Karl Koller (General)

Karl Koller (born February 22, 1898 in Glonn ; † December 22, 1951 ) was a pilot and last chief of staff in the German Air Force in World War II from November 1944 to the end of the war in 1945, most recently as General der Flieger .

Life

Adolescence

Karl was born as the son of the police security commissioner Josef Koller in Glonn in Upper Bavaria. There he also went to elementary school .

In the spring of 1914 he moved to England with his schoolmate Georg Lanzenberger , who later became a painter . While Lanzenberger was surprised by the war and interned, Koller was able to cross over to Germany with the last ship at the end of July 1914.

First World War

Since he was acquainted with the family of the aviation pioneer Albert Hirth and was infected by their enthusiasm for flying, he volunteered for the flying unit in August 1914. First, however, he started basic training with the Bavarian Railway Replacement Battalion, where he became a railway driver. On January 16, 1916, he was transferred to Flieger-Ersatz -teilung 1b in Schleissheim, as requested . He then served in Kampfstaffel 34, Fliegerabteilung 273 (artillery), Fliegerabteilung 47b and Jagdstaffel 76. In August 1917 he was promoted to private and received further promotions, most recently in February 1918 to vice sergeant.

After several successes in aerial battles, he was shot down behind enemy lines on May 25, 1918 - as a member of Jagdstaffel 76 - and fell into British captivity, from which he was released in December 1919.

Between the wars

Karl Koller followed in his father's footsteps at home and was a member of the Bavarian State Police from February 1920 . There he worked again in Schleissheim, now as a pilot of the Police Fliegerstaffel 1.

He remained loyal to aviation even outside of his job and dedicated himself to gliding in the “Bavarian Aero Club” . In 1921 he represented the state of Bavaria at the gliding competition in the Rhön with a test design by his fellow Glonner Emeran Stadler, which got by without the usual elevators, rudders and ailerons: it was only controlled via the wings.

On August 15, 1921, at 640 meters, he was able to achieve the longest flight distance of a glider until then; this record was conquered shortly afterwards by a competitor. On August 20, 1921, however, he set a new hurdle with the new world record of 1900 meters between the take-off and landing site, the flight duration was three minutes, which was widely noticed. Five days later he was able to show another achievement: the first complete circle (and another 180 ° turn) without loss of altitude with a glider. These flights brought him worldwide attention, he received teaching and demonstration assignments from England, France, Switzerland and other countries. He also came into friendly contact with the aviator Ernst Udet .

He worked for the police from 1922 to 1928 as a train driver and trainer. In the meantime promoted to police lieutenant, he then worked until 1932 as an adjutant for Section Commander III of the State Police in Munich. After completing his assistant leadership training , he was promoted to police captain in January 1933 and assigned as a trainer to the police officers' school in Munich, where he was now part of the command of the state police.

The newly established Air Force aroused his interest, he joined it in August 1935 as a captain. Although his schooling did not extend beyond elementary school, he attended the air warfare school in Berlin and in 1936 became a squadron captain at the fighter pilot course in Jüterbog and Oldenburg , and in August 1936 he was promoted to major.

Initially working as a trainer at the Air War School in Berlin-Gatow, he was transferred to the Munich Air District Command in January 1938 as the first General Staff Officer (Ia).

Second World War

In January 1941 Karl Koller was appointed Chief of Staff of Air Fleet 3 , which operated in the west, while being promoted to colonel . On April 10, 1942, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross because of his services to the Cerberus company , the breakthrough of German battleships through the English Channel . In March 1943, he was promoted to major general.

He opposed the National Socialist rulers as much as possible. As early as 1940 he managed to preserve the French cathedrals . He also opposed Hitler's express ban on protecting enemy aviators who had dropped out from lynching. In several cases he saved soldiers and civilians from concentration camps and courts-martial . Because of his friendly demeanor, he was also respected abroad.

On the occasion of the reorganization of the top air force after the suicide of the chief of staff Hans Jeschonnek , Koller was appointed chief of the air force command staff in September 1943 and was promoted to lieutenant general a little later. When the new Chief of the General Staff Günther Korten fell victim to the bombing of Count Stauffenberg in July 1944 , Koller would have been the logical successor, but was passed over by Göring in favor of General of Aviation Training Werner Kreipe , whom the Reichsmarschall considered easier to control. However, Kreipe proved to be overwhelmed, so that Göring was forced to finally appoint Koller as Chief of the General Staff of the Air Force in November 1944. At the same time he was promoted to general of the aviators .

