Rudolf Bamler

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Enlargement of Bamler's signature on his curriculum vitae from May 7, 1950 (Federal Archives, Freiburg im Breisgau Military Archives )

Rudolf Karl Johannes Bamler (born May 6, 1896 in Kossebau near Osterburg (Altmark) ; † March 13, 1972 in Groß Glienicke , Nauen district ) was a German army officer ( lieutenant general since 1943 ).

During the First World War he served as an officer in the Prussian Army , then in the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht . During World War II Bamler served as chief of the general staff at various general commands . From June 1944 he commanded the 12th Infantry Division . After it was broken up in the course of Operation Bagration in the same month , he was taken prisoner by the Soviets . There Bamler joined the National Committee Free Germany (NKFD) and the Association of German Officers (BDO).

Bamler was released to the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in April 1950 after his captivity . In the Barracked People's Police (KVP) he rose to the rank of major general . His dismissal took place in connection with the popular uprising of June 17, 1953 . From 1956 Bamler worked for the Ministry of National Defense (MfNV) as a freelance researcher and later, after unconfirmed information, for the Ministry for State Security (MfS).

Bamler became famous in the early 1960s as a publicist for the Association of Former Officers (AeO). In addition to Bamler, Walter Freytag , Otto Korfes , Arno von Lenski , Vincenz Müller , Karl Hans Walther and Hans Wulz served six other former generals of the Wehrmacht in the KVP and the later National People's Army (NVA).

Youth and First World War

The memorial of the Bergisch Field Artillery Regiment No. 59 near Burg Castle

Rudolf was the only child of the Protestant village pastor Johannes Bamler (* 1864) and his wife Anna, née Garlipp (1873–1932). He grew up in a petty-bourgeois and modest family. The upbringing in the parental home was based on Christian-humanistic values. From 1903 to 1905 he attended the village school in Kossebau . He then took private lessons from 1905 to 1907 with his father, who had previously been the rector in Neuwedell and Osterburg. His hobby was horse riding. In 1907 he passed the entrance exam for the fourth quarter of the humanistic high school in Salzwedel (today Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Gymnasium). To finance the high pension costs, his father was transferred to Perver in 1909 . Bamler passed his Abitur on March 12, 1914 . He decided to pursue a career as a career officer so as not to burden his parents' fund with expensive studies .

On the day of his Abitur exam , the seventeen-year-old Bamler joined the Bergische Feldartillerie-Regiment No. 59 (FaR 59) in Cologne as a flag junior . He believed that as a professional officer he could best serve the German Empire . With the outbreak of the First World War , his regiment was mobilized on August 2, 1914 and subordinated to the 15th Artillery Brigade in the Association of the 15th Division of Lieutenant General Julius Riemann ( VIII Army Corps ). The regiment was immediately deployed on the Western Front, where it was mainly used during the war. Bamler held the position of battery officer from August 1914 . In December of the same year he was promoted to lieutenant . From 1916 to March 1917, the division and its subordinate regiments were on the Eastern Front . There they were involved in the fighting on the Stochod . During this time in Russia Bamler served from October to November 1916 as an artillery observer in the 2nd division of his regiment. He then found a long period of employment as an adjutant . In December 1916, the regiment was directly subordinated to the 15th Division and on March 11, 1917 to the artillery commander No. 15 (Arko 15). The relocation of his regiment to the Western Front was connected with this submission. It arrived there in May 1917. Bamler continued to act as an adjutant. The regiment took part in the double battles on the Aisne and in Champagne that month and, in late autumn 1917, in the Third Battle of Flanders , among others . In the last year of the war Bamler served from January to July 1918 as an orderly officer with his regimental staff and then as a regimental adjutant. In this capacity he was promoted to lieutenant on October 18, 1918 .

During the war, Bamler was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross . After the Armistice of Compiègne , the regiment to which Bamler belonged came back to Germany. From December 1918 to spring 1919 he headed the demobilization of the regiment in Wildeshausen in the Oldenburg district .

Weimar Republic

Promotions

For Bamler, the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the fall of the monarchy were the logical result of a wrong policy towards the workers. Due to his bourgeois upbringing and experiences at the front, he interpreted the new era as a “departure”, which now had to be protected. Like many other "homeless" soldiers of the time, Bamler was also interested in remaining in military service. At the request of his old battery boss, on April 7, 1919, he joined the Mobile Freiwillige Guard Artillery Regiment in Berlin as a department adjutant . This regiment was intended for use in the Eastern Border Guard , but was incorporated into the Reinhard Freikorps after it was set up . As a result, it remained in Berlin, so that it also took part in the street fighting there in early 1919 .

On August 1, 1919 Bamler joined the Reichswehr Artillery Regiment 15 of the Provisional Reichswehr as a regimental adjutant . In January 1921 he was transferred to the 3rd (Prussian) Artillery Regiment in Frankfurt (Oder) , where he was deployed as regimental adjutant and battery chief. In addition to Frankfurt (Oder), the regiment was located in Sagan , Sprottau , Schweidnitz and Neisse .

During his stationing he got to know Mary Wehmer (* 1894). She was the daughter of a self-employed doctor and worked as a nurse . They married on September 3, 1924. From their marriage Hans-Joachim Bamler (1925–2015) and their daughter Annemarie (* 1928) emerged.

Bamler saw his future as an officer in the young Reichswehr during the Weimar Republic . Its first commander-in-chief Gustav Noske , also known as the bloodhound of the young imperial government , he regarded as a representative of a new era. From October 1923 to September 1925, Bamler completed training as a guide assistant at the Military District Command III in Berlin . He also studied the foreign languages ​​English, Spanish and French. In January and February 1926 an apprenticeship in the field of transport followed . Bamler developed an immense interest in every kind of new technical development. As a former artilleryman, he watched the first demonstrations of rocket bullets as a spectator on the Kummersdorf firing range .

Rudolf Bamler completed his training as assistant leader, which he began in 1924, but was not called general staff training for reasons of camouflage. Then he was posted to the Reichswehr Ministry (RWM) on October 1, 1927 and promoted to captain on November 1, 1927 . Here he served in the Army Statistics Department (T 3), the military intelligence service as a consultant in the area of ​​3 Foreign Armies . At that time, Günther Schwantes (1881–1942) was in charge of military defense . His activity in the T 3 had a lasting influence on Bamler's further military career. In this role he initially worked as an intelligence officer for the French and Spanish armed forces . Later, now as a group leader, he was also responsible for the British and US armed forces . In addition, Bamler maintained connections to South American countries as well as the Asian countries China and Japan .

From 1929 Bamler experienced the effects of the global economic crisis on Germany. Until then he was politically uninterested, and got sucked into the raging clashes of radical political groups and their propaganda around him . In his opinion, Germany needed stronger leadership at the beginning of the 1930s in order to help this country to "shine new" in the world. He was therefore receptive to the propaganda of the rising National Socialists around Adolf Hitler , whose call to fight against the “ Versailles dictate ” and Bamler's social demands met with full approval. He became a member of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) at an early stage . Bamler later described his turn to the Nazi regime with the words:

"Politically completely uneducated, as I was, I found here for the first time what I thought I wanted myself!"

