Hermann Mertz von Quirnheim

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hermann Mertz von Quirnheim (March 1930)
Family coat of arms of the noble family of the knights Mertz von Quirnheim

Christoph Emanuel Hermann Ritter Mertz von Quirnheim (* July 23, 1866 in Ansbach ; † January 5, 1947 in Blankenburg ), or Hermann von Mertz for short , was a German officer , most recently Lieutenant General and from 1919 to 1931 President of the Reich Archives .

Life

family

Hermann Mertz von Quirnheim came from an old, originally Kurmainz , later Palatinate family named Merz . He was the son of the Bavarian fire insurance inspector in Ansbach, Albrecht Ritter Mertz von Quirnheim (1824–1878), and his wife Friederike, née Hetzel (1837–1908). His grandfather Karl Josef von Merz (* 1789 in Rodenbach ; † 1846 in Ansbach) was born, like his father, in the Palatinate. The grandfather founded the Bavarian-Franconian line of the family and was accepted into the Bavarian nobility register on December 12, 1839 as Karl Josef Ritter Merz von Quirnheim . When he married, the father changed the name to the historically common spelling Mertz.

In 1899 Hermann married the sister of the building councilor Walter Hohmann , who grew up in South Africa , Eleonore Hohmann (1875–1954), and with her they had two daughters Erika (1900–1986) and Gudrun (1907–1979) and their son Albrecht (1905–1944) . In the Third Reich, as a colonel, he belonged to the core of the military resistance fighters around Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and was shot dead on the night of July 20, 1944 in the courtyard of the Berlin Bendler block. His eldest daughter Erika married the military archivist Wilhelm Dieckmann in June 1925 , who as captain of the reserve in the Potsdamer Infantry Regiment 9 was also part of the resistance fighters of July 20, 1944. Wilhelm Dieckmann was also murdered after the attack. Hermann and Eleonore Mertz von Quirnheim's daughter Gudrun had been married since 1929 to Major General of the Wehrmacht and later to the Barracked People's Police, Otto Korfes , who was a leading member of the National Committee for Free Germany and the Association of German Officers .

Career

On August 16, 1887 Mertz joined one of Quirnheim after completing Humanistic Gymnasium as three-year volunteer in the 9th Infantry Regiment "Wrede" the Bavarian army one. From March 1, 1888 to January 22, 1889, he was assigned to the Munich War School and was subsequently promoted to secondary lieutenant . A duel led to a military trial in 1889 . From 1892 he worked as an adjutant of the Nuremberg District Command. From 1894 to 1897 Mertz von Quirnheim graduated from the War Academy , which made him qualify for the general staff, the higher adjutantage and the subject. In the further course of his military career he returned to the academy as a teacher in 1908 and taught tactics, army organization and general staff until 1911. Mertz von Quirnheim was then two years in the general staff of III. Army Corps and in 1913 became battalion commander in the 6th Infantry Regiment "Kaiser Wilhelm, King of Prussia" .

When the First World War broke out , Mertz von Quirnheim became the first general staff officer in the general staff of the 6th Army . He held this position until August 1916. Then he took over the "Balkans" department at the General Staff of the Field Army, which dealt with the situation in the Balkans and Asia. Although the Balkan Department was only of subordinate importance and Mertz von Quirnheim was critical of the policies of the 3rd Supreme Army Command , he enjoyed Ludendorff's trust . He belonged to a group of staff officers who took the initiative at the end of September 1918 to have Ludendorff officially demand the initiation of armistice negotiations.

After Ludendorff had ordered the establishment of a war history department with the Chief of the General Staff of the Field Army on October 18, 1918, the service of the Chief Quartermaster War History was created on February 1, 1919 and placed under Mertz von Quirnheim. From January 23 to September 30, 1919, he also served as the last Bavarian military representative in Berlin. He then retired from active service.

On October 1, 1919, Mertz von Quirnheim took over the position of President of the Reichsarchiv in Potsdam , which he headed until October 31, 1931. His successor was Hans von Haeften (1870–1937). As a political pragmatist, Quirnheim was also available to a republican interior minister, while he not only had knowledge of the situation in the top military leadership of the empire, but also maintained a close, loyal relationship with Hindenburg and Ludendorff. For Hindenburg he wrote the military part of his memoir.

As an officer, von Quirnheim was awarded the Order of Pour le Mérite in March 1918 . In 1926 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Leipzig . On August 27, 1939, the so-called Tannenberg Day , Mertz von Quirnheim was given the character of Lieutenant General.

After the unsuccessful assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944, in which his son Albrecht was significantly involved, he was taken into kin custody by the Gestapo .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Government Gazette for the Kingdom of Bavaria , Printer Joseph Rößl, 1840, column 54 - Google Books
  2. ^ Maximilian Gritzner : Status surveys and acts of grace of German sovereigns during , p.453 - Digital collections of the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf .
  3. ^ Gerhard Heyl:  Mertz von Quirnheim, Hermann. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , p. 189 f. ( Digitized version ).
  4. ↑ Othmar Hackl: The Bavarian War Academy (1867-1914). CH Beck´sche publishing house bookstore. Munich 1989. ISBN 3-406-10490-8 . P. 523.
  5. ^ Markus Pöhlmann : War history and history policy: The First World War. The official German military historiography 1914–1956. Schöningh, Paderborn 2002, ISBN 9783506744814 , p. 82 f.
  6. ↑ a b Markus Pöhlmann : War history and historical politics: The First World War. The official German military historiography 1914–1956. Schöningh, Paderborn 2002, ISBN 9783506744814 , p. 84.
personal data
SURNAME Mertz von Quirnheim, Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Knight Mertz von Quirnheim, Christoph Emanuel Hermann (full name); Mertz, Hermann von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently Lieutenant General and President of the Reich Archives (1919–1931)
DATE OF BIRTH July 23, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Ansbach
DATE OF DEATH January 5, 1947
Place of death Blankenburg