Siegfried Müller (mercenary)

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Siegfried Friedrich Heinrich Müller (* 26. October 1920 in Crossen an der Oder ; † 17th April 1983 in Boksburg , South Africa ), called Congo Müller was in the 1960s as a mercenary in the crackdown on the Simba rebellion in Congo involved .

Life

Youth and war effort

In 1931, Müller joined the youth organization of the Scharnhorstbund ( Stahlhelm ), and from October 1933 switched to the Hitler Youth , where he served as a Fähnleinführer from 1934 until his Abitur in 1938. From the summer of 1938 he registered as an early volunteer for the Reich Labor Service (RAD Department 2/101, Building Battalion 123). In October 1939 he switched to the Wehrmacht and served there until 1945 in the theaters of war in Poland , France and the Soviet Union . He initially served with the artillery force and then switched to the tank destroyers via an infantry role .

Promotions: Private 1940, Obergefreiter 1943, Unteroffizier 1943, Fahnenjunker 1944, Oberfähnrich 1945. According to his own statement, he was promoted to first lieutenant on April 20, 1945 . This information is not correct, however, since Müller's military service pass / pay book only contains the rank of senior ensign until the end of the war. The same applies to documents from captivity .

Orders and awards: Schutzwall Decoration of Honor 1940, General Assault Badge 1942, East Medal 1942, Iron Cross 2nd Class 1943, Iron Cross 1st Class 1945, Wound Badge Silver 1945.

With a bullet in the spine, Müller was taken prisoner of war in 1945 in a field hospital near Langen , from which he was released in 1947. Between 1948 and 1956, Müller served as an officer in the so-called American Labor Service Units at the American military airfields Landstuhl and Rhein-Main Air Base . He served two years in the so-called industry Police ( Industrial Policy ) as Chief Watchman (industrial policeman charged with the direct supervision of about 5 Watchmen).

Later on, Müller prepared drafts about anti-tank weapons in the Blank office . He also worked in the Gesellschaft für Wehrkunde in Frankfurt, which dealt with planning tasks for Germany's new armed forces, such as shock effects in the first deployment or the formation of a new division . In addition, Müller worked in the Society for Liberal Military Policy.

After an unsuccessful attempt to join the Bundeswehr , Müller hired himself out for an oil company in North Africa, where he cleared mines from the Second World War. In 1962 he emigrated to South Africa with his wife and daughter .

As a mercenary in the Congo

In the years 1964 and 1965 he served as mercenaries in the 5th command of Mike Hoare . It had Moise Tshombe hired in Congo the revolt of the Simbas quell.

Müller belonged to the first group of 38 mercenaries who, coming from South Africa, arrived in Kamina on August 21, 1964 . Hoare appointed Müller one of the three officers of the newly formed unit. Hoare was impressed on the one hand by Müller's Iron Cross , on the other hand that he had brought a typewriter with him, which for Hoare identified him as an experienced soldier. Just two days after arriving in Kamina, the unit was moved by plane to the vicinity of Moba. From there, Hoare wanted to advance with 24 men in three assault boats across Lake Tanganyika to attack Albertville and free European hostages there. The journey on the lake turned out to be arduous, on the second night two of the three outboard motors failed and the mercenaries had to paddle long distances. The group was shot at from a hospital on the outskirts. The two Germans Bernd Köhlert and Walter Nestler died in the battle . The rest of the unit made their way back to Kamina.

After this failure, Hoare built up the 5th command with around 300 men. He promoted Müller to captain and commissioned him to set up the 52nd Command , which at the end of September comprised three officers and 50 men, to which a company of 150 Congolese soldiers was assigned. The unit consisted of paratroopers of different nationalities and German mercenaries. After Boende was taken by the rebels, Müller attacked the place on September 19 from Coquilhatville with his command, but was repulsed. The German mercenary Fritz Kötteritzsch died . Demoralized then almost half of the mercenaries withdrew from the unit.

A few days later, the German reporter Gerd Heidemann arrived at Kommando 52 in Bikili. His articles and photos in Stern made Siegfried Müller known in the Federal Republic. To reinforce Command 52, Command 54 moved into Bikili. Müller took over the command of both units and planned a new attack on Boende with them. Before that could happen, Mike Hoare arrived, alerted by reports of the bad mood in Command 52 . After his arrival, he immediately sent Gerd Heidemann and his colleague Ernst Petry away because he feared negative reports about the warfare of the mercenaries. Hoare deposed Müller as platoon leader , but left him with the planning for the attack on Boende. Years later, Hoare justified the dismissal by stating that Command 52 had been an insecure unit and that Müller had kept too great a distance from his subordinates. In addition, despite his years of service for the US Army, Müller only had a rudimentary knowledge of English and was therefore difficult to communicate with the majority of his subordinates. The capture of Boende was carried out according to Müller's plans and succeeded without loss under the two commands.