These social developments within the Weimar Republic were not left out in his field of activity either. On January 31, after previous disputes, to which his department head Günther Schwantes was exposed in a special way, Ferdinand von Bredow (1884-1934) took over the management of the defense. Even after the restructuring of the department in the following year, which led to the deliberate separation of intelligence gathering from intelligence analysis, Rudolf Bamler remained in the now separate division of the "foreign armies". Thanks to his fluency, he did not need any additional interpreting support. During the now five years in this field of work, he made a mandatory brief return to military service. He found service assignments in various units of the troops, for example in the 5th Cavalry Regiment and in the 2nd (Prussian) Motor Vehicle Department . At the end of September 1932 he resigned from the Reichswehr Ministry and was transferred to Königsberg . From October 1, 1932, he was employed as a battery chief in the 1st (Prussian) Artillery Regiment ( 1st Division ) and on April 1, 1934, he was promoted to major . On January 30, 1933, Bamler was a supporter of the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists. In November 1934, his former first general staff teacher, Major General Walter von Reichenau , applied for Bamler to be reassigned to the Reichswehr Ministry. Reichenau then acted as head of the ministerial office under Werner von Blomberg .

Defense career

The slogan enemy hears was revived by Bamler and Canaris after it had already been used in the First World War. This slogan could be found everywhere in everyday life during the Third Reich.
The structure of Division III in defense

In the Reichswehr Ministry, Rudolf Bamler resumed his military intelligence service on December 1, 1934. This gave him the right to wear a general staff uniform. He was deployed in his former field of military defense, but now as a group leader. The head of the Abwehr was meanwhile Captain Conrad Patzig (1888–1975), who made no secret of his contempt for the National Socialists. After several disputes with the security service of the Reichsführer of the SS, the NSDAP's intelligence service, and the Gestapo, the latter had to vacate his post. Bamler's superior was then from January 1, 1935 Admiral Wilhelm Canaris . At the same time, from the beginning of 1935, the authority designated itself as the Wehrmacht Office and, with the entry into force of the Defense Act of May 21, 1935, the Reich Ministry of War. Soon it was also reorganized into several departments. Here, in mid-1936, Rudolf Bamler was appointed head of Department III of the Abwehr by General von Reichenau, who was head of the Wehrmacht Office at the time. His predecessor was the lieutenant colonel and later lieutenant general Kurt Himer , who switched to the infantry regiment Munich , later the 19th infantry regiment , as battalion leader . Department III under Bamler, who was promoted to lieutenant colonel on August 1, 1936 , dealt with counter-espionage , infiltration and treason . Department III was the primary liaison department with the security service of the Reichsführer SS (SD). In this area of ​​responsibility Bamler developed into an ambitious but popular officer and good organizer. His management style was characterized by high demands on his subordinates, but also showed a high sense of responsibility. As head of department, Bamler, like Canaris, maintained private contacts with the chief of the security police (Sipochef) Reinhard Heydrich . Bamler's request that he transfer to the SD, however, refused. In addition, he maintained personal contacts with members of the SS leadership. Among these people were the later SS group leader and war criminal Otto Ohlendorf , Walter Schellenberg , Heinrich Müller , Werner Best and the head of the Reich Security Main Office Arthur Nebe .

In July 1936 Bamler was involved in the Bayreuth Conference (July 25/26, 1936), at which Germany complied with Francisco Franco's request to send transport aircraft for the beginning of the Spanish Civil War . During his activity as a department head, Bamler always endeavored to develop relations between the Abwehr and the Secret State Police (Gestapo). He followed the doctrine of his superior Canaris, who propagated cooperation between the Abwehr and the Gestapo and the SD. On Bamler's initiative, he and Canaris got the Wehrmacht's propaganda machine running from the mid-1930s by “swearing” it to the new threat situation. With a multitude of instructions, leaflets, and intelligence regulations, the common soldier was instilled with loyalty to the state and the utmost vigilance against foreign espionage. Bamler used a crude vocabulary .

Under his and Canaris' direction, the motto of German defense propaganda was coined: The enemy is listening . This slogan found its way into all parts of the National Socialist German Reich through the press, people's receivers and television . With Bamler's participation, the spy film Traitors was made in 1936 under the direction of Karl Ritter . With its anger towards regulations, Department III also massively intervened in the private lives of so-called “Reich secret carriers”. As early as 1935, Bamler had enforced "constant surveillance on and off duty" of such persons by means of regulations. This included checks on briefcases or handbags and the prohibition of private long-distance calls during working hours. Both Bamler and Canaris were able to use any means to mobilize the national community against espionage of any kind. Due to the ubiquitous presence of the Abwehr, every national was called upon to actively participate in the espionage struggle. This end, particularly serving press articles were of Bamler with up to 100 Reichsmark awarded . In 1937 the Defense Department in Berlin comprised 327 officers, civil servants and employees. 629 people were employed in the decentralized defense units and branches, too few, as Bamler found. He called for the establishment of branch offices abroad.

On February 4, 1938, the Reich Ministry of War was renamed the High Command of the Army (OKH) as a result of the Blomberg-Fritsch crisis . From May 24, 1938, Bamler held the post of Head of Defense Department III again. Hitler's expansion policy - Austria was annexed in March 1938 - and the smoldering Sudeten crisis gave the Abwehr further tasks. In June 1938 Bamler published the leaflet on espionage, counter-espionage and treason . This includes the following text passages, among others:

“Treason is comrade murder. The deliberate traitor murders by the act. [...] Whoever dares to raise his hands against his fatherland is dead. "

Canaris himself was ambivalent about his department head. On the one hand, he valued his professional competence. In private he distanced himself from him because he suspected him of espionage himself. Probably for this reason and because of Bamler's open National Socialist attitude, which was already being admired, Canaris pushed him more and more out of counter-espionage from the beginning of 1939 and finally transferred him. Bamler later stated that he had been transferred after there had been disputes over competencies between the SD and his activities in the defense and he asked for a transfer to the troops. However, it is also possible that Canaris saw Bamler as a serious rival who had to be "eliminated". At the end of February 1939, Bamler resigned from the defense. His post was taken on March 1, 1939 by Colonel i. G. Franz Eccard taken over by Bentivegni .

On March 1, 1939 Bamler was appointed commander of the 74th Artillery Regiment in Vienna while being promoted to colonel . His predecessor was the Colonel and later General of the Panzer Troops, Erich Brandenberger , who on that date was promoted to Chief of the General Staff of the Eifel Border Troops Command . With the regiment Bamler took part in the destruction of the rest of the Czech Republic in March 1939 . At the end of July 1939 he gave command to Colonel and later Major General Karl Fabiunke . From August 1, 1939, the regiment was called Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment 74 . Then Bamler was briefly chief of the General Staff of Military District VII in Munich under General of the Infantry Eugen von Schobert .

Second World War

As part of the general mobilization , a few days before the German invasion of Poland , Bamler was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Deputy VII Army Corps in Munich on August 26, 1939 . His superior was General of the Artillery Edmund Wachenfeld , who held this post until the lifting of the mobility regulations on March 1, 1943. Bamler thus belonged to the leader reserve of the General Staff of the Army. On September 12, 1939 he was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Military Commander Danzig-West Prussia under the Commanding General , General of the Infantry Walter Heitz . Bamler continued to hold this position when the staff moved to the Deputy General Command XX. Army Corps was renamed. His new boss was General of the Artillery Max Bock from October 23, 1939 . The office was in Danzig , so Bamler and his family moved to Danzig-Sopot in November 1940 on the orders of the Army High Command. In 1939 he was awarded the repeat clasp for the Iron Cross II class.

The main task in his new position was the rebuilding of military district  XX (West Prussia, seat in Danzig) after the end of the fighting in Poland , to which all replacement troops of military district VI ( Westphalia ) were relocated. During this time, Bamler became aware of atrocities committed by the Waffen SS in West Prussia. Its Gauleiter Albert Forster regarded Bamler as a corrupt and incompetent man. The inability of his superiors to put a stop to the murder of the SS shook Bamler so much that he thought about handing in his departure.

