Hermann Berndes

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Hermann Berndes (born October 29, 1889 in Ober-Ingelheim ; † March 18, 1945 in Ingelheim ) was a captain in the Wehrmacht and the last commander of the Volkssturm in Ingelheim .

Rathausplatz Nieder-Ingelheim, place of execution of Hermann Berndes

Life

Berndes was born as the eldest child of the Sauerland-born wine merchant Aloys Berndes and his wife Agnes nee. Steinhauer born.

After attending elementary and commercial school , he completed a commercial apprenticeship. Berndes finished his military service as a lieutenant in the reserve. At the beginning of the First World War he was drafted in 1914. On the western front he was shot in the head, from which he recovered but was henceforth unfit for the front. Berndes was therefore employed as a training officer until the end of the war. In 1916, during the war, he married Berta Bücher from Wiesbaden . The marriage had three children.

In 1920 Berndes moved with his family to Ober-Ingelheim and worked there in his father's wine business. As a former officer he was temporarily expelled by the French occupying forces. During this time he set up a branch of the wine shop in Dresden .

Berndes joined the NSDAP on May 1, 1933 and received membership number 2,599,968. There is no reliable evidence of membership in the SA or the Stahlhelm . However, his membership in the city council of Ober-Ingelheim from 1933 to at least 1938 is documented. During this time he was a member of the board of trustees for the secondary school , as well as the debts commission in matters of Otto Wedekind . Wedekind, local chairman of the SPD , was accused of embezzlement for political reasons . After the war he was rehabilitated. At the meeting of the municipal council of Ober-Ingelheim on September 3, 1935, Berndes also decided to take discriminatory measures against Ingelheim Jews and confirmed this with his signature.

In the elections of 1934, Berndes was chairman of the electoral board in District 3 and in the elections of 1938 he was chairman of the election commission for District II.

In the course of the Reichspogromnacht , the Berndes truck was used on November 10, 1938 to drive members of the Ingelheimer SA to Gensingen , where they devastated the shops and homes of Jewish fellow citizens. Whether and to what extent Berndes was informed about this is still controversial today.

With the beginning of the Second World War , Berndes was drafted again. Due to his old war injury, he was still unfit for the front and served in Koblenz . In 1944 he was released from active service as a captain and returned to Ingelheim. Here he was appointed as the highest ranking officer on site to commander of the Volkssturm ("battalion leader").

On the night of March 16-17, a meeting of the Volkssturm took place, at which the unanimous opinion prevailed that a defense of the city in which there are no more Wehrmacht units was pointless. Berndes then wrote and signed an appeal that was printed that night and found throughout the city the following morning:

“Appeal to the population of the city of Ingelheim: Difficult hours are ahead of us, which we can only survive reasonably well if everyone remains calm and calm. Above all, everyone must help to prevent irresponsible elements and especially young people from being carried away into actions, the consequences of which would be of obvious importance for the continued existence of our hometown. Anyone who knows people or learns that they have come into possession of weapons must report immediately and, if possible, remove the weapons themselves. [..]
Ingelheim am Rhein, March 17, 1945
The combat commandant: Hermann Berndes "

On the same day, Berndes was arrested by the new "combat commandant" Kraffert and temporarily taken to Budenheim , but then back to Ingelheim. After a telephone consultation with Gauleiter Sprenger on the other side of the Rhine, Berndes was sentenced to death by hanging around midnight on March 18 by a rapid court under Major Kraffert and the district staff leader of the Volkssturm, Jakob Koch, in the police station on the town hall square of Nieder-Ingelheim . At around 3:45 a.m., the judgment was carried out on a chestnut on the town hall square. Bernde's last words, " I am dying because I love my homeland ", are written on his tombstone in the Ober-Ingelheim cemetery .

On the morning of March 18, the remnants of the Volkssturm and the Hitler Youth were ordered to retreat towards Mainz . In doing so, they had to pass Berndes' body, which was still hanging on the tree and, on the instructions of Police Chief Seibel, was carrying a sign saying “ This is how everyone dies who betrays his fatherland! ".

The NS-Blatt Darmstädter Zeitung reported in its March 19 issue under the heading “ Cowards fall for death ” on his execution with the words: Whoever refuses the heart of the fatherland at the decisive hour must be expelled.

District staff leader Koch was sentenced to life imprisonment after the war for crimes against humanity and murder . Major a. D. Kraffert († 1951) was sentenced to eight years for accessory to murder. The Gaustabsführer for Volkssturm questions Kurt Erhard Schädlich was sentenced in 1959 to eight years in prison.

Appreciation

The memory of Hermann Berndes is not without controversy in Ingelheim. An appreciation should not only include his commitment to his hometown, which was paid with his life, but must also refer to the fact that he was a member of the NSDAP for twelve years, not only as a follower, but in positions of trust with active commitment. Nothing is known of the fact that he distanced himself from National Socialism. He was certainly not a man of resistance or a martyr who sacrificed himself willingly.

The Hermann-Berndes street in Ingelheim was named to July 2012 after him. On June 11, 2012, the Ingelheim city council passed a resolution to rename the street Hunsrückstraße .

In Heidesheim am Rhein , a district of Ingelheim, there is still Berndes-Allee today .

literature

Web links

Wikiquote: Hermann Berndes  - Quotes
personal data
SURNAME Berndes, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer and Volkssturm commander
DATE OF BIRTH October 29, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Ober-Ingelheim
DATE OF DEATH March 18, 1945
Place of death Ingelheim