Horst Niemack

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Theodor Robert Ernst Horst Niemack , or Horst Niemack for short (born March 10, 1909 in Hanover , † April 7, 1992 in Celle ) was a German officer , tournament rider and riding instructor. He served as major general in the army of the Wehrmacht in World War II and later as brigadier general in the reserve in the Bundeswehr . He was instrumental in the rebuilding of German equestrian sport.

Military background

Reichswehr

Promotions

Horst Niemack was born on March 10, 1909 as the son of a wholesale merchant in Hanover. In Hanover and Hildesheim he attended high schools and graduated from high school .

Niemack occurred on June 7, 1927, the Reichswehr , where he as an officer cadet of the driving section 6 was assigned. There he completed his infantry basic training and came on July 1, 1928 as an ensign in the 18th rider regiment of Stuttgart - Bad Cannstatt , where he remained until the end of September 1,933th Then Niemack attended the cavalry school in Hanover until September 30, 1936 . During this time he also acted as a member of the local equestrian tournament team and won numerous victories in various horse shows .

Wehrmacht

Colonel Niemack left next to General Hasso von Manteuffel during the fighting for Wilkowischken in August 1944. (Nazi propaganda picture)

On October 1, 1936, Niemack was assigned to teach at the Army Riding and Driving School in Hanover , where he taught from the beginning of the Second World War until the end of September 1939.

On October 1, 1939, Niemack was appointed head of the 3rd Squadron of Divisional Reconnaissance Department 5 , which he led until March 31, 1940. On April 1, 1940, he rose to the command of the aforementioned division reconnaissance department, which he commanded in the western campaign . For this, Niemack received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on July 13, 1940 . Then he took part with his department in the Eastern campaign, in which Niemack advanced in the area of Army Group North over the Nyemen to Orla . There his department succeeded in binding the Russian units for five days and thus preventing an enemy breakthrough. Niemack was seriously wounded in these fighting. For his achievements there, he was mentioned in the Wehrmacht report on July 6, 1941 and was awarded the Knight's Cross on August 10, 1941.

On September 30, 1941, Niemack relinquished command of his department and on the following day, October 1, 1941, was appointed teaching group commander at Panzer Troop School II in Potsdam - Krampnitz . He held this position until the end of January 1943. He then joined in February 1943 in the Führerreserve at Army High Command a. On March 1, 1943, Niemack was appointed commander of the 26th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, which was newly established in France and had previously been destroyed in the Battle of Stalingrad . On October 1, 1943, Niemack became the commander of the Greater Germany Armored Fusilier Regiment , with which he was deployed on the Eastern Front, including the Battle of Kharkov and Kursk .

Promotions

The regiment then fought in the area of Army Group South , where Niemack was awarded the oak leaves swords on June 4, 1944. On August 24, 1944, Niemack was seriously wounded again by tank or PAK fire in his armored personnel carrier. After an operation at the Berlin Charité and his recovery, which lasted until January 1945, Niemack was appointed commander of the Panzer Lehr Division on January 15, 1945 , with which he participated in the failed relief of the Ruhr pocket. In March 1945, Niemack was seriously wounded again. He experienced the end of the war in a hospital in Eutin and was taken prisoner by the British there , from which he was released on June 24, 1947.

armed forces

On November 16, 1959, he was appointed Brigadier General of the Reserve in the Bundeswehr and advised the Federal Ministry of Defense . From November 16, 1959 to December 12, 1959, Niemack performed a first reserve exercise at the armored forces school of the Bundeswehr. He completed a second reserve exercise from September 18 to October 14, 1961 with the I. Corps in Munster , the third and last on May 18 and May 19, 1962 with the 11th Panzer Grenadier Division .

Civilian activity in the Federal Republic

cavalry

After the war, Niemack devoted himself to equestrian sport; alongside Gustav Rau , he played a key role in the rebuilding of German equestrianism. In 1948 he became a riding instructor, later chief riding instructor of the Hanoverian Equestrian Association. From 1950 to 1980 he was president of the German judges' association for horse performance tests and from 1952 chairman of the German Olympic Committee for Equestrian (DOKR). He also acted as a board member of the main association for breeding and testing of German horses. From 1955 to 1958 he was director of the higher riding and driving school Warendorf (today: German riding school Warendorf ). There he trained u. a. Fritz Ligges . At the Olympic Games in 1956 , 1960 , 1964 and 1968 he was the head of the German dressage riders team . He worked as an internationally respected trainer and tournament judge, he also wrote several guidelines for the art of riding and riding.

Others

At the beginning of the 1950s, Niemack belonged to the order "The Brotherhood", which wanted to "overcome democracy and parliamentarism" and was composed of high-ranking military leaders with a National Socialist background and an anti-Marxist orientation.

From 1958 to 1988, Niemack was chairman of the Order of Knight Cross Bearers (OdR), he was also chairman of the Ring of German Soldiers' Associations (RDS) and member of the Presidium of the Confédération Européenne des Anciens Combattants (CEAC).

Niemack took the view that the military performance of soldiers should be assessed “in itself”, regardless of the political objectives of the regime, since soldiers cannot determine the objectives they serve in war themselves. He therefore advocated the inclusion of selected Wehrmacht ideas in the traditional heritage of the Bundeswehr. Others did not share this view and said that the soldiers were also partly responsible for the events of World War II.

family

Niemack was a Protestant denomination and married. There was a child from his marriage. His daughter married into the von Bohlen and Halbach family . His grave is in the cemetery in Groß Hehlen .

Awards

War awards

Order of Merit

Further honors

Publications

  • Studies of the gaits of horses. German judges' association for horse performance tests, 1965

literature

Web links

Commons : Horst Niemack  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Liberalism and denazification: On the attitude of the FDP / DVP / LDP in the denazification question, p. 31 (online)
  2. ↑ a b Eternal values ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Der Spiegel from May 14, 1984. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.spiegel.de
  3. ↑ Donald Abenheim : Bundeswehr and tradition: the search for the valid legacy of the German soldier. Contributions to military and war history, Vol. 27, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 1989, ISBN 3-486-55371-2 , p. 204 (online)
  4. ↑ a b Dermot Bradley: The Generals and Admirals of the Bundeswehr. Volume 3. Laegeler - Quiel. Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 2005, ISBN 3-7648-2382-8 , p. 385.
  5. ↑ 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. 570.
  6. ↑ Gordon Williamson, Malcolm McGregor: German Commanders of World War II. P. 49. (online)
  7. ↑ a b Handbook of the Bundeswehr and the Defense Industry 1987/88 , Bernard & Graefe, Koblenz 1988.
  8. ↑ Oliver von Wrochem: Erich von Manstein: Annihilation War and History Policy. War in History, Vol. 27, Schöningh, 2006, p. 316.
  9. ↑ Dermot Bradley: The Generals and Admirals of the Bundeswehr. Volume 3 Laegeler - Quiel. ISBN 3-7648-2382-8 , p. 384.
personal data
SURNAME No, Horst
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Niemack, Theodor Robert Ernst Horst (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently Brigadier General of the Bundeswehr
DATE OF BIRTH March 10, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanover
DATE OF DEATH April 7, 1992
Place of death Celle