On November 25, 1940 (according to its own information: November 1, 1940) Bamler was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the XXXXVII. Army corps (mot.) Appointed under General of the Artillery Joachim Lemelsen , which was set up in Wehrkreis  XI (Hanover-Saxony). From June 1941 the corps took part in the so-called Eastern campaign as part of Army Group Center on the right wing as part of the 2nd Panzer Army . The 2nd Panzer Army was up to the Battle of Moscow in all major battles of encirclement involved, so in Bialystok / Minsk , Smolensk , Kiev and the double battle of Vyazma and Bryansk . The tops of the tank corps came to Tula , about 200 km south of Moscow, and came to a halt there.

In 1941 Bamler received the repeat clasp for the Iron Cross 1st class. After the start of the Soviet counter-offensive, Bamler experienced from January 1942 the delayed retreat of his corps into the area near Orel . He fulfilled the requirements for the medal Winter Battle in the East 1941/42 . During these months Bamler began to have doubts about the top military leadership. Due to his confident and objective assessment of the situation in these battles, Bamler was awarded the German Cross in Gold on March 12, 1942, in recognition of his achievements and services to the corps . (Self-reported May 1, 1942) On April 1, 1942 he was promoted to major general.

Division of the 4th Army on the eve of the Soviet offensive

In May 1942 he was released from his previous command and transferred to Norway , which was occupied by the Wehrmacht , where he was Chief of the General Staff in the Norwegian Army Command from May 15, 1942 (self-reported May 1, 1942) until the end of April 1944 . In his new office in Rovaniemi ( Finland ) Bamler was entrusted with organizing the defense of Norway. He also worked on all military-political and military-scientific areas as well as supply issues of all kinds. In addition, Bamler received an order from Colonel General Alfred Jodl to prepare an attack by the Wehrmacht on neutral Sweden ( Arctic Fox Company ). His detailed deployment plans envisaged the separation of central and northern Sweden from Oslo and Trondheim on Stockholm and then occupying the northern Swedish ore area. Bamler handed the documents over to the OKW in March 1943.

On April 1, 1943, Bamler was promoted to lieutenant general. As Chief of the General Staff, Bamler was jointly responsible for the failure of the Terboven Plan , named after the Reich Commissioner Josef Terboven in Norway. The plan provided for a security area that would have given the assertive Terboven a free hand in regulating public order. His superior, Colonel General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst , judged the lieutenant general under him exactly one year later on April 1, 1944 as “above average”, underlining that Bamler was a “deeply convinced, uncompromising National Socialist”. A little later, on April 30, 1944, Bamler resigned from his command and temporarily joined the Führerreserve.

Graphic representation of the course of the fighting for Mogilev from June 23 to 28, 1944

On June 1, 1944 Bamler was appointed commander of the 12th Infantry Division . He followed in the footsteps of Lieutenant General Curt Jahn , who completed a course for commanding generals from June 12th and the LXXXVII in July . Army Corps took over. Bamler's 1st  General Staff Officer (Ia) in the 12th Division was Claus Bauer. Division were the infantry regiment 27 , the Füsilier regiment 27 (I.-III. Battalion 1.-4., And 9.-14. Company) and the Grenadiers 48 (I. to II. Battalion 1 . – 8th and 13th companies) and the Grenadier Regiment 89 (1st to 2nd battalion with 1st – 8th and 13th companies) subordinate to the artillery the artillery regiment 48 and the artillery regiment 12 (I . to IV. Department with 12 batteries) as well as various battalions and supplementary departments. At that time the division was part of the 4th Army under the command of General Infantry Kurt von Tippelskirch in the central section of the Eastern Front east of Mogiljow and Grodno . According to Führer order No. 11 of March 8, 1944, Mogilev was from Hitler next to Pinsk - Brest - Luninez (2nd Army; Walter Weiß ), Bobruisk (9th Army; Hans Jordan ), Vitebsk (3rd Panzer Army; Georg-Hans Reinhardt ) , Vilnius - Minsk - Baranowitschi - Sluzk (Army Group direct) and Orsha - Borissow (4th Army) have been declared a permanent place . All parties places fell on the object to be trapped inside to tie thus possible strong as breakwaters enemy forces. This should create the conditions for successful counterattacks.

On June 22, 1944, the Red Army began Operation Bagration . On the following day , the Soviet armies penetrated the fronts at Vitebsk, Orsha, Bobruisk and Mogilev with far superior forces . On June 28, 1944, the German lines of defense in Belarus collapsed, followed by the entire Central Army Group under Field Marshal Ernst Busch (from June 28, Walter Model ). In the fighting, 28 German divisions with more than 300,000 soldiers were lost. It was not until June 27, 1944 that General Field Marshal Busch realized the extent of the impending catastrophe; at a time when large parts of the 4th and 9th Armies were already included. Busch then gave the order that the two armies should retreat to the new defense line Shitkowitschi-Luban- Osipowitischi- Beresino -Krupki-Lukomsoje See. At the same time he underlined that the Bobruisk and Mogiljow fixed places should be defended "to the last". With this, Busch sealed the fate of the 12th Infantry Division . While the remaining units of the 4th Army withdrew to Minsk , Bamler's division was surrounded by the Red Army (49th and 50th Armies ) on June 27th . Since April 1, 1944, Major General Gottfried von Erdmannsdorff had been town commander . Bamler's division fought bitter skirmishes for Mogilev on June 27 and 28, 1944, with the city briefly remaining in German hands. In connection with the defense of this city, the German leadership is said to have committed war crimes related to Erdmannsdorff: Among other things, the shooting of those unable to work during the construction of fortifications and the improper use of Soviet citizens as living shields against attacks by the Red Army . Bamler's possible role with regard to the latter point in particular, namely that he might have tacitly tolerated this approach, is not discussed. In view of the superiority of the opponent and the immense losses, however, it was clear that Bamler's division would have no possibility of later relief . In this situation there was a kind of mutiny against Bamler . The regimental commanders subordinate to him asked the lieutenant general for his consent to an attempted breakout. Bamler, however, refused to do so out of fear of court martial and fear of falling out of favor with Hitler. Contrary to Bamler's express orders, the regimental commanders decided to break out on their own, which in part succeeded. Bamler and Erdmannsdorff then stopped the now hopeless fight. More than 2,000 survivors were taken prisoner by the Soviets . The exact time of this capture varies between June 27 and June 30, 1944, depending on the source used. Bamler himself gives June 28, 1944 and thus the most likely. What is irritating is the fact that Erdmannsdorff, who acted as city commander of Mogiljow, was only said to have been taken prisoner on June 30, 1944 or later in August 1944.

Captivity

Call of the 50 generals on December 8, 1944
Sheet 1 of the call
Sheet 2 of the call
Sheet 3 of the call
Sheet 4 of the call
The appeal of the 17 generals was published in the newspaper Free Germany on July 30, 1944. The signatures were highlighted. Bamler signed it twice, once as the signing general (third line, second signature from the left) and once for the correctness of the copy at the bottom right.
The signature of Paulus and “Rolf” Bamler on the letter of congratulations on the occasion of the 70th birthday of Josef Stalin . The letter is dated December 20, 1949.

