Hans Zenker

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Hans Zenker, 1928

Hans Paul Volkmar Zenker (born August 10, 1870 in Bielitz , † August 18, 1932 in Osterode am Harz ) was a German naval officer , most recently an admiral and from 1924 to 1928 chief of the naval command in the Reichswehr Ministry.

Life and professional development

Hans Zenker was born as the son of the mathematics and physics teacher Dr. Carl Zenker and his wife Emilie were born in the Austrian part of Upper Silesia. After attending elementary school and Wilhelm-Ernst-Gymnasium in Weimar, he passed his Abitur there in March 1889. He then joined the Imperial Navy on April 13, 1889 and served in various departments of the Navy. This included a foreign assignment from 1896 to 1898 as a watch officer of the SMS Arkona as part of the East Asian cruiser division, which was under the command of Rear Admiral Otto von Diederichs (1843-1918). Together with SMS Irene, the "Arkona" was involved in the occupation of the Bay of Kiautschou and the conquest of the fort maintained there in 1897 . In the following year he was used as chief officer and temporarily as commander on ships D 6 and D 10. On this way he came to the torpedo flotilla, which was under construction. In the years from 1899 to 1902 he attended the Naval Academy. With this qualification for the admiral's staff, from 1904 he was employed in the general naval department of the Reichsmarineamte in Berlin as a military department head for artillery matters. In the following years from 1907 he was in command of several warships, including torpedo boats , the small cruisers SMS Lübeck (1911) and SMS Cöln (1912/13). He gained valuable and extensive practical experience in the field of strategic and tactical operational areas of the Navy. His promotion to frigate captain took place in 1911. On October 1, 1913, Zenker was transferred to Berlin as department head for tactics and warfare in the naval admiral's staff and promoted to sea captain in the same year.

World War 1 and its consequences

At the time of the beginning of the First World War, Hans Zenker was very offensive and advocated a naval warfare that sought a naval battle several times. Since he was in contradiction to the opinion of other naval officers active in the admiralty staff, this was one of the reasons to transfer him back to the high seas fleet. Here he took command of the battle cruiser SMS Von der Tann in February 1916 , with which he took part in the Skagerrak Battle on May 31, 1916 . During these battles, the SMS Von der Tann sank the British battle cruiser HMS Indefatigable (1909) . Returning from there, Zenker became head of department in the Admiralty's staff in 1917 and in 1918 commander of securing the North Sea , a position he held until the end of the First World War . With the dissolution of the Admiral's staff, he switched to an activity as inspector of naval artillery. But the crisis within the navy triggered by the end of the war and its consequences was further intensified by the attitude of the chief of the naval command Adolf von Trotha during the Kapp putsch in 1920. Due to his inner dismay, Zenker handed in on August 9, 1921, briefly after his promotion to Vice Admiral, submitted his resignation. Admiral Paul Behncke (1866–1937), Trotha's successor as chief of the naval command, was able to persuade him to withdraw the application. Zenker remained chief of the North Sea naval station until autumn 1923 . From this position he moved to the command area as Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces at the end of 1923 .

Chief of Naval Command

Zenker (left) when the light cruiser Cologne was launched in 1928 in the presence of Konrad Adenauer (center)

