Hermann Kriebel

Hermann Kriebel

Hermann Karl Theodor blackflies (* 20th January 1876 in Germersheim , † 16th February 1941 in Munich ) was a German officer , Freikorps leader , SA upper group leader , diplomat and Nazi - politicians .

Life

Hermann Kriebel was the son of the Bavarian major general Karl Kriebel (1834–1895). The later major general Friedrich von Kriebel (1879–1964) and the later infantry general Karl Kriebel (1888–1961) were his brothers.

He attended elementary schools in Neu-Ulm and Munich, the Royal Maximiliansgymnasium in Munich, the Lyceum in Metz and finally, from 1888, the Bavarian Cadet Corps .

Military background

After beginning a degree in history at the University of Munich , he decided to pursue a military career in the Bavarian Army . In 1894 he joined the 1st Infantry Regiment "König" as an ensign , attended military school and was subsequently promoted to lieutenant in 1896 .

In 1900, after joining the Imperial Navy , Kriebel was assigned to the II. Sea Battalion and was in China with the German expeditionary force to suppress the Boxer Rebellion until 1901 . In 1901 he was transferred back to the 1st Infantry Regiment "König". From 1904 to 1907 Kriebel graduated from the War Academy , which made him qualified for the general staff, the higher adjutantage and the subject. In 1906 he wrote a widely praised study on the use of military units in civil war situations: On the conquest of internal unrest, based on the experience of history in the first half of the 19th century. Century. From 1908 to 1910 Kriebel was a staff officer in the Bavarian General Staff and from 1910 to 1912 in the Great General Staff in Berlin under Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke .

From 1912 Kriebel was company commander in the 22nd Infantry Regiment in Zweibrücken . After the beginning of the First World War , he fought with his company on the Western Front from August 1914 . From 1915 to 1916 he was 1st General Staff Officer in the 8th Reserve Division , then he was in the staff of the XV in 1916/17 . Reserve Corps deployed under Chief of Staff Julius Ritter von Reichert . Afterwards he was on the staff of Erich Ludendorff , the General Quartermaster of the Supreme Army Command (OHL), at the headquarters in Bad Kreuznach (later relocated to Spa ). a. from November 1917 to February 1918 as chief of the military department. There he experienced how Ludendorff exercised political influence on German government policy through his military position and connections to right-wing conservative circles.

In the German Armistice Commission established in Spa (Wako-Spa) after the Armistice Agreement of Compiègne-Rethondes of November 11, 1918 , Kriebel, who had held the rank of major since 1915, was representative of the Quartermaster General and Bavaria and worked there until the Treaty of Versailles that followed Winding up of the Wako-Spa in July 1919. His saying “Goodbye in 20 years”, which he made towards the representatives of the Entente towards the end of the negotiations , was handed down (and often quoted during the National Socialist era ) . In 1920 Kriebel was discharged from the army at his own request; In 1921 he received the rank of lieutenant colonel ret. D.

Military leader and putschist

Kriebel (4th from left) and co-defendants at the end of the Hitler trial in 1924, photo from the Federal Archives

From 1919 on, Kriebel was involved in building up the Bavarian Resident Guard, which emerged after the Munich Soviet Republic , and other paramilitary organizations with an "anti-Bolshevik" orientation that emerged from them. Initially, from October 1, 1919, he was Chief of Staff of the Bavarian State Association of Resident Services and, in this function, participated in the resignation of the Hoffmann government in March 1920. Subsequently, chief of staff of the Escherich (Orgesch) organization founded in May 1920 , Kriebel came into contact with Adolf Hitler in 1922 after a falling out with Georg Escherich over the Bavarian military association leader Otto Pittinger (1878-1926) . Since the establishment of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Vaterländische Kampfverbände (an umbrella organization of various military associations, including the Federal Oberland led by Friedrich Weber , the Federal Reich flag under Adolf Heiss and the von .) On February 4, 1923, on the initiative of Hitler's liaison to the military associations, Ernst Röhm Emil Maurice founded SA under Hermann Göring ), Kriebel was the military leader of this organization.

