Karl Nicolussi-Leck

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Karl Nicolussi-Leck (born March 14, 1917 in Pfatten ; † August 30, 2008 in Bolzano ) was a propagandist of National Socialism in South Tyrol and an officer in the Waffen SS during the Second World War , most recently as SS-Hauptsturmführer . After 1945 he was an entrepreneur and art collector .

Life

Beginning of the Nazi career in South Tyrol

Karl Nicolussi-Leck grew up at the Kreithof in the municipality of Pfatten, attended schools first in Kaltern and then in Bozen , where he passed his school leaving examination ( maturità ) on July 28, 1936 at the Franciscan high school . According to his own account, he was a loner who did not fight or play with other children and young people, but “always looked for beautiful things”.

Nicolussi-Leck was actively involved in building up the National Socialist organization Völkischer Kampfring in South Tyrol . Nicolussi-Leck soon became one of the leading and most active figures in the ranks of the VKS. Back then he confidently stated his profession as “political leader and organizational leader of the Nazi movement in South Tyrol”. He also received appropriate ideological training in the Third Reich, for example at the NS-Ordensburg Krössinsee . On October 10, 1939, he began studying law and economics at the University of Padua , but broke it off shortly after the start of the Second World War.

Volunteer in the Waffen SS 1940–1945

In January 1940 Nicolussi-Leck volunteered in the German Reich with the Waffen-SS (membership no. 423.876). He was assigned to the motorized SS infantry regiment "Germany" with which he took part in the Balkan campaign from April 1941 . From June 1941 he was used on the Eastern Front. From November 1941 to March 1942 he attended the SS Junk School in Bad Tölz . He then fought as a Untersturmführer in the 5th SS Panzer Division "Wiking" in the Ukraine.

In March 1944 Nicolussi-Leck took part as Obersturmführer of the Wiking Division in the relief of the Kowel pocket , the trapped troops of which were under the command of SS Oberführer Herbert Otto Gille . On March 30th, Nicolussi-Leck advanced into the pocket with 7 tanks of the " Panther " type from the SS Wiking Division and 50 men from the 131st Infantry Division. The boiler could be held in this way until a connection to the German lines was created on April 4, 1944. On April 5, the two-day evacuation of the boiler began through a "bottleneck" held by the 131st Infantry Division, the 4th and 5th Panzer Divisions and the SS Wiking Division. During this time, 2,000 wounded and all tracked vehicles were brought behind the German lines. Nicolussi-Leck was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer.

In the course of 1944 Nicolussi-Leck took part in fighting in Poland and Hungary. In 1945 he was involved in the fighting in the Ruhr basin and near Hanover, where he surrendered to the Americans with his combat group on April 22, 1945 .

After 1945: Nazi escape helpers, entrepreneurs, patrons of culture

After the Second World War, Nicolussi-Leck worked as an escape helper for National Socialists and SS members on their way overseas via Italy. Like many of his SS comrades, he then went to Argentina with a Red Cross travel document under false information . Nicolussi was hardly politically active anymore. However, he soon got involved in agriculture, especially in the construction of irrigation systems. To this end, he founded the company "Aspersion, Nicolussi & Cia" in Buenos Aires , a very successful company at the time, from whose sales proceeds to Mannesmann he was later able to purchase his villa in Hochfrangart . Fleeing Nazi perpetrators - such as SS Brigade Leader Hans Fischböck - also found shelter in Leak's company . A close business partner of Leck was Horst Carlos Fuldner , one of the most important escape helpers in the service of the Argentine President Juan Perón . The two SS officers had known each other in Italy since the time they were trying to escape. Now they shared an office in Buenos Aires on the 6th floor of Avenida Córdoba 374.

In the 1950s, Nikolussi-Leck returned to South Tyrol. With the help of Mannesmann, he again successfully founded companies for agricultural machinery and irrigation systems. Many connections from Spain, Italy, Germany and Argentina soon came together at Nicolussi-Leck. His closest business partners were mostly old comrades from the Nazi movement or the SS. Nicolussi-Leck, for example, was also closely connected with the avowed Nazi Paul Maria Hafner and gave him a job at Mannesmann in Spain . These networks of worldview, friendships and business interests continued to function well into the 1980s.

In addition, Leck also devoted himself to his passion for art. Over the years Nicolussi-Leck has decorated his villa in Frangart (Hochfrangart) and the associated vineyard with modern art. Nicolussi-Leck was the founder of the “South Tyrolean Education Center”, the Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art Museion and the State University for Health Professions “Claudiana” .

Awards

literature

  • Gerald Steinacher : Nazis on the run. How war criminals escaped overseas via Italy. StudienVerlag, Vienna-Innsbruck-Bozen 2008, ISBN 978-3-7065-4026-1 .
  • Gerald Steinacher: Exclusion in the economy? Careers of South Tyrolean National Socialists after 1945 . In: Hannes Obermair et al. (Ed.): Regional civil society in motion. Festschrift for Hans Heiss . Folio-Verlag, Vienna / Bozen 2012. ISBN 978-3-85256-618-4 , pp. 272–285.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Garden Worlds: One is the whole . (PDF)
  2. ↑ Gerald Steinacher: Exclusion in the economy? Careers of South Tyrolean National Socialists after 1945. In: Hannes Obermair et al. (Hrsg.): Regional civil society in motion. Vienna-Bozen: Folio Verlag 2012, ISBN 978-3-85256-618-4 , p. 273.
  3. ↑ Gerald Steinacher: Exclusion in the economy? Careers of South Tyrolean National Socialists after 1945. In: Hannes Obermair et al. (Hrsg.): Regional civil society in motion. Vienna-Bozen: Folio Verlag 2012, ISBN 978-3-85256-618-4 , p. 273.
  4. ↑ a b Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 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. 568.
personal data
SURNAME Nicolussi-Leck, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian-German SS officer (South Tyrol)
DATE OF BIRTH March 14, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Pfatten
DATE OF DEATH August 30, 2008
Place of death Bolzano