht surrendered. In its judgment, the court followed the defense's argument that these shootings were necessary to maintain discipline of the troops, since otherwise the troops would have become vulnerable victims of attacks by the Greek partisans. The court acknowledged Benthack's error of law and acquitted him. The six other accused were also acquitted. The application by the Hamburg public prosecutor's office for an appeal to the Federal Court of Justice became irrelevant when the Hamburg Regional Court closed the proceedings on December 6, 1954 in accordance with Section 6 of the Law on Exemption from Punishment.

literature

• Dermot Bradley (ed.), Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Markus Rövekamp: The Generals of the Army 1921–1945. The military careers of the generals, as well as the doctors, veterinarians, data officers, judges and ministerial officials with the rank of general. Volume 1: Abberger – Bitthorn. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, ISBN 3-7648-2423-9 . Pp. 307-308.
• LG Hamburg, January 30, 1953. In: Justice and Nazi crimes . Collection of German convictions for Nazi homicidal crimes 1945–1966. Vol. X, edited by Adelheid L. Rüter-Ehlermann, HH Fuchs, CF Rüter . Amsterdam: University Press, 1973, No. 338 pp. 293–336 Order to execute five German soldiers and shoot four after the surrender, on May 11 and 12, 1945, for inciting disobedience, defeatist statements, eavesdropping on enemy broadcasters, Refusal to obey orders, threats to superiors, etc.
• Sven Keller: Volksgemeinschaft at the end. Society and violence 1944/45. Munich / Oldenbourg 2013, ISBN 978-3-486-72570-4 , p. 355f.
• Jörg Echternkamp : Soldiers in the Post War. Historical conflicts of interpretation and West German democratization 1945-1955. de Gruyter, Oldenbourg / Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-11-035093-7 .

Fonts

• Cif Hamburg . Hamburg: Verl. Mohrdruck, 1956
• Anise to cinnamon: a small spice primer f. everyone . Drawings by Bob W. Hindersin. Olten: Union Usego, 1958

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The name of the chief staff judge Be., Who was the sole armed forces judge in the fortress of Crete in 1945, is not known.
2. ↑ See Wikipedia article on the CIF price