Hellmut of Leipzig

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hellmut von Leipzig (2014)

Hellmut von Leipzig (full name Hellmut Kurt Ewald von Leipzig ; * July 18, 1921 in Keetmanshoop , South West Africa ; † October 25, 2016 in Windhoek ) was the driver of General and later General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in the German Africa Corps during World War II . He later became an officer in the Brandenburg special unit . In April 1945 he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . After the war and ten years of Soviet imprisonment, Hellmut von Leipzig lived with his family as a farmer in what is now Namibia .

youth

Hellmut von Leipzig was born as the son of a German naval officer of the German protection force for South West Africa in Keetmanshoop , a city in southern Namibia. He grew up on his parents' farm in Blaukehl and later on the Geelwater farm in southern Namibia with two older brothers. He graduated from school in Gibeon . In 1937, at the age of 16, he took a Woermann Line ship to Germany and from there to Nuremberg , where he began an apprenticeship as a mechanical engineer. Hellmut von Leipzig was not a member of the NSDAP , but the motorcycle squadron of the Hitler Youth . Shortly before the start of the Second World War , he tried to return to his homeland, but did not succeed.

War years

Hellmut von Leipzig as Rommel's driver in the Africa campaign in 1943

After the war began, Hellmut von Leipzig volunteered for the German Africa Corps. He was initially assigned to the tank troops in Ingolstadt . Here he was only a driving instructor. In Africa, he was in 1941 Tobruk the season of Major General Rommel allocated. After the combat driver Rommel was injured in the war, Rommel appointed Hellmut von Leipzig as his successor. Rommel looked after him with this task because word had got around in the troops that Leipzig, as a German namibian, had known heat and sand since his youth and that he had mastered driving in deep sand. Von Leipzig spent a year and a half at Rommel's side. In an interview with Focus , which was also published in Playboy, von Leipzig reported on some incidents that he experienced with Rommel in the Libyan, Egyptian and Tunisian deserts . In the documentary " Rommel - Myth and Truth  ", Hellmut von Leipzig can be seen driving Rommel's vehicle in several places and talking about Rommel and the campaign in Africa.

After the defeat of el-Alamein and the battle of the Kasserin Pass , Rommel was ordered back to Germany by Hitler in March 1943. Hellmut von Leipzig drove his boss to an airfield near Tunis for the last time on March 6, 1943 . Rommel presented Leipzig with a signed photo with his likeness as a parting present. Rommel had arranged for the officers' school to be sent from Leipzig in Germany and for officers to be flown from Leipzig from Tunisia to Germany.

After training as an officer in Plattenburg , von Leipzig was employed as a South West African as an officer in the Brandenburg division. He fought in the Balkans in Greece and Yugoslavia , where he lost his older brother. Subsequently, his large formation, which had been reclassified to the Panzer Grenadier Division since September 1944, and no longer in special operations, was relocated to the Eastern Front in what is now the Czech Republic . Comments published in the press that Hellmut von Leipzig fought in the Battle of Berlin are incorrect. On April 28, 1945, a few days before the end of the war, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross as a lieutenant and platoon leader in the tank reconnaissance department of the Brandenburg division . At the end of the war he was taken prisoner by the Soviets . An attempt to escape with his comrade Stollenberg failed.

Hellmut von Leipzig and many comrades were sentenced to 25 years of forced labor each. For the past few years, he has had to work in extreme cold north of the Arctic Circle. As part of the release of German prisoners of war achieved by Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer , Hellmut von Leipzig returned to Germany in 1955 after ten years in prison as one of the last returnees . He was 34 years old when he was released.

Post-war years

After being released from captivity, Hellmut von Leipzig became engaged. Before the marriage, Hellmut von Leipzig traveled to Argentina for a few months, where his brother Gernot, previously released from captivity, had already emigrated . In October 1956, 19 years after he left Namibia, he returned from Leipzig to his homeland. Shortly after his arrival, he married his fiancée, who had also flown to Namibia. In Namibia, Leipzig became the manager of the Achalm farm, which he bought six years later. The couple from Leipzig had six children. Invited by a British film team, returned from Leipzig to the theater of war in el-Alamein after many years .