The collapse of Army Group Center with the fall of three armies apparently led Bamler to a final break with the Hitler regime and the renunciation of his oath of leadership . After his capture and internment in camp 27 / I in Krasnogorsk , the Soviet leadership realized that Bamler, a valuable source of knowledge from the Third Reich, had fallen into their hands. The prisoner of war, on the other hand, was able to adapt quickly to the new circumstances. No longer bound by his oath, Bamler quickly won the confidence of the Soviet side. His talent for speech and charisma benefited him here, but also the rapid learning of the Russian language. As an experienced reconnaissance specialist, he was able to analyze the organizational structures of the NKVD , later MWD, within a very short time . This led to intensive cooperation with the Soviet military administration. Bamler knew very well how to divulge his defense and general staff knowledge piece by piece for his purposes. In the first days of his imprisonment he began to actively participate in the National Committee Free Germany (NKFD) and in the Association of German Officers (BDO). This statement was confirmed by Seydlitz in his memoirs, in which he was surprised at how many generals wanted to support the goals of the NKFD after their capture. In addition to Vincenz Müller, Bamler was particularly outstanding, and he immediately found a new role in the committee's propaganda machine. Bamler is said to have "immediately" acknowledged the goals of the BDO after his capture, without even having spoken to anyone from the BDO. In this context von Seydlitz suspected that Bamler had already dealt with the basics of communism and Marxism "as a precaution" before his capture. He is said to have been familiar with the teachings of Marx and Engels as well as those of Lenin and Stalin.

Bamler's rapid change of heart from uncompromising and convinced National Socialist to Communist surprised even his fellow prisoners. On July 27, 1944, Bamler was one of the signatories of the appeal of the 17 generals . The appeal, entitled The Truth About the Situation on the Eastern Front , was written by himself and Vincenz Müller . The appeal of the generals who fell into Soviet captivity when Army Group Center collapsed was taken verbatim by Bamler for the magazine Free Germany on July 30, 1944. The article is also known as the Appeal of Generals and Troop Leaders. After Bamler's activities became known to the Nazi regime, the lieutenant general should have been removed from the rankings of the German Army. It cannot be determined whether this happened. On December 8, 1944, Bamler was one of the signatories of the NKFD's appeal by the 50 Generals to the People and the Wehrmacht . Despite Bamler's commitment, the mistrust of his fellow prisoners about his sudden change increased in the following period. They suspected him of writing descriptions of combat operations and of preparing reports on his previous activities as chief of the defense, two of which are known. The first, in which he dealt with the role of the Franco regime in the Spanish Civil War, was made by Bamler in 1946 for the newspaper Pravda (Правда). He dealt with the same topic on May 12, 1946 in an article for the journal Neue Zeit from July 1, 1946. Another report in the Soviet army newspaper Krasnaja Zvezda (Красная звезда) dealt with Germany's possible attack on neutral Sweden . The articles found an echo in the world press .

That Bamler's National Socialist sentiments did not give way completely in 1945 is recorded from a conversation between high-ranking officers in connection with the capture of Berlin on May 3, 1945 by the Soviet Army. Bamler is said to have testified that the capture of Berlin was militarily insignificant and did not mean that Germany was in their hands. His statement:

"We finally stood in front of Moscow in 1941 and what happened to us?"

was not pro-Soviet in this case. On the other hand, the declaration of war by the Soviet Union on the Japanese Empire on August 8, 1945 and the invasion ( Operation Auguststurm ) found its full support. The former lieutenant general spied on his fellow prisoners indirectly and directly. He paid particular attention to the BDO chairman Walther von Seydlitz . The Soviet Union succeeded in convicting him as a war criminal through appropriate "preparatory work" by Bamler. Seydlitz later spoke in this regard of a "familiar Bamler-Soviet relationship". The relationship between the two men remained cool and distant until Bamler's repatriation , probably also because Bamler was able to recognize Seydlitz's basic attitude towards Marxist ideology without much difficulty in conversations with Seydlitz. It is not known whether Bamler should answer in a possible court case in 1946. The fact is, however, that Erdmannsdorff (former city commandant of Mogiljow) was executed in the Minsk trial on January 30, 1946, although he, like Bamler, had committed himself to the goals of the NKFD and BDO. It is also possible that Bamler spied on the former city commandant on behalf of the Soviet Union and that he could be charged on the basis of the information leaked by Bamler and was finally publicly hanged.

1946 was also the year Bamler attended an antifa school where he was taught the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism . In 1947 further such training courses followed, as well as participation in the book Prisoners of War in the Soviet Union . It was published in 1949 by the State Publishing House of the GDR and later served as a template for the film. Bamler is also said to have been involved in the making of this film. Bamler used the synonym Rolf for all publications that appeared during this period and later . From 1947 he was a trainer in the camp and appeared in plays. From 1948 Bamler found himself in so-called “special objects”, where he was the long-time companion of Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus and von Seydlitz. In 1949 he shared the assigned house with him in Ilyinskoye (object no. 25), a dacha suburb south of Moscow . On July 1, 1949, there were still 252 generals in the camps of the MWD. 62 of them were investigated for atrocities. Bamler was not included in the repatriation list of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee of August 2, 1949. 1949 was also the year in which Bamler allegedly spent more time in Moscow for medical examinations, as Seydlitz wrote in his memory. So Bamler returned to his camp after a fortnight's absence with a suitcase and in new clothes, and when asked where he had been, kept quiet. During this time he wrote another report on the subject of the fighting of the 2nd Panzer Army from September 29 to December 1, 1941 .

On November 12, Bamler visit by Deputy Head of GUPWI, the headquarters of the Interior Ministry for Affairs got prisoners of war and internees ( Russian Главное управление по делам военнопленных и интернированных НКВД-МВД СССР / Glawnoje Uprawlenije po delam wojennoplennych i internirowannych NKVD / MVD SSSR) Lieutenant General Amajak S. Kobulow . The discussion focused on the proposals submitted by the BDO in June 1949 for repatriation and its implementation. The latter, however, initially failed to materialize for the refined lieutenant general. On December 20, 1949, Bamler and Paulus sent a letter of congratulations to Josef Stalin on the occasion of his 70th birthday. The impulse for this came from Bamler and is reproduced in full:

“Mr. Generalissimo! Millions of peace-loving people, progressive people from all over the world are uniting these days with the peoples of the Soviet Union in order to offer you their wishes for their well-being and for further successes in the great peace work on the occasion of your 70th birthday. Allow us, too, who once invaded your country in blind obedience as enemies, today to express our sincere congratulations to you as the generous friend of the German people. It was not an easy path for us from Stalingrad to this congratulation. You can be all the more assured that after returning home we will use all of our strengths to help promote your great human goal, peace, by strengthening the German-Soviet friendship. "

- Friedrich Paulus Field Marshal General of the former German Army : Rolf Bamler Lieutenant General of the former German Army.

The declaration of loyalty left a lasting impression on the decisive authorities. Then Bamler is said to have received the notification that he could expect to return home soon. On April 16, 1950, he was repatriated and on April 22, 1950, Bamler and 22 other generals arrived in the GDR. According to his information, however, Bamler was a prisoner of war until April 27, 1950. Little did Bamler suspect at this point that he had already been considered as a possible candidate for the emerging Ministry for State Security (MfS) in February 1950 .