Hoare promoted Müller to major in November 1964 and made him head of the military base of the 5th Command in Kamina . There the newly arrived mercenaries were trained and given weapons and equipment. From February 6 to 13, 1965, Müller led a large column from Stanleyville to Paulis . Around 15 of Müller's men, three of them mercenaries, died in an ambush near Bafwasende . Twelve other mercenaries were wounded. Half of the forty or so vehicles were destroyed.

As a civilian in South Africa

In May 1965, Müller retired to his adopted home South Africa and ran a security company there, among other things . About his experiences in the Congo, he published the book Les nouveaux mercenaires in France and two articles in military magazines in Switzerland and France . He died of stomach cancer in 1983 .

In November 1965, Müller was apparently again in the Federal Republic and proposed to the then Defense Minister Kai-Uwe von Hassel to found an academy to build commandos that should be able to fight the “subversive” or “revolutionary war” to lead. This should preferably teach French, but also British and American experiences since the Second World War. Müller's letter from Frankfurt am Main dated November 15, 1965 was presented to the minister, but the reaction to it is unknown.

"Kongo-Müller" in the media

The media of the Federal Republic

Despite the minor importance and military successes in comparison to mercenary leaders in the Congo such as Mike Hoare, Bob Denard or Jean Schramme , Müller achieved a high level of awareness in Germany and abroad. This was mainly due to the fact that Müller liked to present himself to journalists. It all started with the reports by Heidemann and Petry in the Stern , in which the Müller's Jeep decorated with human skulls and bones could be seen. The series won the World Press Photo Award and is internationally known. Large articles about Müller also appeared in German magazines such as Revue and Quick .

The reports about Müller in the serious media were often characterized by exaggerations. Again and again he was accused of having a past in the SS . The FAZ promoted him to captain of the Wehrmacht , although Müller himself had only given his rank as first lieutenant and even this was still inapplicable, since he had only been chief ensign at the end of the war. According to Spiegel , Müller led the 5th command , which was actually under Mike Hoare, who in turn was Müller's superior.

The media of the GDR

In 1966 the GDR authors Gerhard Scheumann and Walter Heynowski acquired the tape recordings and photos of Gerhard Heidemann. As part of the GDR campaign against neo-colonialism in the Federal Republic of Africa, Scheumann and Heynowski used the material for several films and three books in which Müller played an essential role:

  • Command 52 was a compilation of film and tape recordings as well as photos, which should show a "relentless overall picture of the mercenary command 52 ". The film premiered on November 16, 1965 at the Leipzig Documentary Film Week . In the Federal Republic of Germany, Kommando 52 was immediately declared a blocked film that was not allowed to be shown.
  • The laughing man was first broadcast on February 9, 1966 in the DFF program. He reproduces an interview that Scheumann and Heynowski shot with Müller in Munich in November 1965. They pretended to be West German journalists. The film caused a scandal because of Müller's statements ("We fought for Europe, for the idea of ​​the West [...]. For me, Africa is nothing other than the defense of the West in Africa."). The public performance of the film was repeatedly prevented by the police in the Federal Republic of Germany, as the Federal Office for Commercial Economicsdid not approve it as a film with propaganda content against the politics of the Federal Republicdue to a violation of the Transport Act. The book of the same name was published in the same year by Verlag der Nation. Historians Torsten Thomas and Gerhard Wiechmann wrote in 2009 about the long-term public impact of the film: “Through […] 'The Laughing Man' Siegfried Müller, a completely marginal figure in the mercenary service in the Congo, became a 'Congo miller' stylized by the modern mercenary par excellence: cynical, brutal, but at the same time jovial and thoroughly intelligent. If mercenaries are still the topic of discussion in Germany today, a photo of the 'laughing man' appears in the press. "
  • PS to the laughing man was broadcast on the DFF on September 13, 1966. In it, five companions talk about Müller, such a school friend and a French paratrooper officer.
  • The Bernd K. case from 1967 was a film about Bernd Köhlert . It was supposed to show how Köhlert, who went to school in the GDR, was manipulated by West German politics, the media and ultimately also by Müller so that he was hired as a mercenary. The half-hour film was shown for the first time on GDR television on December 3, 1967, and the book of the same name was published the following year. Unlike the previous films, The Bernd K. case was hardly noticed in the West because the topic was no longer relevant.
  • The photo book cannibals contained large-format photos that came from Gerd Heidemann, but also allegedly from the mercenaries involved and in one case even taken from a fallen officer.

