Karl Hoefer

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Karl Hoefer

Karl Hoefer (born December 29, 1862 in Pless ; † May 12, 1939 in Würzburg ) was a German lieutenant general as well as a free corps leader and SS-Oberführer .

Life

Hoefer joined the grenadier regiment "King Friedrich Wilhelm II." (1st Silesian) No. 10 in Schweidnitz on April 10, 1883 as a flag junior . There he was appointed ensign on November 13, 1883 and promoted to second lieutenant on September 13, 1884 . On September 20, 1890, Hoefer was transferred to the 3rd Upper Silesian Infantry Regiment No. 62 in Cosel , where he was first used as a battalion and then as an adjutant regiment . In this capacity he became Prime Lieutenant on March 29, 1892 . As such, he served as adjutant of the 24th Infantry Brigade on December 14, 1895, was transferred to the 8th Rhenish Infantry Regiment No. 70 on September 12, 1896 and promoted to captain . After his activity there as a company commander, he was assigned to the Prussian War Ministry on October 1, 1898 and appointed as an adjutant for the supply and justice departments. On May 22, 1900, Hoefer returned to service as a company commander in the 3rd Upper Alsatian Infantry Regiment No. 172 . From May 18, 1905 to April 20, 1911 he was assigned to the artillery depot inspection in Berlin and was promoted to major on January 27, 1906. Hoefer then took over as commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Posenen Infantry Regiment No. 58 , became lieutenant colonel on October 1, 1912 and, as such, on February 18, 1913, to the staff of the 3rd West Prussian Infantry Regiment No. 129 to Graudenz .

Here he stayed after the outbreak of the First World War . On August 27, 1914, Hoefer was appointed commander of the 10th Landwehr Infantry Regiment and, shortly afterwards, on September 5, 1914, he was promoted to colonel . During the fighting on the front, Hoefer suffered serious wounds on August 7, 1915, so that after a stay in a hospital as an officer he initially did not receive any troop command from the army. After his recovery he was deployed from June 2, 1916, initially as commander of the Landwehr Infantry Regiment 57 and three months later, Hoefer was appointed commander of the 17th Landwehr Brigade, which he was to lead until February 16, 1918. Hoefer then took over the 43rd Replacement Infantry Brigade, became major general on February 25, and on April 12, 1918 commander of the 117th division . With this he was u. a. participated in the Fourth Battle of Flanders and was able to distinguish itself by storming the strategically important Kemmelberg .

After the end of the war he was accepted into the Reichswehr and from May 1, 1919, Hoefer was initially in command of the Reichswehr Brigade 32. Five months later, he was appointed Infantry Leader 8. Then, from March 1920, Hoefer was briefly in command of the Reichswehr Brigade 8, then from April 26th commander of Reichswehr Brigade 6 and finally from December 18, 1920 commander of Wroclaw . In this capacity he left active service on December 31, 1920 and was retired. Subsequently, on February 3, 1921, Hoefer was promoted to lieutenant general.

Hoefer acted from May 20 to July 5, 1921 as the leader of the Upper Silesian Self-Protection and as such played a major role in the storming of St. Annaberg during the Third Polish Uprising . From April 20, 1936, he was a member of the SS with the rank of SS-Oberführer and in this position worked for the Reichsführer SS .

Others

The barracks in the Homburg district of Erbach was named Hoefer barracks in his honor. In 1945 it was renamed La Bretesche settlement by the French occupying forces, after the former French governor of Homburg and commander of Hohenburg (1680 to 1697) Count La Bretesche, and initially made available to the slave laborers employed in Homburg. After that it became a "home", a refuge for the homeless, refugees and displaced people due to the war.

A street in Berlin in the Reinickendorf district was named after Karl Hoefer in 1941, which was not noticed until 1996. In view of his membership in the SS with the rank of SS-Oberführer, the street was renamed on September 11, 1998 in Von-der-Gablentz- Strasse (after a resistance fighter against the Nazi regime).

Awards

Works

  • Upper Silesia during the 1918–1921 uprising. Memories and documents. Berlin 1938.

literature

  • Dermot Bradley (Ed.): The Generals of the Army 1921-1945. The military careers of the generals, as well as the doctors, veterinarians, intendants, judges and ministerial officials with the rank of general. Volume 6: Hochbaum-Klutmann. Biblio Verlag, Bissendorf 2002, ISBN 3-7648-2582-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Willy Sachs: The "Zero Hour" in Homburg. Ermer Verlag, Homburg 1990, pp. 54–56, [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 notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.stadtarchiv-homburg.de  
  2. ^ Karin Schmidl: An SS-Oberführer on the street sign . In: Berliner Zeitung , October 26, 1996
  3. ^ Von-der-Gablentz-Strasse. In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (near  Kaupert )
  4. ↑ a b Prussian War Ministry (ed.): Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps for 1914. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1914, p. 286.
personal data
SURNAME Hoefer, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Lieutenant General and Freikorpsführer of the Self-Protection of Upper Silesia
DATE OF BIRTH December 29, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH Pleas
DATE OF DEATH May 12, 1939
Place of death Wurzburg