On October 1, 1924, Hans Zenker was promoted to Admiral Chief of Naval Management, replacing Admiral Paul Behncke and taking over the leadership of the naval forces in the Weimar Republic. His term of office was marked by efforts to consolidate the Reichsmarine after the turmoil of the revolutionary era and the cuts that were imposed on the German navy by the Treaty of Versailles . During this time, the procurement of larger new ships began, such as the Königsberg class with 9 and 15 cm guns, the construction of destroyers of the wolf and eagle class with 3 and 10.5 cm guns. International cooperations in the field of marine equipment were established in particular with Argentina, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, the Soviet Union, Spain and Turkey and were further expanded during his time. In 1925, through the mediation of Wilhelm Canaris (1887–1945), the contract between the Naval Office and the Spanish entrepreneur Horacio Echevarrieta (1870–1963) for the construction of torpedoes in Spain for German torpedo ships was concluded. On May 23, 1928, he took part in the launch of the cruiser Cologne (ship, 1928) at the shipyard in Wilhelmshaven, alongside the new Reichswehr Minister Wilhelm Groener and the Lord Mayor of Cologne Konrad Adenauer . After tough negotiations, Zenker signed the confirmation documents for the construction of new types of warship at a speed of 26 knots in 1928 with the Ministerial Director Paul Preße, who was also a member of the board of directors of the Schiffbau-Technischen Gesellschaft. That was the decisive step in the direction of the armored ship A, combined with a broad political discussion about the necessity of armored ships . On May 19, 1931, the first armored ship A was launched at the Kiel shipyard, baptized with the name "Germany".

In addition to the official armament and procurement programs, there were extensive secret armaments projects of the German Navy. These had already been started under the leadership of his predecessor Admiral Paul Behncke and the head of the maritime transport department in the naval office, Captain Walter Lohmann (1878-1930). During the tenure of Hans Zenker, these projects were not only continued, but intensified and extended to other countries. With these plans, violations of the provisions of the Versailles Treaty of 1919 were accepted. These projects were subject to special secrecy and were separately secured at the respective project locations by officers of the naval intelligence service . From 1925 onwards, this affected the construction of submarines in Dutch shipyards, which was forbidden in Germany. The know-how transfer of German armaments technology and the construction of submarines for Germany organized in Japan by Wolfram von Knorr (1880–1940), the former German naval attaché in Japan . This secret cooperation was raised to a new level in 1924 when Corvette Captain Wilhelm Canaris visited the shipyard in Osaka. And it concerned the covered actions of the Corvette Captain a, who was active as a naval advisor in Argentina and Finland. D. Karl Bartenbach (1881–1949) on the secret construction of submarines for Germany, with German know-how at the shipyards in both countries.

Similar secret projects were also placed in Spain. When in 1926 the secret arms production for Germany was to be further promoted here too, appropriate documents for decision-making were made available to the responsible ministerial departments and cabinet members, with a note of confidentiality, by Hans Zenker. The armaments project known as the "Echevarrieta" project concerned the construction of German submarines at the Spanish shipyard in Cádiz , the establishment of a torpedo factory in Spain and the production and purchase of fire control equipment for torpedo launching. The first steps in this direction had already been taken in Spain the previous year. On April 13, 1926, a departmental meeting in the Reich Ministry of Finance was about the approval of a loan of 8 million gold pesets. Before the aforementioned meeting, the department head Walter Lohman had once again pointed out the importance of this project for the Navy in a letter dated March 29, 1926. An expert opinion from the Legation Council was in the Foreign Office Dr. North on April 6, 1926 before and in the meeting on April 13, 1926 in the Ministry of Finance, State Secretary Carl von Schubert expressed considerable reservations, referring to the violations of the Versailles Treaty targeted by the project. Regardless of this, Admiral Zenker expressed his support for the armaments project. In the subsequent executive meeting on May 1, 1926, under the direction of Gustav Stresemann and selected representatives from other departments, including Walter Lohmann and Wilhelm Canaris, the "Echevarrieta" project was rejected.

When, in 1927, triggered by articles and other publications by several journalists, some of the strictly secret illegal arms deals came to light, the Lohmann affair broke out , which lasted well into 1928, the government, parliament, the ministries concerned and the Population busy, go. Since the company from the film industry, Phöbus AG, was primarily used for these machinations by Walter Lohmann, this affair was also referred to as the "Phöbus scandal", as the title of several publications was. As a result, the Reichswehr Minister Otto Gessler (1875–1955) had to resign in January 1928 . The revelations, the assignments of the crime to his direct subordinate department head Lohmann and the partly knowledgeable approval by Hans Zenker led to his dismissal as head of the naval line by Reichswehr Minister Wilhelm Groener on September 30, 1928 . Vice-Admiral Erich Raeder (1876-1960) was his successor in the position of chief of naval command . The settlement of the entire affair lasted until 1929 and cost 26 million Reichsmarks.

family

Hans Zenker was married to Mathilde Zenker, nee Thiele. His son Karl-Adolf Zenker was born in Berlin Schöneberg in 1907 and was Inspector of the Navy in the FRG from 1961 to 1967 .

