Helmuth Gerloff

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Helmuth Wilhelm Gerloff (born September 21, 1894 in Magdeburg , † March 17, 1975 in Hanover ) was a German civil engineer and university professor and police general , most recently major general of the police and SS brigade leader in World War II .

Life

The teacher's son passed his matriculation examination at the Royal Cathedral High School in Magdeburg in 1912 and then studied civil engineering at the Technical University of Charlottenburg . In the summer semester of 1911 he became active in the Corps Saxonia there. After the outbreak of World War I , he volunteered for the Magdeburg Pioneer Battalion No. 4 , where he was used by the mine throwers. He was promoted to lieutenant in the reserve in 1916 and was most recently a company commander. After the war, Gerloff was discharged from the army in early January 1919 and joined a free corps in Berlin , the staff of the Guard Cavalry Rifle Divisionat, among others he took part in the suppression of the Spartacus uprising. In the meantime, he continued his studies at the TH Charlottenburg and at the same time studied economics at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin . He was a co-initiator of the German Student Union and the German University Association . He completed his studies in 1920 as a graduate engineer.

After completing his studies and being discharged from the Reichswehr as a member of the Guard Cavalry Rifle Division , Gerloff worked as a consultant at the headquarters of the technical emergency aid in Berlin until 1924 and was involved in its development. From 1925 to 1928 he was managing director of a company created by the Reichswehr Ministry to equip the Black Reichswehr and other paramilitary formations. Afterwards he was managing director of the export company DIA in 1929 and from 1930 owner of DUREX, also an export company. From 1930 to 1933 he was a manager at the "Academic Scientific Employment Office", which served unofficially to organize student military sports and in 1933 was affiliated to the Reich SA University Office.

Gerloff became a Dr.-Ing. obtained his doctorate and habilitation the following year. He then worked first as a private lecturer until March 1935, then as an associate professor and finally from autumn 1942 as a full professor for field fortifications and field fortifications and work planning at the defense technology faculty of the TH Berlin-Charlottenburg.

Even before the seizure of power by the National Socialists came Gerloff early September 1932, the NSDAP at (membership. 1362697). At the beginning of March 1933 he became a member of the SS (SS no. 126.060) and subsequently held various positions in this Nazi organization. From mid-September 1937 he worked part-time as an SS leader in the staff of the SS main office and for the head of technical emergency aid, Hans Weinreich . From 1937 to 1939 he was also regional leader Kurmark of the technical emergency aid.

After the beginning of the Second World War he did military service with the Sturm-Pionier-Bataillon 43. Afterwards he headed the experimental department of the Pioneer School II in 1940/41. From September 1941 to September 1944 he was the commander of the Police Technical Academy, which in September 1943 in Technical SS and Police Academy was renamed. The academy was located in Berlin-Zehlendorf and served the development of weapons and the technical training of SS men and police officers. Major parts of this research facility were relocated to Brno in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in the spring of 1943 due to the war . On site, initially civilians and Gestapo prisoners, and from autumn 1943 also prisoners from the Auschwitz concentration camp, had to do forced labor to rehabilitate the headquarters provided for the academy and on the facility's somewhat remote practice area. For this purpose, a satellite camp of the Auschwitz concentration camp was set up, which was initially briefly managed by the notorious camp leader Gerhard Palitzsch .

In the course of a restructuring he became head of the main office of the Ordnungspolizei in September 1943 as the commander of the academy . At the end of January 1942 he had been promoted to SS Brigadefuhrer and Major General of the Police, the highest rank he achieved in the SS and police. At the same time he was awarded the War Merit Cross, First Class . In February 1944 he and the Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler visited the Peenemünde Army Research Center . In March 1945 he was adopted into retirement.

After the end of the war, Gerloff was interned in the United States. He was questioned during the Nuremberg Trials in August 1947. He later lived in Bielefeld. He was a member of the Bielefeld city council and was a member of the supervisory board of the Bielefelder Stadtwerke and the Stadtsparkasse Bielefeld. He was a so-called 131er . Gerloff was married to Elsa, b. Meißner (March 8, 1893– September 12, 1975).

literature

  • Andreas Schulz, Günter Wegmann: The generals of the Waffen SS and the police. Volume 1: Abraham – Gutenberger, Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf, 2003. ISBN 3-7648-2373-9 , pp. 369–372.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Carl Weigandt: History of the Corps Saxonia-Berlin to Aachen 1867-1967 . Aachen 1968. p. 85.
  2. ^ Carl Weigandt: History of the Corps Saxonia-Berlin to Aachen 1867-1967 . Aachen 1968. p. 105.
  3. ↑ a b Andreas Schulz, Günter Wegmann: The Generals of the Waffen SS and the Police , Volume 1: Abraham – Gutenberger, Bissendorf 2003, p. 370
  4. ↑ Andreas Schulz, Günter Wegmann: The Generals of the Waffen-SS and the Police , Volume 1: Abraham – Gutenberger, Bissendorf 2003, p. 370f.
  5. ↑ Catalogus Professerum TU Berlin
  6. ↑ a b c d e Andreas Schulz, Günter Wegmann: The Generals of the Waffen-SS and the Police , Volume 1: Abraham – Gutenberger, Bissendorf 2003, p. 371
  7. ↑ Andrea Rudorff: Brünn (Brno). In: Wolfgang Benz , Barbara Distel (eds.): The place of terror . History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps. Volume 5: Hinzert, Auschwitz, Neuengamme. CH Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-52965-8 , pp. 195f.
  8. ↑ Andreas Schulz, Günter Wegmann: The Generals of the Waffen-SS and the Police , Volume 1: Abraham – Gutenberger, Bissendorf 2003, p. 369
  9. ↑ Publication Number: M-1019, Publication Title: Records of the United States Nuernberg War Crimes trials Interrogations, 1946–1949, Date Published: 1977 (PDF; 186 kB)
  10. ^ Joachim Grub: Contributions to the history of the Corps Saxonia-Berlin zu Aachen 1967-1992 , Aachen 1993, p. 25.
  11. ↑ https://www.arcinsys.niedersachsen.de/arcinsys/detailAction.action?detailid=v2699229
personal data
SURNAME Gerloff, Helmuth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gerloff, Helmuth Wilhelm (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German civil engineer, university professor, SS brigade leader and police general
DATE OF BIRTH September 21, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Magdeburg
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1975
Place of death Hanover