Ludwig von Leonrod (resistance fighter)

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Ludwig Freiherr von Leonrod
Grave of Ludwig Freiherr von Leonrod in the cemetery of the pilgrimage church Maria Kappel (Schmiechen)

Ludwig Freiherr von Leonrod (born September 17, 1906 in Munich ; † August 26, 1944 in Berlin-Plötzensee ) was a German officer and resistance fighter from July 20, 1944 .

Life

origin

Ludwig came from the noble family von Leonrod . He was the oldest child of Wilhelm Freiherr von Leonrod and his wife Clara, née Freiin von Sazenhofen . The father was the personal adjutant of Prince Ludwig of Bavaria , he became chief stableman in 1912 and chief steward in 1915 .

Military career

After graduating from high school, Leonrod chose the profession of officer in 1926, following a family tradition. His career began in Bamberg with the 17th (Bavarian) cavalry regiment , where he met Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg . In 1930 he was promoted to lieutenant , in 1933 to first lieutenant and in 1937 to Rittmeister . In 1940 Leonrod bought the house at Möhlstrasse 21 in Bogenhausen . The “Aryanized” property was the property of the Lutheran-Evangelical couple Julius and Luise Kaufmann, who were declared and persecuted as Jews by the National Socialist regime, and was first acquired by the tenant, the Barons von Leonrod's family.

During the Second World War , Leonrod, now a major and commander of a reconnaissance unit, received the Iron Cross in 1941 . After being seriously wounded by a land mine at the beginning of 1942, he was transferred to Munich to military district VII. In March 1943 he married Monika Freiin von Twickel (1908–1988).

In autumn 1943 Stauffenberg looked for co-conspirators in the military districts. So in December he told Leonrod and justified his plans. He wanted to support his friend, but for reasons of conscience he did not agree to the planned attack. The devout Catholic therefore asked Chaplain Hermann Josef Wehrle in a pastoral care talk on December 13, 1943 whether knowing about the preparation of an assassination plan was already a sin. Wehrle denied this after consulting the Lexicon for Theology and Church for the question of tyrannicide.

Memorial plaque in Bamberg Cathedral

Leonrod was not informed about the actual course of the coup attempt. In mid-1944 he was ordered to attend a course for senior adjutants in Berlin, sent to Bendlerstrasse on July 20, 1944, and witnessed the day's events there as a guard. In the evening he returned to his classroom, and the arrest took place the following day. On August 14, he was dishonorably expelled from the Wehrmacht by the court of honor formed on August 2, 1944 , so that the Reich Court Martial was no longer responsible for the sentencing. On August 19, 1944, the trial against Leonrod began before the People's Court under its President Roland Freisler . Leonrod was sentenced to death on August 21, 1944 , along with co-defendants Fritz Thiele , Ulrich Wilhelm Graf Schwerin von Schwanenfeld , Friedrich Gustav Jaeger and Joachim Sadrozinski . His public defender was Rudolf Mäder. The execution of the judgment followed on August 26th in Plötzensee by hanging . Chaplain Hermann Josef Wehrle was hanged there on September 14th.

In Bamberg Cathedral is a memorial plaque on five former members of the 17th regiment rider who lost their lives in the fight against the Nazi regime, among them Leonrod.

memory

The Catholic Church accepted Ludwig Freiherr von Leonrod as a witness of faith in the German martyrology of the 20th century .

The wife Monika von Leonrod, née Freiin von Twickel, married Johann Freiherrn von Wiedersperg in 1948 , and since 1950 the descendants of this connection have been entitled to bear the name "Freiherr von Wiedersperg-Leonrod" in memory of Ludwig von Leonrod. The family now lives in Schmiechen .

See also

literature

  • Helmut Moll (publisher on behalf of the German Bishops' Conference), witnesses for Christ. Das deutsche Martyrologium des 20. Jahrhundert , Paderborn et al. 1999, 7th revised and updated edition 2019, ISBN 978-3-506-78012-6 , Volume I, pp. 499-500.
  • Arnim Ramm: July 20th before the People's Court. Scientific publishing house Berlin. Berlin 2007. ISBN 978-3-86573-264-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Elisabeth Chowaniec : Der Fall Dohnanyi, p. 549
  2. ^ Association for District Culture in the Munich Northeast eV: Villa Kaufmann. Möhlstrasse 21
  3. ^ Benedikt Weyerer: Munich 1933–1949. City tours on political history. Munich 1996. p. 294.
  4. ↑ Bengt von zur Mühlen (ed.): The defendants of July 20 before the People's Court. Chronos Film GmbH. Berlin 2001. ISBN 3-931054-06-3 . P. 151.
  5. ↑ Short biography of the German Resistance Memorial Center


personal data
SURNAME Leonrod, Ludwig von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Leonrod, Ludwig Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH 17th September 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH August 26, 1944
Place of death Berlin-Plötzensee