Hans Collani

Hans Collani (born December 13, 1908 in Stettin ; † July 29, 1944 near Narva ) was a German SS leader, most recently with the rank of SS standard leader of the Waffen SS .

Life

Hans Collani was born the son of a career officer who last held the rank of infantry colonel. His brother fell as a colonel in the Air Force in France in 1943. He learned the trade of a shipping agent, went to sea in 1931/1932 and came to Leningrad and Murmansk, among other places.

In 1932 he joined the NSDAP (membership no. 261.271), then the SA and finally the Waffen SS (SS no. 6.909). There he was promoted to Troop Leader on November 24th and was deployed as a Sturmbannadjutant in the 50th Standard before he was transferred to the 1st Company of Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler on March 17, 1933 . There he was promoted to Hauptsturmführer on October 1st .

On June 30 and July 1, 1934, Collani acted as the commander of firing platoons in the executions of SA leaders on the grounds of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler barracks in Berlin-Lichterfelde (former Prussian cadet institute) in the course of the violent disempowerment of the SA ( Röhm -Putsch ) with. So he commanded u. a. the command to the Berlin SA leader Karl Ernst füsilierte . From February 1935 to November 1939 was Collani adjutant of Sepp Dietrich .

During the war, Collani was used in Poland and France. On March 20, 1942 he was promoted to Sturmbannführer . He was appointed commander of the Finnish volunteer battalion of the Waffen-SS ( SS-Division Wiking ) on February 8, 1943 , where he worked until its dissolution on July 10. During this time he was promoted to SS-Obersturmbannführer on April 20.

Hans Collani became the commander of the 49th SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Regiment "de Ruyter" ( Division Nederland ), which he commanded until his death. He fell on the Eastern Front in the battle for the Narva bridgehead (February to July 1944). According to unsecured statements from Landwehr circles, he is said to have been wounded and committed suicide when his command post threatened to be overrun by Russian opponents. The latter are said to have been stopped before it could come to that. Posthumously he was promoted to SS-Standartenführer. He was buried next to Fritz von Scholz in Tallinn Cathedral.

Awards

SS skull ring
Honorary sword of the Reichsführer SS
Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class
Infantry Assault Badge
Medal Winter Battle in the East 1941/42
German cross in gold on April 24, 1944
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on August 19, 1944 (posthumous)

literature

Wilhelm Tieke : The Finnish volunteer battalion of the Waffen SS , Munin-Verlag , Osnabrück 1979, ISBN 3-921242-40-1 .

Individual evidence

^ Rainer Orth: The official seat of the opposition? Politics and state restructuring plans in the office of the Deputy Chancellor 1933-1934 . Cologne 2016, p. 931.
↑ ^a ^b Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 261.

personal data
SURNAME	Collani, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German officer of the Waffen SS
DATE OF BIRTH	December 13, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH	Szczecin
DATE OF DEATH	July 29, 1944
Place of death	Narva

[1] Rainer Orth: The official seat of the opposition? Politics and state restructuring plans in the office of the Deputy Chancellor 1933-1934 . Cologne 2016, p. 931.

[RKT-2] Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 261.