To Müller's personality

The Guardian - Correspondent Anthony Mockler wrote: "Müller was anything but a sadistic war criminals on the run. Rather, he was a mixture of self-promoter and intellectual. He wasn't a particularly good soldier, but a pretty decent person. "In a review of The Laughing Man , Robert Michel wrote:" This figure is bursting with contradictions that arouse interest in her studies. Kongo-Müller does not fit into the stereotype of the mercenary that we all carried around with us to a greater or lesser extent. "

For Mike Hoare, Müller was “ Prussian like a spiked bonnet . […] He […] asked permission to carry the Iron Cross right from the start, and I gave it willingly. I don't think I ever saw him without the medal on his chest afterward. Rumors said he had a second pair of pajamas , but I can't vouch for that. "

For the German historian Klaas Voss, Müller is purely a propaganda construct: “In fact, only Müller's role in the GDR's propaganda war against West Germany justifies the high value given to him by German-language depictions of the mercenaries in the Congo. The Congo miller was unsuitable for the terrorist figure that was indomitable for the Simbas and to which an East German documentary ( Der lachende Mann , 1966) stylized him and other 'Negro killers'. "

"Congo millers" in popular culture

  • Bonds can be found in the film Katanga . Here the character Henlein is based on the person of Müller.
  • The figure of Congo Otto in Dieter Hallervorden's comedy Didi and the revenge of the disinherited shows unmistakable parallels (former army sergeant becomes public enemy number 1 in Africa).
  • The Bundeswehr Brigadier General Bernd Müller was nicknamed Kongo-Müller because of his brisk demeanor .

Works

  • Les nouveaux mercenaires. Paris 1965.
  • The modern war. In: General Military Review. No. 6 (June) 1966, pp. 98-106.
  • The fighting in the Congo - Operation Tshuapa. In: General Swiss Military Journal (ASMZ). No. 3/1965, pp. 129-134.

literature

Articles and essays
  • Jan-Frederik Bandel: The mishap. Congo-Müller and the protests against "Africa Addio" . In: iz3w , 2005, ed. 287, pp. 37–41.
  • cb: Kongo Müller: A Career of a German Mercenary , in: Bernhard Chiari & Dieter H. Kollmer (Editors): A Concise Guide to the History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo , issued by the German Military History Research Institute (MGFA) , P. 23 f here:
  • Christian Bunnenberg: Hot or cold warriors? Federal German ministries and the use of (West) German mercenaries during the Congo crisis in 1964/65 . In: Discourse. Political science and historical-philosophical interventions , 2/2009, pp. 58–70.
  • Christian Bunnenberg: "Kongo-Müller". A German mercenary career . In: Military History. Historical Education Journal . Issue 3/2006. P. 17
  • Roman Deckert, Cord Eberspächer, Gerhard Wiechmann: Film as a weapon in the Cold War: “The laughing man. Confessions of a Murderer ”and“ Whenever Steiner came ”. The film's great moments or demagogic dismantling? In: Lars Karl (ed.): Canvas between thaw and frost. The Eastern European feature and documentary film in the Cold War . Edition Metropol, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-938690-54-3 , pp. 171–202.
  • Eike Frenzel: Mercenary legend "Kongo-Müller": Legionnaire on the media front , Spiegel online, May 19, 2010
  • Thomas Holl: With an iron cross and a skull . In: FAZ , March 18, 2006, p. 4.
  • Ernst Petry / Gerd Heidemann: The road of the Landsknechte , in: Der Stern , No. 47 v. November 22, 1964, No. 48 v. November 29, 1964 and No. 49 v. December 6, 1964.
  • Torsten Thomas, Gerhard Wiechmann: Modern Landsknechte or Military Specialists? The “rebirth” of mercenaries in the 20th century in the Congo, 1960–1967 . In: Stig Förster, Christian Jansen, Günther Kronenbitter (eds.): Return of the Condottieri? War and military between state monopoly and privatization; From antiquity to the present . Schöningh, Paderborn 2009, ISBN 978-3-506-76754-7 , pp. 265-282.
  • Document 84. Bundeswehr and Asymmetric Warfare. Siegfried Müller, letter to the Federal Minister of Defense (Kai-Uwe von Hassel) , Frankfurt a. M., November 22, 1965, in: Christoph Nübel (ed.): Documents on German military history 1945-1990. Federal Republic and GDR in the East-West Conflict , Berlin (Ch. Links Verlag) 2019, p. 370. ISBN 978-3-96289-070-4
Books
  • Christian Bunnenberg: The "Congo miller". A German mercenary career (Europa-Übersee; Vol. 19). Lit-Verlag, Münster 2006, ISBN 978-3-8258-9900-4 ( review ).
  • Mike Hoare: Congo Mercenary , Paladin Press, Boulder / Colorado 2008, ISBN 978-1-58160-639-3 , pp. 45-82.
  • Otto Köhler: Kongo-Müller or The Freedom We Defend . Bärmeier & Nikel, Frankfurt / M. 1966.
  • Walter Heynowski, Gerhard Scheumann: The laughing man . Confessions of a Murderer. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1966.
  • Walter Heynowski / Gerhard Scheumann: cannibals. An occidental poetry album in self-testimonies , Verlag der Nation Berlin, 1967.
  • Walter Heynowski / Gerhard Scheumann: The case of Bernd K. , Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) 1968.
  • Klaas Voss : Washington's mercenaries. Covert US interventions in the Cold War and their consequences , Hamburg (Hamburger Edition) 2014. ISBN 978-3-86854-274-5 .