Over the next few months, Hitler had considerable problems with "the clumsy soldier's mind" of the military leadership under Kriebel. He did not succeed in dominating the organization politically, and he also had to fear that he would lose influence via the SA to Röhm, Kriebel and the Reichswehr. The grouping was also a problem for the Bavarian government. For the Bavarian Prime Minister Eugen von Knilling in April 1923 “the enemy” was on the left, but “the danger on the right”. He considered “the former officers like Colonel Kriebel” to be the “most unteachable”. He had previously rated Knilling's decision to implement the Republic Protection Act of 1922 in Bavaria as a “declaration of war by the government on the working group”.

In the months that followed, Kriebel repeatedly pushed for a coup and to begin the “March on Berlin”. When the attempt by Hitler and the working group to use the rallies of the left-wing parties on May 1st to strike failed because of the resistance of the Reichswehr, it was Kriebel who until the end demanded that the action be carried out against the hesitant Hitler. And on October 16, he prepared another mobilization for civil war with an order to the border guard to the north. Although the measure was officially directed against the new Thuringian SPD / KPD government under August Frölich , formulations such as “opening hostilities” and “destroying” the opponent left no doubt as to the real motives.

At the beginning of September 1923, the German Combat League emerged from the working group as a new umbrella organization, again under the military leadership of Kriebel. The political leadership of the Kampfbund took over on September 25, 1923 Adolf Hitler himself. Together with Erich Ludendorff , Hitler and Kriebel were the driving force behind the plans for the Hitler coup of November 8, 1923 (the last secret preparatory talks took place the day before in Kriebel's apartment); Together they led the march to the Feldherrnhalle on November 9th . Ludendorff and Kriebel's goal was to establish a conservative government controlled by the military. “Lieutenant Colonel Kriebel had probably thought of an open or covert dictatorship of the Reichswehr with nationally minded men at the top, like himself, for example, who was supposed to preserve the empire of communists, socis and other journeymen without a fatherland, than of a dictatorship of the political fantasist [Hitler] ”, so the later diplomat Erwin Wickert , who met Kriebel in the 1930s. For Kriebel, Hitler was just the drummer in 1923: “Of course Hitler was out of the question for a managerial position, he only had his propaganda in mind anyway.” Kriebel experienced the putsch as an intoxicating experience: “We then moved on through the city, everywhere welcomed, greeted with cheers, through the arch of the town hall, across Marienplatz. The entire Marienplatz was black with people who all sang patriotic songs ”.

After the coup was suppressed, Hitler, Ludendorff and other conspirators were imprisoned. Kriebel first fled to the Bavarian Forest and volunteered in January 1924. The arrested putschists were brought to justice on February 20, 1924 for high treason. When the verdict was pronounced by the Munich People's Court under Judge Georg Neithardt on April 1, 1924, Ludendorff was acquitted (because of his services as OHL boss in World War I); Hitler, Kriebel, Weber and Pöhner were each sentenced to five years' imprisonment and transferred to the Landsberg fortress . Kriebel was therefore unable to exercise the mandate he won in the Reichstag election in May 1924 for the National Socialist Freedom Party (a brief list connection between the NSDAP , which had been banned since November 1923, and the German National Freedom Party , which was also banned ). However, in its judgment, the court had ruled that Hitler and Kriebel were to be pardoned on probation after just one year of imprisonment (taking into account pre-trial detention). After the release originally scheduled for October 1, u. a. had been delayed by various efforts by the Bavarian government to subsequently deport Hitler to Austria , Kriebel and Hitler were finally released on parole on December 20, 1924.

After his release, Kriebel initially took over the editing of the military supplement of the Völkischer Beobachter at Hitler's request , but then retired to Carinthia in 1926 as an estate administrator and was also the general representative of the guardianship for the administration of the property of the minor heirs . There, too, he was involved in the Home Guard movement.

