Paul Weinzierl

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Paul Weinzierl (born July 5, 1897 in Donauwörth ; † September 8, 1979 in Ingolstadt ) was a German entrepreneur and politician ( NSDAP / CSU ).

Life and work

The son of a gravel works owner did military service in the First World War from 1916 to 1918 after graduating from high school and was a lieutenant in the reserve of the pioneer troops at the end of the war. From 1919 to 1921 he was a student at the Technical University , the Commercial College and the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich . In 1922 he took over the management of his father's company in Ingolstadt . After the National Socialists came to power, Weinzierl quickly came to terms with the new system. In 1934 he joined the SA, and between 1934 and 1945 he was a supporting member of the General SS.

During the Second World War , he served again from 1939 to 1945 as a reserve officer in the pioneer troop in various positions. Its role in the war effort in Poland and in the Soviet Union is controversial. After the war, he was accused of having, as commander of a pioneer battalion, "had measures carried out that demonstrated his National Socialist and militarist attitudes". For example, in the Dobrowodi area, for which Weinzierl was responsible, a 17-year-old Russian is said to have been executed. However, these allegations were dropped due to contradicting statements and the general deficits of the arbitration chamber proceedings in Bavaria. Since October 1944 Weinzierl was in the rank of major of the reserve as combat commander responsible for his hometown Ingolstadt. When the Allies approached in April 1945 and Germany's military defeat was evident to everyone, the then Mayor Josef Listl (NSDAP) and Paul Weinzierl agreed to hand over the city without a fight. Weinzierl only had a few, poorly trained replacement troops without suitable equipment available, as the German combat troops evading through Ingolstadt had been ordered to retreat to the so-called "Alpine fortress". In order not to risk anything, he evidently pretended to be credible defensive measures. At least he was able to convince General Koch-Erpach, who inspected the defensive measures on April 20, 1945, and thus prevent his threatened shooting because of apparently insufficient preparations. Since Weinzierl, unlike other German officers in the final phase of the Second World War, despite his intention to surrender the city, could not muster the courage to openly resist, there were still fights in and around Ingolstadt during the course of April 26 and 27, 1945 at least 24 dead on the German side and 16 on the American side. The three bridges of the Danube were also blown up as planned in order to stop the advancing Allies. Parts of the 86th US Infantry Division then crossed the Danube with assault boats and later with the help of a floating bridge, partly under German defensive fire. The city was finally handed over on the morning of April 27, 1945 by Colonel Marschall from Eichstätt, as the actual combat commander Paul Weinzierl was unable to do so for health reasons. In the summer of 1945 Weinzierl wrote a justifying report in which he portrayed himself as the courageous savior of Ingolstadt. To this day, the distorted representation that he, as “Ingolstadt's savior”, prevented the city from being destroyed. Rumors of an American air strike that should have destroyed the city if the defenders had not surrendered so quickly cannot be confirmed either. It was a misunderstanding between US soldiers and the civilian population. In fact, on April 26th at 9:30 a.m., a bombing raid on Ingolstadt was canceled, which was originally supposed to prepare the security of the Danube bridges together with the artillery and to smash the evasive German troops. Since the bridges had already been destroyed, this measure was unnecessary.

After the end of the war, Weinzierl continued his gravel works and in 1952 became chairman of the Bavarian sand and gravel industry . Since 1954 he was first chairman of the Bavarian Stone and Earth Industry Association .

His sons are the CSU politician and Bavarian state parliament member Alfons Weinzierl and the environmentalist Hubert Weinzierl .

Political party

Weinzierl was non-party before 1933. Between 1937 and 1945 Weinzierl was a member of the NSDAP. He joined the CSU in 1954 and was elected chairman of the CSU district association in Ingolstadt in the same year. Since 1958 he was a member of the state committee of the Christian Socials.

MP

Weinzierl was a council member of the city ​​of Ingolstadt from 1931 to 1933 and since 1960 . He was a member of the German Bundestag for the Ingolstadt constituency from 1961 to 1965.

Honors

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Stadtarchiv Ingolstadt, archive signature 2929, judgment of the Ingolstadt district court against Paul Weinzierl, September 29, 1947.
  2. ↑ Niethammer, Lutz, 1939-: The Follower Factory: Denazification using Bavaria as an example . Dietz, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-8012-0082-5 .
  3. ^ Brückner, Joachim, 1915-1986 .: End of the war in Bavaria 1945: the military district VII and the fighting between the Danube and the Alps . 1st edition. Verlag Rombach, Freiburg 1987, ISBN 3-7930-0190-3 .
  4. ^ A b Grießhammer, Paul: The military situation of Ingolstadt 1945, in: Ingolstädter GarnisonsChronik (1958) H. 3
  5. ^ A b Fegert, Hans .: Target of attack Ingolstadt: time leaps into the year 1945; [Eyewitness reports] . 1st edition 3K-Verl, Kösching 2010, ISBN 978-3-924940-73-7 .
  6. ↑ Martin Seitz: The Agony of the Third Reich on the Danube and Isar: Rescue strategies of two officers in the final battle for Ingolstadt and Munich (The End of World War II at the Rivers Danube and Isar: Two Officers and their Courses of Action during the Final Battle for Ingolstadt and Munich) . 2019, doi : 10.13140 / RG.2.2.27894.63043 ( rgdoi.net [accessed on May 15, 2020]).
  7. ↑ Stadtarchiv Ingolstadt, archive signature A XXII / 200: Weinzierl, Paul, My last days of war in Ingolstadt, 1945
  8. ↑ A combat commander who doesn't want to fight. In: Donaukurier . April 29, 2020, accessed May 13, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Stadtarchiv Ingolstadt, archive signature A XXII / 307: affidavits by Georg Kraus from December 20, 1946 and Michael Rupp from August 28, 1947
personal data
SURNAME Weinzierl, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneurs and politicians (CSU), Member of the Bundestag
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Donauwörth
DATE OF DEATH September 8, 1979
Place of death Ingolstadt