In the same year, made aware by his fellow citizen of Glonn, Max Lebsche , he achieved that the Italian city ​​of Ravenna with its art monuments and the oldest churches in Europe was spared from destructive air raids. In addition, he rejected the destruction of Germany ordered by Hitler. On April 21, 1945, he told Hitler that the Luftwaffe would be completely dead in a few days , which Hitler commented on with the exclamation that the whole Luftwaffe command had to be hung up immediately. Two days later, Koller flew from Berlin to Obersalzberg and reported to the Commander-in-Chief of the German Air Force, Hermann Göring , that Hitler was determined to commit suicide. Goering then announced that he would take over the leadership of the Reich and was promptly arrested on Hitler's orders.

At the end of the war in Germany, Koller fell into English captivity and was imprisoned in Oxford . There he was visited by the US- American aviator colonel Charles Lindbergh (first solo crossing of the Atlantic in 1927), who expressed his respect for him. In December 1947 he was finally released back home.

post war period

After his release, Koller returned to Glonn and worked as a VW representative in Munich .

In 1949 he published his personal war diary under the title The Last Month . The next year the Association of German Soldiers in Bavaria elected him chairman. On December 22nd, 1951, however, Koller died of a heart condition in Glonn at the age of 53 and was buried on December 25th.

family

With his wife Friedl, geb. Joisten (* May 25, 1908; † September 10, 1977) he had three sons: Klaus, Dieter and Roland.

His brother Wolfgang Koller (born November 6, 1904, † April 28, 1974) was a teacher, writer and poet.

His son Roland Koller (* 1942 in Munich ) is a lawyer and was Police President in the Munich Police Headquarters (1988 to 2003) and State Secretary for Internal Security in the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior (2003 to 2006).

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
• Wehrmacht service award IV. To I. class
• Medal in memory of October 1, 1938 with Prague Castle clasp
• Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on April 10, 1942
• German cross in gold on February 7, 1944
• Wound badge (1939) in black

Movie

• Der Untergang , D 2004, Karl Koller is portrayed by the actor Hans H. Steinberg .

literature

• Karl Koller: The last month. April 14 - May 27, 1945. Diary entries of the former Chief of the Air Force General Staff . Frankfurt / Main, Berlin 1995 (other publisher data / publication according to HR Trevor-Roper: Hitler's last days - ways and detours of historical source research : Karl Koller: The last month . Verlag Norbert Wohlgemuth, Mannheim 1949)
• Mario Frank: Death in the Führerbunker - Hitler's Last Days . Siedler-Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-88680-815-7 .
• Karl Friedrich Hildebrand: The Generals of the German Air Force 1935-1945 . Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1990.

Web links

• Literature by and about Karl Koller in the catalog of the German National Library

Remarks

1. ^ Karl Koller: The Last Month, April 14 to May 27, 1945 , Winer Verlag, 1985, ISBN 3-7628-0439-7 , page: 7.
2. ↑ Source: Portrait of Georg Lanzenberger
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Maria Sedlmair (Ed.): Glonn - my home . 1st edition, self-published: Maria Sedlmair, Ismaning 1991, p. 26 ff.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} source: www.ritterkreuztraeger-1939-45.de/Luftwaffe/K/Koller-Karl.htm (directory of knight cross bearers of the German air force)
5. ↑ Quote from the press release: “The highly deserved officer, who comes from the crew class and has worked his way up to his superior position through his own strength and will, created the prerequisites for the with his well-considered proposals and arrangements that characterized the boldness of the car Successes of the air fleet in the campaign against France and in the fight against England. He has especially proven himself as a commanding assistant to the commander in the preparation and execution of the breakthrough of our battleships through the canal, by making a decisive contribution to the success of the operation through anticipatory measures and planned deployment of the air force units. "
6. ↑ Dieter Wunderlich: The fall of the Third Reich .
7. ^ ^{A b} Rudolf Gerer: Glonn personalities: Karl Koller, 1898–1951 . In: Glonner Blickpunkte No. 22 / July 2011. Retrieved on November 1, 2014.
8. ↑ Helmut Damerau (Ed.): German Soldier Yearbook 1984: Thirty-two German Soldiers Calendar . Schild Verlag, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-88014-081-2 , p. 93.
9. ↑ https://www.merkur.de/lokales/regionen/polizeipraesident- geht-politik- 131701.html
10. ↑ http://ipa-muenchen.de/chronik/2003.htm
11. ↑ See entry in the Internet Movie Database
12. ↑ Download: PDF, 160 kB