Zenker spent his last years in Osterode am Harz . After a serious illness, he died here on August 18, 1932. According to his last wish, the urn with his ashes from the light cruiser "Köln" in the area of ​​the Skagerrakschlacht of 1916 was handed over to the sea by his eldest son.

literature

  • Dermot Bradley (eds.), Hans H. Hildebrand, Ernest Henriot: Germany's Admirals 1849-1945. The military careers of naval, engineering, medical, weapons and administrative officers with admiral rank. Volume 3: P-Z. Biblio Publishing House. Osnabrück 1990. ISBN 3-7648-1700-3 . Pp. 592-593.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jörg Hillmann, biography about Hans Zenker, marine portal of the German Federal Armed Forces, in: https://www.marine.de/portal/a/marine/start/ueberuns/geschichte/kaiserliche/biographien/!ut/p/z1/hY5RC4IwFIX_kXcudPao1FCQGRjV9hJjDjF6P8c7GzGjV9hJjDjf6Sk7GzAwc8WIkT35H358c7GzAwc8WeCh3WeB3AWC7WC7W8WC3W8W8WC7 -1niLcU1Rjqr9npVJUsVptoETnP8hIthoZXIEbaeBhwyymtGk0IIAcZezfEWTdX7UPpLq2xH4TZpu1Aer8t8hgJ2OlDWBCeq18UPQ3klv3fKtns4FJxo64CjeFYgsneJ3Ssu8wJiQitEGpgfNGEv6DwYQ0so! / dz / d5 / L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh / # Z7_B8LTL2922LF0A0IEENH55I16O6
  2. ↑ Biographical information about Hans Zenker, files of the Reich Chancellery; in: http://www.bundesarchiv.de/aktenreichskanzlei/1919-1933/0000/adr/adrsz/kap1_7/para2_21.html
  3. ↑ Files of the Reich Chancellery, R 43 I / 147, page 185 ff. In: http://www.bundesarchiv.de/aktenreichskanzlei/1919-1933/0000/adr/adrsz/kap1_7/para2_21.html
  4. ↑ Berthold J. Sander-Nagashima, The German-Japanese naval relations 1919 to 1942, dissertation from the University of Hamburg, Hamburg 1998, pp. 145ff.
  5. ^ Letter from Lohman to State Secretary Kempner in the Reich Ministry of Finance of March 29, 1926, files of the Reich Chancellery, R 43 I / 147, Doc. 325 in: http://www.bundesarchiv.de/aktenreichskanzlei/1919-1933/0000/adr/adrsz /kap1_7/para2_21.html
  6. ↑ Files of the Reich Chancellery, R 43 I / 147, page 185 ff. In: http://www.bundesarchiv.de/aktenreichskanzlei/1919-1933/0000/adr/adrsz/kap1_7/para2_21.html
  7. ↑ Bernd Remmele, The maritime secret armor under captain to the sea Lohmann, military history messages, issue 56, 1997, p. 213ff.
  8. ↑ Ernst Schneller, Phöbus Scandal. Corruption and secret armament, Internationaler Arbeiter Verlag, Berlin 1928
personal data
SURNAME Zenker, Hans
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zenker, Hans Paul Volkmar (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naval officer, most recently admiral
DATE OF BIRTH August 10, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH Bielitz
DATE OF DEATH August 18, 1932
Place of death Osterode am Harz