Hans-Joachim von Falkenhausen

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Hans-Joachim Ernst Alexander Robert Baron von Falkenhausen (born October 5, 1897 in Brieg ; † July 1 or July 2, 1934 in Berlin ) was an SA Oberführer.

Hans-Joachim von Falkenhausen (1931).

Live and act

Youth and First World War

Hans-Joachim von Falkenhausen was born in 1897 as the seventh child of Alexander Freiherr von Falkenhausen (1844–1909) and his wife Elisabeth, nee Freiin Schuler von Senden (1853–1936). His older brother Alexander von Falkenhausen is sometimes incorrectly identified as his uncle in the literature.

In his youth, Falkenhausen took part in the First World War, in which he lost a leg, which he replaced with a prosthesis. After the war he held the rank of lieutenant.

Weimar Republic and the time of National Socialism

Around 1930 Falkenhausen, whose job title was "bank clerk" at that time, joined the National Socialist movement: On February 1, 1930, he became a member of the NSDAP (membership number 192.413) and the SA , the party's private army, in which he quickly joined Made a career.

By the Führer order of the Supreme SA Leadership No. III of November 29, 1932, Falkenhausen was promoted to SA Standartenführer and entrusted with the management of the business of the Staff Leader of the SA Subgroup Dresden. On June 1, 1933, he was relieved of this position and at the same time placed for special use in the staff of the SA Group in Saxony.

On July 15, 1933, Falkenhausen was appointed to the staff of the Special Commissioner of the Supreme SA Leadership for Prussia ( Georg von Detten ). After he had proven himself there, Falkenhausen's transfer was converted into a permanent transfer on November 10, 1933. With this his removal from his position as Standartenführer z. b. V. of the Sachsen group and his promotion to the rank of SA Oberführer in the staff of the Supreme SA leadership. From then until his death, Falkenhausen worked as a staff leader of Georg von Detten in the political office of the Supreme SA leadership in Berlin.

The research group around Walther Hofer and Pierre Grégoire also connects Falkenhausen with the fire in the Reichstag on February 28, 1933 in the spring of 1933 .

Arrest and death

On June 30, 1934, Falkenhausen, then with the rank of Oberführer, was arrested in the course of the Röhm affair in Munich. The next day he was brought to Berlin in a special plane with Georg von Detten, Fritz von Kraußer and Karl Schreyer. There he and the other men were temporarily housed in the Columbia concentration camp at Tempelhofer Feld. Falkenhausen was finally taken from his cell on the night of July 2nd and taken to the grounds of the SS barracks in Berlin-Lichterfelde. There, at around 2 a.m. on the morning of July 2, 1934, an SS commando shot him dead. Heinz Pentzlin also states that Falkenhausen was tortured before he was shot. Otto Strasser attributes the last words “Today we, tomorrow you!” To Falkenhausen in his book Die deutsche Bartholomäusnacht , published in 1935 , which he is said to have shouted to the SS firing squad immediately before the deadly volley was fired.

Falkenhausen's death was reported in various foreign newspapers in the following weeks, which published lists of the prominent SA leaders who were killed (and other victims of the murder operation). Falkenhausen's name was occasionally corrupted to Frasenhauser . He is also mentioned in the contemporary white paper on the shootings of June 30th and Strasser's German Bartholomew Night , as well as in the autobiography of the British writer Agatha Christie published decades later .

By the leader's order of the Supreme SA Leadership No. 26 of October 31, 1934, Falkenhausen was posthumously expelled from the SA with effect from July 1, 1934, with the release of his post and his rank.

Promotions

  • November 10, 1933: SA Oberführer

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The date of birth October 5, 1897 can be found in Falkenhausen's NSDAP index card, which is based on his own information. Stockhorst: 5000 heads , p. 129; and Walther Hofer: The Reichstag fire. A scientific documentation. Volume 2, Saur, Berlin 1978, ISBN 3-598-04604-9 , p. 470; and Georg Kretschmar: Documents on Church Policy of the Third Reich , 1975, p. 143, on the other hand, give October 15, 1897 as the date of birth. This date of death is probably based on an error in the list of people shot dead from June 30 to July 2, 1934, compiled by the Gestapo.
  2. ^ Genealogical handbook of the nobility. Volume 95, Starke, Limburg 1989, ISBN 3798007004 , p. 109.
  3. ↑ John Wheeler-Bennett: Hindenburg. The Wooden Titan , 1967, p. 462.
  4. ↑ Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of noble houses , 1921, p. 200.
  5. ↑ Leader Order of the Supreme SA Leadership No. III of November 29, 1932, p. 7.
  6. ↑ SA leader order of the SA leadership No. 15 of July 1, 1933, p. 9.
  7. ↑ Leader Order of the Supreme SA Leadership No. 16 of August 1, 1933, p. 3.
  8. ↑ Leader Order of the Supreme SA Leadership No. 19 of November 9, 1933, p. 6.
  9. ^ Wather Hofer: The Reichstag fire. A scientific documentation , p. 470.
  10. ↑ Heinz Höhne: The order under the skull. The story of the SS. , 1967, p. 121.
  11. ↑ Heinz Pentzlin : The Germans in the Third Reich , 1985, p. 100.
  12. ↑ Otto Strasser: Die deutsche Bartholomäusnacht , 1935, p. 138.
  13. ↑ Agatha Christie: An Autobiography , 1977, p. 274.
  14. ↑ Leader Order of the Supreme SA Leadership No. 26 of October 31, 1934, p. 4.
  15. ↑ Leader Order of the Supreme SA Leadership No. 19 of November 9, 1933, p. 6.
personal data
SURNAME Falkenhausen, Hans-Joachim von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Falkenhausen, Hans-Joachim Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German SA member
DATE OF BIRTH October 15, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Brieg
DATE OF DEATH July 1, 1934 or July 2, 1934
Place of death Berlin