GDR

Family tree of Rudolf Bamler from previously known facts as of October 2012

When he arrived in the GDR, Bamler learned of his wife's death. Mary Bamler, member of the NSDAP since 1936 because of her activities in the National Socialist Women's Association . After the Nazi regime had learned of Bamler's activities in the NKFD and BDO, she was arrested in October 1944 and imprisoned in Gdansk women's prison. The arrest was part of a nationwide wave of terror in connection with the assassination attempt on July 20, 1944 . On December 12, 1944, Mary was transferred to clan custody and transferred to the Schierlichmühle estate, a Gestapo collection point for clan prisoners, in Schierlich in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . Later, a district of Sedloňov (formerly German: saddle ) became a part of the village . There she was housed with other wives, including the wives of Lattmann , Lewerenz , Reyher and von Seydlitz and Erica von Lenski. When the Upper Silesian industrial area was lost in January 1945 and the heads of the Red Army reached the Oder near Breslau and Glogau , the women were relocated again. Since the Buchenwald concentration camp was overcrowded, the women were transferred to the Dachau concentration camp , where they only stayed briefly. Afterwards, they were not forced on a death march , as claimed , but were relocated by truck via Munich to Reutte ( Tyrol ). There the women were accommodated in the Ammerwald mountain hotel and liberated by US troops on April 29, 1945. Rudolf Bamler later stated that she had suffered a heart attack in the Ammerwald on June 23, 1945 as a result of the exertions she had suffered from prison and the march, whereupon she had a fatal accident. This information does not coincide with another source, according to which Mary Bamler died as a result of the rigors of her imprisonment and the march that day.

The children who emerged from the marriage now lived in the western zones and later in the Federal Republic of Germany . In 1950 the daughter Annemarie (married Müller) worked in Wuppertal . Later she went to Hünfeld . After that, their track is lost. His son Hans-Joachim studied at the textile school in Reutlingen in 1950 . In 1944 he only escaped being held liable by the fact that he had served in the Wehrmacht at the front since 1943. Most recently he was a lieutenant in the assault gun brigade of the Panzergrenadier Division Greater Germany under Colonel Karl Lorenz . Later, the former NSDAP member moved to his father in the GDR, made a steep career at the head office of Enlightenment and made it up to the resident of the MfS in Paris. Annemarie was a member of the Association of German Girls and found shelter with relatives after her mother was arrested.

Bamler himself was penniless after his return. He had neither money nor a place to stay, because his property in the marital home in Danzig was lost as a result of the war. Bamler initially found accommodation with a widowed sister of his deceased wife. His sister-in-law Auguste (1896–1994) worked that year as a medical-technical assistant in a hospital in Beelitz near Potsdam . As early as December 1950, both of them signed the marriage. The marriage remained childless. Another widowed sister of his late wife financed his son's studies.

HVA usage

The barracks near Eggesin, where Bamler ran the B school

On May 7, 1950, Bamler applied to the People's Police (VP), which was subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior (MdI) and was one of the armed organs of the GDR , due to his military career and recent political insights into communism . The hiring took place retroactively to May 1, 1950. Bamler worked in the main training administration (HVA) of the MdI, the forerunner of the barracked people's police in the rank of VP inspector (corresponds to the rank of a colonel).

As of May 1950, based on his experience as an artillery officer, he was given the management of the B school in Eggesin . Future artillerymen were trained there. In the same year Bamler joined the National Democratic Party of Germany (NDPD).

With effect from January 1, 1951, he was appointed chief inspector of the VP (corresponds to the rank of major general) and in the same month he was transferred to head of the People's Police School in Glöwen . In doing so, the GDR followed its doctrine of granting former senior officers of the Wehrmacht a leadership position in the development of the armed forces. At the police school, artillerymen were trained for the People's Police readiness . Although Bamler approached the new task with the hard work and ambition he knew, his willingness to perform soon waned. The cause was the lack of suitable equipment and technology. In addition, there were health problems caused by constant differences of opinion with his deputy and Glöwen's seclusion. The lack of social variety and the distance from his place of residence affected Bamler. As headmaster, he felt underchallenged and, unlike other former generals of the Wehrmacht, was treated unfairly in the service of the KVP . His personal and professional dissatisfaction was viewed more and more critically by the training headquarters in Berlin. Probably for these reasons and by mutual agreement, Bamler resigned from active service at the HVA on October 31, 1951. His pension was 800 marks . According to himself, Bamler is said to have dealt with military studies in the period that followed. On the other hand, Bamler is associated with a course that he is said to have attended in 1951 in the Soviet Union.

Use of CIP

In the summer of 1952, the establishment of the barracked people's police (KVP) began in the GDR. Experienced and loyal command officers were required for this. Among them was Bamler, who, along with other generals and admirals, belonged to the military elite of the CIP from the very beginning. However, his wish for a higher staff assignment remained denied him. Instead, on October 1, 1952, he was appointed head of the self-propelled gun school (SFL school) in Erfurt in today's Henne barracks. With the appointment as headmaster Bamler's promotion to major general of the KVP was connected at the same time, although the establishment plan provided for only one colonel for this position. The promotion to major general was based on the crediting of his previous Wehrmacht rank and his service as chief inspector of the KVP. At the same time acted Bamler in Erfurt, where he took his new residence as location elder .

The position of the senior citizen made it possible for Bamler to reappear in society. His education, his rhetorical talent and his organizational skills helped him. Through his commitment to mastering the new, complex tasks, Bamler found his way back to his old diligence. He was a welcome guest at public appearances in the Erfurt region and enriched the social life there. This newly gained popularity of the general was also reflected in his official assessments. Among the advocates of Bamler at this time was his former NKFD comrade Major General Arno von Lenski, who served on the staff of the KVP. Bamler's first assessment as headmaster was dated January 27, 1953. Major General Fritz Johne , in his capacity as head of the KVP teaching institutes, also found positive words for the former Wehrmacht general, although he said he was “arrogant towards younger people”. In addition, he criticized Bamler's critical attitude towards the "unconditional adoption of the teachings of the Soviet army".

This came about because Bamler saw his longstanding routine as a staff officer legitimized not to implement the doctrines of the Red Army without criticism and unconditionally, but to question them. Overall, the few points of criticism could not tarnish Bamler's overall positive image. His loyalty to the Soviet Union and its representatives, with whom he was always in close contact, was beyond question. In 1953 Bamler joined the SED . According to an official assessment of Bamler on December 9, 1965, he had been a member of the SED since 1951.

June 17, 1953

On June 17, 1953 , the workers' uprisings broke out in the republic. The metropolises of Berlin and Leipzig formed focal points . In the district of Erfurt and the surrounding area it remained relatively quiet. It was not until noon that the first strike movements began in Erfurt. Thereupon units of the SFL school in Erfurt secured the publishing house of the SED, a power station and the Minol tank farm against possible attacks by the strikers, who were called "putschists" in the language of the time. A total of 28 officers and 197 NCOs and crews from the SFL school were on duty during the unrest in Erfurt and the surrounding area from June 17 to 22, 1953. Bamler's role in connection with June 17th remains unclear to this day. It is undisputed that Bamler, as the site elder and major general, was responsible for possible organizational counter-reactions by the armed organs in cases of uprisings or unrest in his district. However, on that June 17th he was not in his Erfurt office, but on vacation.

Bamler is said to have learned of the unrest from a housekeeper on June 18, 1953 (Thursday). It is no longer possible to determine why his staff's chain of command failed. The fact is that Bamler was not properly informed of the situation by his staff officers . When it was not possible to contact the staff by telephone, Bamler broke off his vacation and returned to his office in Erfurt on the same day. When he arrived there in the afternoon, his Soviet chief adviser informed him of the situation. Since the situation in Erfurt was evidently under control, the chief advisor advised him that Bamler should go to his office; which he did then. According to this variant, Bamler's “inaction” would be a chain of unfortunate circumstances resulting from a failure of the chain of command.