Military advisor in China

In 1929 Kriebel went to China, where he initially acted as deputy to Colonel Max Bauer , who, as General Advisor to Marshal Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang government, was responsible for all military, economic and political issues. After his sudden death in May 1929, Kriebel succeeded Bauer. However, he was relieved of this post in May 1930 when he came into conflict with the marshal and his Chinese officials as well as with the German civil advisers in China and the Ministry of Commerce in Berlin. The Chinese side accused Kriebel of his undiplomatic approach and a one-sided attitude that represented German interests. The German civil advisers had spoken out against his appointment from the start - allegedly in part due to his political past. Kriebel's successor was Georg Wetzell (1869–1947), whom Kriebel - just like his predecessor Max Bauer - knew from working together on the OHL (under Ludendorff) during World War I. But Kriebel remained in China as one of the numerous military advisers until 1933.

It was there that Kriebel, who had remained true to his monarchist sentiments until the end of the 1920s and, according to the records of Hitler's adjutant Fritz Wiedemann, “was quite remote from the movement”, finally joined the NSDAP on January 1, 1930 ( membership number 344.967). In December 1933, his entry date was backdated to October 1, 1928 (membership number 82,996), and according to the 1938 Reichstag Handbook , he even joined the NSDAP on November 16, 1922. The euphemisms were certainly also made with the propaganda intention of portraying Kriebel as the “ old fighter ” who was closely associated with the National Socialists from the very beginning.

In the diplomatic service

Kriebel, meanwhile SA group leader , was now active as leader of the SA for the connection to the Foreign Office . In April 1934, as a diplomatic career changer, he was appointed Consul General First Class in Shanghai on special instructions from Hitler . In this function he was not responsible for diplomatic tasks, but merely had to take on legal, cultural and scientific assistance for German citizens living in China. As Hitler's “old comrade in arms”, Kriebel managed to end the disputes within the party organization there in Shanghai. His reputation also enabled him to dissent. When it came to the dismissal of German emigrants from the Chinese administration in the autumn of 1934, only Kriebel dared to object and referred to the "Führer" of all people.

However, Kriebel's assessment of China as a political force was not rated very highly in the Foreign Office and the Propaganda Ministry . Joseph Goebbels noted in his diary: “Kriebel tells me about East Asia. He's always betting on China. At least for a long time. Probably wrongly. ”This contempt was mutual. According to Fritz Wiedemann, Kriebel is said to have said on his return from Shanghai, “The Fuehrer should have two men shot immediately, Ribb [entrop] and Goebbels. What these two men are damaging to us internationally cannot be said. ”During these years, he appeared to visitors to be“ disappointed and resigned ”. He no longer seemed to think of Hitler. Finally, on October 17, 1937, he was given leave of absence from his post and returned to Germany. The background for the replacement was apparently several letters from Kriebel to Hitler in which he openly spoke out against pro-Japanese policies.

Its further professional use remained unclear at first. Kriebel felt “quite handicapped by the uncertainty of my future”, but hoped for an ambassadorial post. But he had fallen out of favor with Hitler: "Kr [iebel] can become an envoy in Bulgaria or whatever, but he can no longer get to an important position." After waiting for more than a year, he resigned on May 10th January 1939 began his service in the Foreign Office, where he did not receive a diplomatic post with political influence, but was appointed head of the personnel and administration department on April 20, 1939 and carried out this activity until his death.

In the election for the “Greater German Reichstag” on April 10, 1938 , for which only the candidates on the “List of the Führer” stood, he was given a Reichstag mandate. In September 1940 he was promoted to colonel by Hitler and awarded him the title of ambassador on his 65th birthday in January 1941. Almost four weeks after receiving this honor, Kriebel died after a short illness. Four days after his death he was honored in Munich with a state ceremony paid for from the budget of the Propaganda Ministry in the presence of Hitler, Göring, Ribbentrop and Hess and then buried in Niederaschau in Chiemgau .

"It wasn't a great career for a man who had spent a year in a fortress with Hitler," said Wickert, looking back on Kriebel's professional career.