Von Leipzig founded the German Cultural Council in Namibia . From 1986 to 1997 he was chairman of this organization. He was also a member of the Working and Support Group of German School Associations (AGDS) in Namibia. Hellmut von Leipzig initiated and built the Johanniter student home in Otavi in 1989 as a knight of the Order of St. John, which houses around 100 school children in several buildings. In 2014 the couple from Leipzig left the Achalm farm and have lived in the Sonnleiten retirement home near Windhoek ever since . Hellmut von Leipzig died on October 25, 2016 at the age of 95.

Rommel's vehicle that drove from Leipzig

Rommel, from Leipzig at the wheel of the Horch 901 (1942)

Rommel had been assigned a Horch 901 Type 40 four-wheeled Horch Kübelwagen . The vehicle had a 90 hp 3.8 liter V8 engine. Of this version, only 50 copies were built, which were reserved for the top German military.

Hellmut von Leipzig drove Rommel's Horch 901 until 1943. The British captured the vehicle on May 13 of that year. Many years later, Michael Gibb, a South African-born Brit and collector of old war vehicles, found the car in Kenya . The restoration company Rosenow in Glienick restored it. The restoration took four and a half years. The car was demonstrated at the Techno-Classica 2006 trade fair in Essen . Hellmut von Leipzig was invited to Germany for the opening. After 63 years he was driving “his” car here again. The restored Horch can be seen on flickr.com.

Web links

Commons : Hellmut von Leipzig  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Spanish report on the death of Hellmut von Leipzig
  2. ↑ a b Obituary from the Allgemeine Zeitung, Windhoek, October 28, 2016
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Namibia: A South West in the turmoil of World War II , Allgemeine Zeitung (Windhoek) , November 14, 2016 (only available after registration)
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Lucas Vogelsang: "Rommel's driver: He's the real" desert fox "and still lives in the desert" , Focus , September 1, 2016
  5. ↑ Blaukehl Farm: 26 ° 08′00 ″ S  018 ° 16′00 ″ E
  6. ↑ getamap.net. Retrieved September 6, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Bluethroat. Retrieved August 23, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Farm Geelwater: 25 ° 27'00 "S  018 ° 39'00" E
  9. ↑ getamap.net. Retrieved September 6, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Yasmin Opielok: Rommel's driver discovered in Africa , Welt am Sonntag , February 25, 2001
  11. ↑ Playboy, issue 07/2016, page 50
  12. ↑ In the documentary "Rommel - Myth and Truth" you can see Hellmut von Leipzig next to Richard Overy , Simon Ball, Sönke Neitzel , Maurice Philip Remy (Rommel biographer) and Manfred Rommel (son of Erwin Rommel) (at 05: 25,10: 26 , 18: 56,22: 26) talk about Rommel and the Africa campaign .
  13. ↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 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. 500.
  14. ↑ Farm Achalm: 19 ° 45′04.6 ″ S  017 ° 21′01.3 ″ E
  15. ↑ AGDS
  16. ↑ a b Allradler 2/14 page 56: In the Second World War he was the combat driver for "Wüstenfuchs" Erwin Rommel. (PDF) Retrieved September 6, 2017 .
  17. ↑ Sonnleiten. Retrieved September 6, 2017 .
  18. ↑ In some sources, October 24th is incorrectly stated as the date of death.
  19. ^ Auto Motorsport, Techno Classica 2006, May 13, 2006. Retrieved September 6, 2017 .
  20. ↑ a b Berliner Zeitung, October 28, 2004, "Wüstenfuchs" Rommel's car is in Glienick. Retrieved September 6, 2017 .
  21. ↑ AZ Feb. 13, 2007: After the Odyssey in Africa, Rommel's combat vehicle is complete again. Retrieved September 6, 2017 .
  22. ↑ Rommel's restored company car. Retrieved September 6, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Leipzig, Hellmut von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Leipzig, Hellmut Kurt Ewald von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Namibian soldier in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH July 18, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Keetmanshoop
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 2016
Place of death Windhoek