Diedrich's publication assesses this quite differently. According to his information, Bamler was only supposed to have phoned his staff on June 19, 1953 (Friday). In the course of the conversation, the general was informed that there was no reason for his presence. As a result, he did not return to work in Erfurt until his vacation was over. This statement is indirectly confirmed by a report from Bamler's deputy to the CIP management; accordingly, the operational readiness of the SFL school in the critical June days was not restricted by the absence of the headmaster.

Commission and party proceedings

However Bamler's behavior around the events on June 17th is interpreted, his critics took advantage of the situation to discredit the former general of the Wehrmacht at the highest level. They accused him of failure in the fight against counter-revolutionary forces. After his “misconduct” became known, both the party and a commission launched investigations against Bamler to investigate his role during the uprising. The CIP commission set up specifically for this purpose under its chairman Lieutenant General Heinz Hoffmann came to the conclusion that Bamler's behavior during the unrest would have "serious consequences". The Soviet chief advisor to the SFL school, the one who advised Bamler to go to his apartment, put a heavy burden on him and recommended that the investigative commission release Bamler from all offices in the KVP and retire him. The commission endorsed its judgment.

Even before the CIP Commission, the Party Control Commission (PKK) dealt with the Bamler case. In her investigations, she relied to a large extent on statements made by some Soviet advisors who were dissatisfied with Bamler's performance and came to the conclusion that his misconduct was a “major political error”. The initiated party proceedings against Bamler, however, were discontinued at the request of the Soviet advisors. Instead of the party proceedings, on September 1, 1953, there was “only” a “debate” with the political administration of the KVP under its chairman, Colonel Otto Schwab . Schwab came to the conclusion that Bamler was basically pursuing the goals of the state party, but was not prepared to take decisive action in crisis situations and “jump over his own shadow”. In this context, Schwab insulted Bamler as a “decoration socialist.” Bamler received no party punishment , but his career in the KVP was coming to an end.

Discharge

On October 28, 1953, Minister of the Interior Willi Stoph submitted a proposal to the Prime Minister of the GDR Otto Grotewohl by order 13/53 to relieve Bamler from the position of head of the SFL school and to retire him on December 31, 1953. Stoph followed the recommendation of the CIP commission. The corresponding cadre order dates from November 5, 1953. Bamler was 58 years old at the time. His retirement was part of a comprehensive cleanup operation within the armed organs of the GDR. In 1953, a total of 3,436 officers (including three generals) were killed. In addition to Bamler, Generals Walter Freytag - for reasons of age - and Bernd Weinberger - also for misconduct in connection with June 17th - were dismissed from their offices, Freytag losing his general rank as a result of demotion . In contrast, Bamler got off lightly and received a relatively high pension of 924 marks per month for the circumstances .

Other uses

Bamler wrote numerous articles and contributions for the newsletter of the working group of former officers.

In the period that followed, things became quiet around Bamler. But he soon began to be interested in military studies again and revived his contacts with former comrades of the NKFD, including Friedrich Paulus, who was repatriated in 1953 and whom he visited in his villa in Dresden .

In 1956 Bamler appeared again in public. In the service of the Ministry of National Defense (MfNV) he worked until the end of 1959 as a freelance research assistant for a monthly fee of 700 marks. During this time, von Bamler published several studies on the subject of military science and military policy on behalf of the Military History Institute of the GDR , based in Potsdam . Paul died on February 1, 1957 in Dresden. On the sidelines of the funeral ceremonies, former high-ranking soldiers of the Wehrmacht decided to found the Working Group of Former Officers ( AeO ). The SED not only tolerated this idea, it promoted it. In October 1957, the initiative committee, including Bamler, met to form the AeO. On January 11, 1958, the constituent founding meeting took place in East Berlin . In addition to Bamler, Korfes, Lattmann, Steidle , Homann and van Hooven were the initiators . In January 1958 the community started its work. Bamler was a founding member and board member . In 1958 he criticized Erich von Manstein's 1955 book Lost Victories in the AeO newsletter under the title Former Hitler Generals in the Service of NATO as proof of his claim:

“ The low moral countenance and the mendacity and depravity of this leading representative of old and new German militarism! "

In the same year, the DEFA documentary Teutonic Sword , directed by Annelie and Andrew Thorndike , appeared in which Bamler had worked. In it, Hans Speidel , then Lieutenant General of the Bundeswehr, was connected with the assassination attempt on King Alexander I and Louis Barthou in Marseille . In this context, Bamler testified under oath that Captain Speidel von Canaris had been released at the time for "corresponding espionage activities" in France .

In 1959 Bamler is said to have worked for the Ministry for State Security . However, there is no concrete evidence of this. In this context, it cannot be ruled out that the former Nazi secret service agent made his know-how available in whatever form to the MfS and was at least involved in the establishment of the state security organ in an advisory capacity. In this context, Bamler's collaboration with the NVA's administration, which operates separately from the MfS , is mentioned. Based on the rosewood files, it is now clear that Bamler was an unofficial employee of the MfS from 1954 to 1964 .

Public interest in his person reached its peak in the early 1960s. Bamler was in demand and public appearances were the order of the day. In addition to countless propaganda activities, Bamler was several times a guest at various events with NVA military, but also politicians and in cultural clubs of the republic, where he agitated against "Western militarism," especially that of the class enemy in the FRG. His specialty remained the unmasking and unmasking of former generals of the Wehrmacht in the ranks of the Bundeswehr . The most prominent example of this time was Lieutenant General Adolf Heusinger , whom he dubbed a traitor to the men of July 20, 1944 . Bamler also didn’t let his former superior in the defense, Canaris, look good. Bamler thus resolutely opposed the glorification of Canaris as an angel of peace, which was published in West Germany. In this context, Bamler wrote numerous other articles for magazines and journals. He was also featured on radio and television. Interesting is the fact that Bamler's articles published in the 1960s, especially in the AeO newsletter , always ranked with his last Wehrmacht rank as Lieutenant General a. D. signed and not as major general of the VP a. D. His openly negative attitude towards "West German militarism" brought Bamler ridicule and scorn in the Federal Republic of Germany due to his own "brown career" during National Socialism. The author Hans Bernd Gisevius in particular described the former lieutenant general as a “brown-eyed informant” and “infamous fellow”. Bamler, however, was not exclusively a critic of the Federal Republic. He also represented the idea of ​​a “ peaceful coexistence ” of the two German states. On the other hand, however, he again called for the "fight against West German militarism". Bamler's "fickleness" is a symbol for his entire military service. They reflect an officer who always succeeded in adapting to the circumstances and circumstances of his time and the prevailing political circumstances in order to gain advantages for himself. In 1962 Bamler retired.

Last years

The grave of Rudolf and Auguste Bamler in September 2012. The name of his second wife on the gravestone is partially covered by bushes.

On the occasion of the Day of the National People's Army on March 1, 1966, Bamler, who celebrated his 70th birthday in the same year, was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver, the second highest order in the republic after the Karl Marx Order . Colonel-General Heinz Hoffmann, who had accused Bamler of political failure in 1953, praised his work in the CIP in strengthening the power of workers and peasants .

In 1968 and again in 1982, ten years after his death, Bamler came into the focus of the State Security, which examined his Nazi past as part of "search missions". No results or consequences are known.

Bamler died on March 13, 1972 at the age of 75 in Groß Glienicke (Potsdam), where he was also buried.