Movies

From Walter Heynowski / Gerhard Scheumann:

  • Command 52 , DEFA 1965
  • The laughing man , DEFA 1966
  • PS to the laughing man , DEFA 1966
  • The case of Bernd K. , DEFA 1967
  • Congo Miller. A German-German story , written and directed by Siegfried Ressel , AR-Film 2010

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mike Hoare: Congo Mercenary, Paladin Press, Boulder / Colorado 2008, ISBN 978-1-58160-639-3 , p. 45
  2. ↑ Mike Hoare: Congo Mercenary, Paladin Press, Boulder / Colorado 2008, ISBN 978-1-58160-639-3 , pp. 78-82
  3. ↑ Torsten Thomas, Gerhard Wiechmann: Modern Landsknechte or Military Specialists? The “rebirth” of mercenaries in the 20th century in the Congo, 1960–1967 . In: Stig Förster, Christian Jansen, Günther Kronenbitter (eds.): Return of the Condottieri? War and military between state monopoly and privatization; From antiquity to the present . Schöningh, Paderborn 2009, ISBN 978-3-506-76754-7 , p. 280
  4. ↑ Mike Hoare: Congo Mercenary, Paladin Press, Boulder / Colorado 2008, ISBN 978-1-58160-639-3 , pp. 60-61
  5. ↑ Hans Germani : White Mercenaries in the Black Land , Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin 1966, p. 96
  6. ^ Anthony Mockler: The new mercenaries . Corgi Books, London 1986, ISBN 0-552-12558-X , p. 88
  7. ^ Letter from Müller v. November 15 , 1965 , Document 84 in Nübel, Documents on German Military History 1945-1990 , p. 370
  8. ↑ Ernst Petry / Gerd Heidemann: The road of the Landsknechte , in: Der Stern , No. 47 v. November 22, 1964, No. 48 v. November 29, 1964 and No. 49 v. December 6, 1964.
  9. ↑ http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/kultur/fernsehen/Der-verbotene-Dokumentarfilm/story/11137059
  10. ^ Siegfried Müller . In: Der Spiegel . No. 39 , 1964, pp. 138 ( online ).
  11. ^ Anthony Mockler: The new mercenaries. Corgi Books, London 1986, ISBN 0-552-12558-X , p. 88
  12. ↑ Thomas Holl: With iron cross and skull . In: FAZ , March 18, 2006, p. 4
  13. ↑ SIEGFRIED MÜLLER . In: Der Spiegel . No. 18 , 1965, p. 162 ( online ).
  14. ↑ http://www.defa.de/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=412&FilmID=Q6UJ9A004QLX
  15. ↑ Torsten Thomas, Gerhard Wiechmann: Modern Landsknechte or Military Specialists? The “rebirth” of mercenaries in the 20th century in the Congo, 1960–1967 . In: Stig Förster, Christian Jansen, Günther Kronenbitter (eds.): Return of the Condottieri? War and military between state monopoly and privatization; From antiquity to the present . Schöningh, Paderborn 2009, ISBN 978-3-506-76754-7 , pp. 265–282, here p. 282
  16. ↑ http://www.zweitausendeins.de/filmlexikon/?sucheNach=titel&wert=61068
  17. ↑ http://www.fotokritik.de/artikel_94_mobil.html
  18. ^ Anthony Mockler: The new mercenaries . Corgi Books, London 1986, ISBN 0-552-12558-X , p. 89
  19. ^ Robert Michel: Werkstatt Studio H & S. Ed. V. of the College for Film and Television of the GDR. Information No. 6, 1976, pp. 5-6
  20. ↑ Mike Hoare: Congo Mercenary , Paladin Press, Boulder / Colorado 2008, ISBN 978-1-58160-639-3 , p. 45
  21. ↑ Voss, p. 170
  22. ↑ Michael Fröhlingsdorf, Konstantin von Hammerstein, Susanne Koelbl , Alexander Szandar, Thilo Thielke : The overwhelmed army . In: Der Spiegel . No. 11 , 2002, p. 174 ( online ).
  23. ^ Susanne Koelbl: War under palm trees . In: Der Spiegel . No. 13 , 2002, p. 176 ( online ).
personal data
SURNAME Müller, Siegfried
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Congo miller
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mercenary
DATE OF BIRTH October 26, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Crossing the Oder
DATE OF DEATH April 17, 1983
Place of death Boksburg , South Africa