Kriebel's son Rainer (1908–1989) also became an officer and, temporarily working for the military enemy reconnaissance under Reinhard Gehlen , became a colonel.

literature

• Astrid Freyeisen: Shanghai and the politics of the Third Reich. Königshausen and Neumann, Würzburg 2000, ISBN 3-8260-1690-4 (excerpts from Google Books ).
• Othmar Hackl : The Bavarian War Academy (1867-1914). CH Beck, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-406-10490-8 , p. 504.

Web links

• Literature by and about Hermann Kriebel in the catalog of the German National Library
• Newspaper article about Hermann Kriebel in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
• Hermann Kriebel in the database of members of the Reichstag

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hermann Kriebel † (obituary). In: Ostasiatische Rundschau. 2/1941 (online: page 25  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this note. , 26  ( page no longer available , search in Web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this note. , 27  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , 28  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ).        
2. ↑ The date of death is erroneously given as February 17th.
3. ↑ The military career is essentially based on Kriebel's entries in the Reichstag Handbuch 1924 and in the Reichstag Handbuch 1938 .
4. ↑ It was approved “the requested departure from the army on 23rd BC. Mts for transferring to the Imperial Marine Infantry ”, s. Ordinance sheet of the Royal Bavarian War Ministry 1900, p. 107.
5. ↑ Othmar Hackl : The Bavarian War Academy (1867-1914). CH Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-406-10490-8 , p. 504.
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} biography of Kriebels in the online version of the edition files of the Reich Chancellery. Weimar Republic .
7. ^ The essay was published in Innsbruck in 1929 by Franz Prinz zu Windisch-Graetz as part 1 of the series "On contributions for the history of the years 1848–1849"; as part 2 followed in the same year Kriebel's lecture, also held at the War Academy in 1906, on Field Marshal Prince Windisch-Grätz 1787–1862 .
8. ↑ Cf. Bruno Thoß : National rights, military leadership and the question of dictatorship in Germany 1913–1923. In: MGM . 38 (2), 1987, pp. 27-76.
9. ↑ See task / organization overview  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. of the Federal Archives.  
10. ↑ ^{a b} Ministerialdirektor Kriebel on his 65th birthday . In: Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung , January 20, 1941 ( online  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ).  
11. ↑ In the literature it is often erroneously stated that Kriebel's sentence was already spoken at the conclusion of the armistice negotiations in the Compiègne forest on November 11, 1918.
12. ↑ Bruno Thoss: Resident Services , 1919–1921. In: Historisches Lexikon Bayerns (2008).
13. ↑ Christoph Huebner: Regional Association of Resident Services in Bavaria, 1920/21. In: Historisches Lexikon Bayerns (2008).
14. ^ Astrid Freyeisen: Shanghai and the politics of the Third Reich. Würzburg 2000, p. 72.
15. ↑ Othmar Hackl: The Bavarian War Academy (1867-1914) . Beck, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-406-10490-8 , p. 296. In his presentation, Hackl follows a picture of the life of Hermann Kriebel (1876–1941) written by Kriebel's son Rainer Kriebel .
16. ↑ Hans Fenske : Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Vaterländischen Kampfverbände, 1923. In: Historisches Lexikon Bayerns (2008).
17. ↑ Joachim C. Fest : Hitler. Frankfurt am Main / Berlin 1991, p. 244.
18. ↑ Quotes from: The representative of the Reich Government in Munich to the Reich Chancellery. Munich, April 17, 1923 . In: “Files of the Reich Chancellery. Weimar Republic ”online. The Cuno cabinet. Volume 1. Documents No. 126.