Works by Bamler (selection)

  • The Campaign of Untapped Opportunities (1957)
  • Operation arctic fox. Was the Hitler OKW's plan to attack neutral Sweden in 1943 a strategic drawer? (Draft manuscript 1957)
  • The German military secret service in the preparation and implementation of the Second World War - taboo in West German historiography. In: Military. Issue 1 1958.
  • The role of the German military secret service in the preparation and provocation of the second world war. In: AeO newsletter. No. 2 1958.
  • We protect our peace. In: AeO newsletter. No. 4 1963.

literature

  • Dermot Bradley (Ed.): The Generals of the Army 1921-1945. The military careers of the generals, as well as the doctors, veterinarians, intendants, judges and ministerial officials with the rank of general. Volume 1: Abberger – Bitthorn. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, ISBN 3-7648-2423-9 , pp. 190-191.
  • André Brissaud : Canaris. Chief of the German secret service. Bastei Lübbe, 1979, ISBN 3-404-01160-0 .
  • Torsten Diedrich : Arms against the people: June 17, 1953 in the GDR. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2003, ISBN 3-486-56735-7 .
  • Torsten Diedrich, Rüdiger Wenzke : The camouflaged army - history of the barracked people's police in the GDR. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-86153-242-5 .
  • Andreas Förster : Treasure Robber. The Stasi search for gold from the Nazi era. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-86153-204-2 .
  • Klaus Froh, Rüdiger Wenzke: The generals and admirals of the NVA. A biographical manual. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-86153-209-3 .
  • Olaf Kappelt : Brown Book GDR. Nazis in the GDR. Berlin-Historica, 2009, ISBN 978-3-939929-12-3 .
  • Peter Joachim Lapp : Ulbricht's helper. Wehrmacht officers in the service of the GDR. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, 2000, ISBN 3-7637-6209-4 .
  • Michael Müller: Canaris - Hitler's chief of defense. Propylaen Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-549-07202-3 .
  • Leonid Reschin: General between the fronts - Walter von Seydlitz in Soviet captivity and imprisonment 1943–1955. Edition q, 1996, ISBN 3-86124-296-6 .
  • Walther von Seydlitz : Stalingrad - conflict and consequence. Stalling Verlag, 1977, ISBN 3-7979-1353-2 .
  • Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP. In: Hans Ehlert , Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-86153-312-X , pp. 33-60.
  • Rüdiger Wenzke: Public enemies in uniform? Resistant behavior and political persecution in the NVA. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-86153-361-8 .

