Karl Bodenschatz

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From right to left: Wilhelm Keitel , Walter von Reichenau , Karl-Heinrich Bodenschatz and Kurt Daluege at a card meeting during the attack on Poland in September 1939, a propaganda company recorded

Karl-Heinrich Bodenschatz (born December 10, 1890 in Rehau , † August 25, 1979 in Erlangen ) was a German officer , most recently General of the Aviators in World War II and Adjutant Hermann Görings .

Life

After graduating from high school, Bodenschatz joined the 8th Bavarian Infantry Regiment "Grand Duke Friedrich II of Baden" as a flag junior on July 27, 1910 . There he was on 12 March 1911. Ensign and on 28 October 1912 Lieutenant promoted. With the outbreak of the First World War , Bodenschatz and his regiment came to the western front and subsequently acted as platoon leader and company commander . On March 16, 1916, he was promoted to lieutenant and as such Bodenschatz completed an observer training from July 15 to August 20, 1916 at the Bavarian Aviation Replacement Department in Schleissheim . In October 1916 he became an officer at special disposal (adjutant) of Jagdstaffel 2 , which was led by Oswald Boelcke . His first official act was to take him home after his accidental death. In February 1917 Bodenschatz became Manfred von Richthofen's adjutant, first with Jagdstaffel 11 , and then with Jagdgeschwader 1 from June . After the deaths of Richthofens (April) and Wilhelm Reinhardt (July), Hermann Göring became squadron commander. The two have been close friends since that time.

After the end of the war, Bodenschatz was accepted into the Reichswehr , where he was initially employed as a platoon leader in the Reichswehr Infantry Regiment 45. With the promotion to captain on September 28, 1920 he was company commander in the 20th (Bavarian) Infantry Regiment and from March 1, 1921 in the 21st (Bavarian) Infantry Regiment . He then held this position until September 30, 1930. From October 1, 1930 to March 31, 1933, Bodenschatz was then active on the staff of the Ingolstadt headquarters and in the meantime became major on April 1, 1932 .

On April 1, 1933, Bodenschatz was transferred to the Reich Ministry of Aviation in Berlin, where he acted as Göring's personal advisor and adjutant. When the People's Court was founded in 1934, Bodenschatz became an assessor there. In August 1935 he was also appointed adjutant of the Air Force to Adolf Hitler , which he stayed for almost a year.

In 1935 Karl Bodenschatz published his recording Hunting in the Sky of Flanders. From the 16 months of combat of the Freiherr von Richthofen fighter squadron , which later became part of the World War II collection of the German National Library .

From June 1936 Bodenschatz acted as head of the newly formed staff office of the Prussian Prime Minister (Göring). On February 1, 1938, he was promoted to major general in this position . From April 1938 until the end of the war he was head of the ministerial office in the Reich Aviation Ministry and at the same time Göring's liaison officer to Hitler. On July 1, 1941, he was appointed General of the Airmen.

In the second half of the war he was deployed exclusively in the various Führer headquarters . When assassination on 20 July 1944 by Claus von Stauffenberg to Hitler, he was seriously injured and unfit for service.

Between 1945 and 1947 Bodenschatz was a US prisoner of war . Until August 1945 he was housed in camp No. 32 ( Camp Ashcan ) in Bad Mondorf, Luxembourg, with other high-ranking military officials and high-ranking NSDAP groups. Later he was Göring's first exonerating witness at the Nuremberg trials .

At the end of 1948 he himself was classified in the group of exonerated persons by an Erlangen ruling chamber , since Bodenschatz's career in the Nazi state was based solely on his personal relationships during the First World War.

His late entry into the NSDAP (on March 1, 1941) also played a role in this context.

Awards

Fonts

  • Hunting in the sky of Flanders. From the 16 months of combat of the Freiherr von Richthofen Jagdgeschwader. According to Karl Bodenschatz's notes. Introduced by Hermann Göring , with an appendix: War diary of Jagdgeschwader 1 , 213 pages with 95 illustrations on boards, 4 faksiles in the text and 2 map sketches, Munich: Knorr & Hirth, 1935
    • in the English translation by Jan Hayzlett:
      • Part 1: Hunting with Richthofen Hunting in the sky of Flanders: The Bodenschatz Diaries: Sixteen Months of Battle with JG Freiherr von Richthofen No. 1 , second Edition, London: Grub Street, The Basement, 1996, ISBN 1-898697-97-3 ; Digitized via Google books

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lothar Gruchmann, Justice in the Third Reich , Munich 1988, ISBN 3-486-53831-4 , p. 964
  2. ↑ a b Karl-Heinrich Bodenschatz - Officials of National Socialist Reich Ministries . In: Officials of National Socialist Reich Ministries . March 8, 2018 ( ns-reichsministerien.de [accessed March 29, 2018]).
  3. ↑ Compare the information in the catalog of the German National Library
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Ranking list of the German Imperial Army. Mittler & Sohn, Berlin, p. 134
  5. ↑ Klaus D. Patzwall : The Golden Party Badge and its Honorary Awards 1934-1944, Studies of the History of Awards Volume 4 , Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt 2004, ISBN 3-931533-50-6 , p. 65
  6. ↑ Klaus D. Patzwall and Veit Scherzer : Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941–1945, History and Proprietor Volume II , Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt 2001, ISBN 3-931533-45-X , p. 537
  7. ^ Jörg Nimmergut : German medals and decorations until 1945. Volume 4. Württemberg II - German Empire. Central Office for Scientific Order Studies, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-00-001396-2 , p. 2228
personal data
SURNAME Bodenschatz, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bodenschatz, Karl-Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently General der Flieger and adjutant to Hermann Göring
DATE OF BIRTH December 10, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Rehau
DATE OF DEATH August 25, 1979
Place of death gain