Conrad Stephanus

Konrad Stephanus (born December 14, 1907 in Ortelsburg , East Prussia , † May 10, 1987 ) was a German general staff officer in the Wehrmacht . In the Bundeswehr he had the rank of brigadier general .

Life

1907-1939

Stephanus was born in East Prussia as the son of the officer of the same name and later lieutenant general of the Wehrmacht Konrad Stephanus (1880–1961). He joined the Reichswehr in 1927 and became an infantry officer. He was in Goslarer III for three years . Battalion of the 17th Infantry Regiment based in Braunschweig . From 1937 he graduated from the War Academy in Berlin .

1939-1945

With the beginning of the Second World War, he served as the fourth general staff officer (Id), responsible for training, in the general staff of the 1st Army under the direction of Colonel General Erwin von Witzleben in the west. In December 1939 he was assigned to the General Staff of the Army and transferred there in July 1940. On October 25, 1940, he changed, again as Id, to the Army High Command of the 11th Army under Colonel General Eugen von Schobert . At the end of November 1941, his successor, General of the Infantry Erich von Manstein appointed him head of the partisan staff for fighting partisans in the Crimea . In January 1942 he was released from this task again. In March 1942 he became major and first general staff officer (Ia) of the 50th Infantry Division in the Soviet Union . With this he fought in 1942 in the Crimea and in the Caucasus , in 1943 in the Kuban bridgehead and in 1944 again in the Crimea. After the division was broken up in the Battle of the Crimea , he was temporarily transferred to the Fuehrer's reserve. In July 1944, the lieutenant colonel (since 1943) was transferred to the Foreign Army East Department at the Army High Command , headed by Reinhard Gehlen , where he was prepared for a position as a third general staff officer (Ic, responsible for military intelligence ). In August 1944 he was transferred as such to Army Group Northern Ukraine (later A and Center ), where he served in Poland and Czechoslovakia . Shortly before the end of the war he was promoted to colonel .

1945-1987

Stephanus became an American prisoner of war, where he was housed in "Camp 42" in the USA and in Oberursel . In 1946 he and his wife joined the Gehlen organization , for which he worked for ten years. On June 13, 1956, Stephanus was accepted into the newly founded Bundeswehr, initially as an employee with a handshake. His first use was in the Military Counter- Intelligence Service (MAD) as head of the MAD department in Defense Area III in Düsseldorf . After the examination of his person by the personnel appraisal committee had been completed, Stephanus was appointed colonel in February 1957 under appeal to the service of a professional soldier . At the beginning of 1958 he was the first commander to take over the Bundeswehr intelligence school and was promoted to brigadier general on August 5, 1961 . In 1965 he retired. From 1965 to 1969 Stephanus was President of the Association of Reservists of the German Armed Forces .

Awards

• Romanian military order Michael the Brave 3rd Class on May 8, 1942
• German cross in gold on September 4, 1942
• Large Federal Cross of Merit 1965

Web links

• Military career of Konrad Stephanus

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Klaus-Jürgen Müller: The Army and Hitler. Army and National Socialist Regime 1933–1940, 2nd edition, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1988, p. 137.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} “Always on the enemy!” - The Military Shield Service (MAD) 1956–1990 . 1st edition. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht , Göttingen 2019, ISBN 978-3-525-36392-8 , pp. 211 .