Martin Unrein

Martin Unrein (born January 1, 1901 in Weimar , † January 22, 1972 in Munich ) was a German officer , most recently lieutenant general in World War II .

Life

Unrein fought briefly as an officer in the First World War . In 1920 he was accepted into the Reichswehr , which was transferred to the Wehrmacht in 1935 . During the Second World War he commanded various units:

1940 Commander of Reconnaissance Division 268
1941–1942 Lieutenant Colonel and Commander of the Motorbike Battalion 6
1942–1943 Colonel and commander of the 4th Panzer Grenadier Regiment
October 1, 1943 to February 1, 1945 commander of the 14th Panzer Division
February 1, 1945 to April 1, 1945 Commander of the III. SS Panzer Corps
April 1, 1945 to April 24, 1945 Commander of the Panzer Division "Clausewitz"

After the war, Unrein served in the US Army until at least 1960. He commanded German civilians who had to guard the facilities of the American army. The area of the former Dachau concentration camp also belonged to his sphere of activity.

controversy

During a visit by Lord Russell of Liverpool in 1960, Unrein claimed that the (apparently never in operation) gas chamber in Dachau was merely a shower room and that the gas ovens there for cremating corpses were only built by the Allies after the war. These statements were reproduced in the English daily newspaper Daily Telegraph and the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit and led to inquiries in the German Bundestag.

Awards

Iron Cross (1914) 2nd class
Wound badge (1918) in silver
Iron Cross (1939) 1st class
Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd class
German cross in gold on February 28, 1942
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with oak leaves
- Knight's Cross on September 10, 1943
- Oak leaves on June 26, 1944 (515th award)

literature

Peter Stockert: Die Eichenlaubträger 1940–1945 , 9 volumes, 4th revised edition, Bad Friedrichshall 2010–2011.
Rolf Grams: The 14th Panzer Division 1940–1945

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Away with him! , Die Zeit No. 33 from 1960, August 12, 1960.
^ German Bundestag 138th session - DIP of the Bundestag on September 28, 1960, page 7170 (PDF, 2.8 MB)
↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 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 .
↑ Walther-Peer Fellgiebel : The bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939-1945 - The holder of the highest award of the Second World War of all parts of the Wehrmacht . Dörfler Verlag, Eggolsheim 2004, ISBN 3-7909-0284-5 .

personal data
SURNAME	Unclean, Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German officer, most recently lieutenant general in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH	January 1, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH	Weimar
DATE OF DEATH	January 22, 1972
Place of death	Munich

[wegmitihm-1] Away with him! , Die Zeit No. 33 from 1960, August 12, 1960.

[2] German Bundestag 138th session - DIP of the Bundestag on September 28, 1960, page 7170 (PDF, 2.8 MB)

[3] Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 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 .

[4] Walther-Peer Fellgiebel : The bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939-1945 - The holder of the highest award of the Second World War of all parts of the Wehrmacht . Dörfler Verlag, Eggolsheim 2004, ISBN 3-7909-0284-5 .