19. ↑ Joachim C. Fest: Hitler. Frankfurt am Main / Berlin 1991, p. 244 ff., 255.
20. ^ Siegfried Zelnhefer: Deutscher Kampfbund, 1923. In: Historisches Lexikon Bayerns (2008).
21. ↑ Erwin Wickert : Courage and arrogance. Munich 1993, p. 232.
22. ↑ Joachim C. Fest: Hitler. Frankfurt am Main / Berlin 1991, p. 254 f.
23. ^ Testimony at the trial, quoted from Lothar Gruchmann and Reinhard Weber (eds.) With the assistance of Otto Gritschneder : The Hitler Trial 1924: Wording of the main hearing before the Munich People's Court. Part 1: 1. – 4. Negotiation day. Saur, Munich 1997, p. 230.
24. ↑ cf. Astrid Freyeisen: Shanghai and the politics of the Third Reich. Würzburg 2000, p. 72; Georg Franz-Willing : Putsch and period of prohibition of the Hitler movement, November 1923 – February 1925. Preußisch Oldendorf 1977, p. 123.
25. ↑ In addition to Hitler, Ludendorff and Kriebel, Ludendorff's stepson Heinz Pernet as well as Ernst Pöhner , Wilhelm Frick , Friedrich Weber , Ernst Röhm , Wilhelm Brückner and Robert Wagner were indicted.
26. ↑ Eberhard Jäckel , Axel Kuhn (ed.): Hitler. All records 1905–1924 (= sources and representations on contemporary history, vol. 21). DVA, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-421-01997-5 , p. 1227.
27. ↑ DC Watt: The Bavarian efforts to expel Hitler in 1924 . In: Quarterly journal for contemporary history. 6th year, 1958, issue 3, pp. 270–280 ( PDF; 5 MB ).
28. ^ Robert Edward Norton: Secret Germany: Stefan George and His Circle. Cornell University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8014-3354-1 , p. 652.
29. ↑ See Astrid Freyeisen: Shanghai and the politics of the Third Reich . Würzburg 2000, pp. 73 f .; s. a. Bernd Martin (Ed.): German-Chinese Relations 1928–1937. Berlin 2003, p. 121 f. (online at Google Books ).
30. ↑ See Timothy T. Lupfer: The Dynamics of Doctrine: The Change in German Tactical Doctrine During the First World War . US Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth 1981 ( PDF; 2.4 MB ).
31. ↑ Quotation from Astrid Freyeisen: Shanghai and the politics of the Third Reich. Würzburg 2000, p. 74, A104.
32. ↑ Reichstag Handbook 1938 .
33. ↑ See Astrid Freyeisen: Shanghai and the politics of the Third Reich . Würzburg 2000, p. 74.
34. ^ Promotion to SA group leader on June 7, 1933; from November 9, 1937 then SA-Obergruppenführer .
35. ^ Astrid Freyeisen: Shanghai and the politics of the Third Reich. Würzburg 2000, pp. 75, 82.
36. ^ Goebbels' diary , entry v. September 13, 1937.
37. ↑ Quotation from Astrid Freyeisen: Shanghai and the politics of the Third Reich. Würzburg 2000, p. 207.
38. ↑ Erwin Wickert: Courage and arrogance. Munich 1993, p. 233.
39. ↑ So Erwin Wickert in the interview, quoted. n. An undiplomatic diplomat and the love of freedom. In: The world . April 9, 2007.
40. ^ Astrid Freyeisen: Shanghai and the politics of the Third Reich. Würzburg 2000, p. 206 f.
41. ^ Letter from Kriebel to Dirksen, January 13, 1938. Gedr. in: Gerald Mund: East Asia in the Mirror of German Diplomacy. The private correspondence of the diplomat Herbert v. Dirksen from 1933 to 1938. Stuttgart 2006, p. 237 ff. ( Google Books ).
42. ↑ Thus reports Fritz Wiedemann 1945, cited above. n. Astrid Freyeisen: Shanghai and the politics of the Third Reich. Würzburg 2000, p. 207.
43. ↑ See Federal Archives, Ref. R 55/1329  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  
44. ^ The State Act for Hermann Kriebel . In: Frankfurter Zeitung . February 21, 1941. (online: sheet 1  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this note. , Sheet 2  ( page no longer available , Search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ).    
45. ↑ Erwin Wickert: Courage and arrogance. Munich 1993, p. 234.