Hans von Wedemeyer

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Hans Konrad von Wedemeyer-Pätzig (born July 31, 1888 in Schönrade , † August 22, 1942 in Stalingrad ) was a large German landowner, reserve officer and civil servant. Wedemeyer was best known as a close collaborator of the politician Franz von Papen .

Life

Hans was the fifth child of the East Prussian landowner Max von Wedemeyer (1853-1905) and his wife Alice, née von Wedel (* 1858). As a cavalry officer in the 3rd Guard Uhlan Regiment of the Prussian Army , he took part in the First World War. In addition to being a staff officer , he was also used as an aviator at times. In 1916 Wedemeyer met the Prussian captain Franz von Papen on the western front . From 1916 to 1918 he accompanied Papen as his orderly officer to Palestine , where both fought against the British on the side of the Ottoman- German associations of the Orient Front and visited Jerusalem, among other things.

Immediately after the war, on November 18, 1918, Wedemeyer married the landlord's daughter Ruth von Kleist-Retzow (1897–1985) in Kieckow. The marriage resulted in seven children between 1920 and 1936, including the son Maximilian (Max) and the daughter Maria (1924–1977), who later became engaged to the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer . She had met Bonhoeffer at the end of 1942 at the funeral service for her brother, who had died in Russia in October 1942 and whom Bonhoeffer had confirmed at the time.

In the 1920s, Wedemeyer managed his manor Pätzig near Königsberg in Neumark . Wedemeyer held a leading position in the Stahlhelm-Kampfbund . From 1928 to 1930 Wedemeyer hosted the Berneuchen conferences of the Evangelical Church, which met on his estate. Because of this, he was later made a brother of Michael and, in 1939, the elder of the Northeast Convention.

When Franz von Papen was appointed Reich Chancellor in May 1932, he appointed Hans von Wedemeyer as his advisor. Together with Othmar Spann , Wedemeyer developed ideas for a constitutional reform that Papen's conservative Interior Minister Wilhelm von Gayl was supposed to implement. In November 1932 Wedemeyer also took over the management of Papen's personal office. In this capacity he initially led the office of Reich Chancellor von Papen for a short time (until December 1932), then for a few weeks the office of the private citizen Papen (December until the end of January 1933) and finally - after Papen became deputy head of government on January 30, 1933 Hitler's government had been appointed - from January to May 1933 the office of the Vice Chancellor (chief of the Reichsvizekanzlei) Papen. Then Wedemeyer handed over his post to the senior government councilor Herbert von Bose .

Wedemeyer tried to prevent Adolf Hitler's appointment as Reich Chancellor in late 1932 / early 1933. According to Christoph Weiling, the fact that he remained in his service despite the appointment, in which Papen played a significant part, was “probably due to the old friendship that tied him to Papen.” The pious Christian Wedemeyer dressed his rejection of National Socialism on 15. May 1933 in the words: “Only God is holy. The imperial eagle and the swastika are not sacred. ”Later, the following words have come down to us with regard to the Second World War:“ We live in the devil's inn, and if we win the war, we will never come out. ”

In 1936 Wedemeyer was indicted in an "honorary court procedure" because he had been guilty of neglecting his social obligations towards the farmers living on his estates, but was acquitted in 1937 on appeal. On September 1, 1939 Wedemeyer was called up for military service as Rittmeister in the reserve of the replacement cavalry squadron. Desperate about the conduct of the war in Russia, he left his position as Ic of Army Group B in August 1942 . He volunteered for a front command, fell as a lieutenant colonel in the reserve on August 22nd in the attack on Stalingrad and was buried in the military cemetery in Kissljakoff near Stalingrad.

Wedemeyer's widow wrote later a private memoir about her dead husband for their children, which in 1990 by Horst-Klaus Hofmann discovered a copy in the holdings of the monastery Kirchberg and 1993 by Peter Zimmerling and Wedemeyer's son Peter von Wedemeyer under the title In the devil inn published has been.

literature

  • Ruth von Wedemeyer: In the devil's inn. A Prussian family 1918–1945. Brendow, Moers 1993.
  • Chronica Wedemeyeriana. Copy with additions and some translations completed at the beginning of 1989. o. O., o. J.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History of the von Kleist family: Continuation 1880–1980. 1982, p. 106.
  2. ↑ Life data according to Wayne W. Floyd (ed.): Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works. 1996, p. 350.
  3. ^ Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Briefadeligen houses. 1919 . Thirteenth year, Justus Perthes , Gotha 1918, p. 800.
  4. ↑ Eberhard Bethge: Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Man of Vision, Man of Courage. 1970, p. 867.
  5. ^ Friedrich Glum : The National Socialism. Becoming and passing away. 1962, p. 183.
  6. ↑ Christoph Weiling: The "Christian-German Movement". A study on the conservative…. 1998, p. 345.
  7. ^ Karl-Heinz Minuth, Friedrich Hartmannsgruber: files of the Reich Chancellery. The Hitler government. June-December 1935: 1933-1938. P. 467.
  8. ↑ Ruth von Wedemeyer: In the devil's inn. 1993, p. 91.
  9. ^ Fabian von Schlabrendorff: The Secret War Against Hitler. 1994, p. 60.
  10. ↑ Ruth von Wedemeyer: In the devil's inn. 1993, p. 78.
  11. ↑ Alexander Stahlberg: The damned duty. Memories 1932 to 1945. 2005, pp. 237f.
  12. ↑ Ruth von Wedemeyer: In the devil's inn. 1993, p. 96.
personal data
SURNAME Wedemeyer, Hans von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wedemeyer-Pätzig, Hans Konrad von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German landowner and employee of Franz von Papens
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Schönrade
DATE OF DEATH August 22, 1942
Place of death Stalingrad