Web links

Commons : Rudolf Bamler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Self-reported Rudolf Bamler in: Curriculum vitae from May 7, 1950. Federal Archives Freiburg im Breisgau Personal files PERS 14/5, p. 1.
  2. ↑ a b c Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 33.
  3. ↑ Rudolf Bamler's own statement in the questionnaire from the head office for training dated September 28, 1950, p. 2.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 34.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Jürgen Kraus: Handbook of the associations and troops of the German army 1914-1918. Part IX: Field Artillery Volume 1, Verlag Militaria Wien 2007, p. 266.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Dermot Bradley: The Generals of the Army 1921–1945, Part IV, Volume 1: Abberger-Bitthorn. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, p. 190.
  7. ↑ a b c d Rudolf Bamler's own statement in: Curriculum vitae from May 7, 1950. Federal Archives Freiburg im Breisgau Personal files PERS 14/5, p. 6.
  8. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Dermot Bradley: The Generals of the Army 1921–1945, Part IV, Volume 1: Abberger-Bitthorn. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, p. 191.
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g h Olaf Kappelt: Brown Book GDR - Nazis in the GDR. P. 260.
  10. ↑ a b c Self-reported Rudolf Bamler in: Curriculum vitae from May 7, 1950. Federal Archives Freiburg im Breisgau Personal files PERS 14/5, p. 2.
  11. ^ Romuald Bergner: Troops and garrisons in Silesia 1740-1945. Podzun-Pallas Verlag, 1987, p. 58.
  12. ^ André Brissaud: Canaris - Chief of the German Secret Service, Bastei Lübbe 1979, p. 94.
  13. ↑ a b c d e f Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 35.
  14. ^ Michael Müller: Canaris - Hitler's chief of defense. Propylaen Verlag, Berlin 2006, p. 174. https://books.google.de/books?id=E-A1DgAAQBAJ&pg=PR3-IA11
  15. ^ Heinz Höhne: Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. In: Gerd R. Ueberschär: Hitler's military elite. Primus Verlag, 2011, p. 55.
  16. ↑ RGBl. I, p. 609 / Facsimile Defense Act
  17. ^ A b c d André Brissaud: Canaris - Chief of the German Secret Service, Bastei Lübbe 1979, p. 69.
  18. ^ Richard Bassett: Hitler's Master Spy: The Riddle of Wilhelm Canaris. Böhlau Verlag, 2007, p. 103.
  19. ↑ a b c d Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 36.
  20. ^ A b Heinz Höhne: Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. In: Gerd R. Ueberschär: Hitler's military elite. Primus Verlag, 2011, p. 56.
  21. ↑ a b Andreas Förster: Treasure robbers - The Stasi search for the gold of the Nazi era. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2000, p. 22.
  22. ^ Robert H. Whealey: Hitler and Spain: The Nazi Role in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. University of Kentucky 2005, p. 98.
  23. ^ Michael Müller: Canaris - Hitler's chief of defense. Propylaeen Verlag, Berlin 2006, p. 182.
  24. ^ Michael Müller: Canaris - Hitler's chief of defense. Propylaeen Verlag, Berlin 2006, p. 182.
  25. ^ Michael Müller: Canaris - Hitler's chief of defense. Propylaen Verlag, Berlin 2006, p. 183.
  26. ^ Michael Müller: Canaris - Hitler's chief of defense. Propylaen Verlag, Berlin 2006, p. 228f.
  27. ^ Richard Bassett: Hitler's Master Spy: The Riddle of Wilhelm Canaris. Böhlau Verlag, 2007, p. 99.
  28. ^ Karl-Heinz Abshagen: Canaris: Patriot and Weltbürger Stuttgart 1957, p. 121.
  29. ^ André Brissaud: Canaris - Chief of the German Secret Service, Bastei Lübbe 1979, p. 610.
  30. ↑ Dermot Bradley: The Generals of the Army 1921–1945, Part IV, Volume 2: v. Blanckensee – v. Czettritz and Neuhauß. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, p. 191.
  31. ↑ Wolfgang Keilig: The Generals of the Army. Podzun-Pallas Verlag, 1983, p. 49.
  32. ↑ Dermot Bradley: The Generals of the Army 1921–1945, Part IV, Volume 2: v. Blanckensee – v. Czettritz and Neuhauß. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, p. 392.
  33. ↑ Dermot Bradley: The Generals of the Army 1921–1945, Part IV, Volume 2: v. Blanckensee – v. Czettritz and Neuhauß. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, p. 392.
  34. ↑ a b c d e Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 37.
  35. ↑ Wolfgang Keilig: The Generals of the Army. Podzun-Pallas Verlag, 1983, p. 359.
  36. ↑ Wolfgang Keilig: Ranking list of the German army 1944/45. Podzun-Pallas Verlag, 1979, p. 359.
  37. ↑ a b c d e self-reported by Rudolf Bamler in: Curriculum vitae from May 7, 1950. Federal Archives Freiburg im Breisgau Personal files PERS 14/5, p. 4.
  38. ↑ Dermot Bradley: The Generals of the Army 1921–1945, Part IV, Volume 2: v. Blanckensee – v. Czettritz and Neuhauß. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, p. 42.
  39. ↑ a b c Self-reported Rudolf Bamler in the questionnaire of the main administration for training of September 28, 1950, p. 4.
  40. ↑ a b c Self-reported Rudolf Bamler in: Curriculum vitae from May 7, 1950. Federal Archives Freiburg im Breisgau Personal files PERS 14/5, p. 7.
  41. ↑ a b c d Self-reported Rudolf Bamler in: Curriculum vitae from May 7, 1950. Federal Archives Freiburg im Breisgau Personal files PERS 14/5, p. 5.
  42. ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser and Gerhart Hass: The German Empire and the Second World War. The Eastern Front 1943/44. The war in the east and on the secondary fronts. Volume 8, Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften 2008, p. 530.
  43. ^ Rüdiger Wenzke: Public enemies in uniform? Resistant behavior and political persecution in the NVA. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2005, p. 38.
  44. ↑ Manfred Menger, Fritz Petrick, Wolfgang Wilhelmus: Expansion direction Northern Europe. Documents on the North European Policy of Fascist German Imperialism 1939 to 1945. Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften Berlin 1987, p. 31.
  45. ↑ Wolfgang Keilig: Ranking list of the German army 1944/45. Podzun-Pallas Verlag, 1979, p. 24.
  46. ^ Robert Bohn, Jürgen Elvert, Hain Rebas: Neutrality and totalitarian aggression (historical messages - supplements), Franz Steiner Verlag, 1991, pp. 165./166.
  47. ↑ a b c d Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 38.
  48. ↑ Wolfgang Keilig: The Generals of the Army. Podzun-Pallas Verlag, 1983, p. 156.
  49. ↑ a b Peter Schmitz: The German divisions 1939–1945. Volume 3 The Divisions 11–16, Biblio-Verlag, 1996, p. 47.
  50. ↑ Peter Schmitz: The German divisions 1939-1945. Volume 3, Die Divisionen 11-16, Biblio-Verlag, 1996, p. 48.
  51. ↑ Peter Schmitz: The German divisions 1939-1945. Volume 3, Die Divisionen 11-16, Biblio-Verlag, 1996, p. 46.
  52. ↑ Walther Hubatsch: Hitler's instructions for warfare 1939–1945: Documents of the High Command of the Wehrmacht. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 1965, p. 242.
  53. ↑ Janusz Piekalkiewicz: The Second World War. Komet Verlag, 2008, p. 883.
  54. ↑ Dermot Bradley: The Generals of the Army 1921–1945, Part IV, Volume 2: v. Blanckensee – v. Czettritz and Neuhauß. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, p. 380.
  55. ^ Samuel W. Mitcham Jr .: Field Marshal General Ernst Busch. In: Gerd R. Ueberschär: Hitler's military elite. Primus Verlag, 2011, p. 291.
  56. ↑ Olaf Groehler , Wolfgang Schumann: Germany in the Second World War. Volume 6, Akademie Verlag Berlin 1988, p. 37.
  57. ↑ a b Dermot Bradley: The Generals of the Army 1921–1945, Part IV, Volume 2: v. Blanckensee – v. Czettritz and Neuhauß. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, p. 359.
  58. ^ Hannes Heer, Klaus Naumann: War of extermination. Crimes of the Wehrmacht 1941 to 1944. Verlag Zweausendeins 1997, p. 563.
  59. ↑ Glantz, Orenstein: Belorussia 1944. Frank Cass Publishers 2001, p. 97.
  60. ^ Samuel W. Mitcham: The German Defeat in the East 1944-45. Stackpole Co 2007, p. 30.
  61. ↑ Wolfgang Keilig: The Generals of the Army. Podzun-Pallas Verlag, 1983, p. 83.
  62. ^ A b Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 40.
  63. ↑ Walther von Seydlitz: Stalingrad - conflict and consequence. Stalling Verlag, 1977, p. 350.
  64. ↑ Walther von Seydlitz: Stalingrad - conflict and consequence. Stalling Verlag, 1977, p. 357.
  65. ↑ Gottfried Hamacher with the collaboration of Andre Lohmar and Harald Wittstock: Germans in the Resistance, in the armed forces of the anti-Hitler coalition and the Free Germany Movement. Working material Berlin 2003, p. 18. Working material (PDF; 565 kB)
  66. ^ Calling up the 17 generals in the DRAFD Wiki
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  68. ↑ Olaf Groehler, Wolfgang Schumann: Germany in the Second World War. Volume 6, Akademie Verlag Berlin 1988, p. 56.
  69. ↑ Bodo Scheurig: Treason behind barbed wire? - The National Committee “Free Germany” and the Federation of German Officers in the Soviet Union 1943–1945. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (dtv) 1965, pp. 245f.
  70. ↑ Reinhardt Stumpf: The Wehrmacht Elite. Structure of rank and origin of the German generals and admirals 1933–1945. Boldt Verlag, 1982, p. 123.
  71. ↑ a b c d e f g self-reported by Rudolf Bamler in: Curriculum vitae from May 7, 1950. Federal Archives Freiburg im Breisgau Personal files PERS 14/5, p. 9.
  72. ^ Karlheinz Barck (ed.): The scientific work: Essays on the Spanish and French literary and ideological history of the modern age. Volume 4, De Gruyter, 1997, p. 189.
  73. ^ Journal of History, Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Volume 23, p. 1032.
  74. ↑ Leonid Reschin: General caught in the middle - Walter von Seydlitz in Soviet captivity and imprisonment from 1943 to 1955. Edition q, 1996, p. 208.
  75. ↑ Leonid Reschin: General caught in the middle - Walter von Seydlitz in Soviet captivity and imprisonment from 1943 to 1955. Edition q, 1996, p. 209.
  76. ↑ Leonid Reschin: General caught in the middle - Walter von Seydlitz in Soviet captivity and imprisonment from 1943 to 1955. Edition q, 1996, p. 216.
  77. ↑ Walther von Seydlitz: Stalingrad - conflict and consequence. Stalling Verlag, 1977, p. 358.
  78. ↑ Olaf Kappelt: Denazification in the Soviet Zone and the role and influence of former National Socialists in the GDR as a sociological phenomenon. Publishing house Dr. Kovac, 1997, p. 430.
  79. ↑ Georg May: Interconfessionalism in the German military pastoral care from 1933 to 1945. Amsterdam Grüner 1978, p. 460.
  80. ↑ Prisoners of War in the Soviet Union. Berlin 1949, OCLC 67727765 .
  81. ↑ a b Leonid Reschin: General caught in the middle - Walter von Seydlitz in Soviet captivity and imprisonment from 1943 to 1955. Edition q, 1996, p. 238.
  82. ↑ Walther von Seydlitz: Stalingrad - conflict and consequence. Stalling Verlag, 1977, p. 357.
  83. ↑ Leonid Reschin: General caught in the middle - Walter von Seydlitz in Soviet captivity and imprisonment from 1943 to 1955. Edition q, 1996, p. 239.
  84. ↑ Walther von Seydlitz: Stalingrad - conflict and consequence. Stalling Verlag, 1977, p. 358.
  85. ↑ Leonid Reschin: General caught in the middle - Walter von Seydlitz in Soviet captivity and imprisonment from 1943 to 1955. Edition q, 1996, p. 236.
  86. ↑ Gerd R. Ueberschär: The National Committee "Free Germany" and the Association of German Officers. Fischer-Verlag: Frankfurt am Main 1995, p. 253.
  87. ^ Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 41.
  88. ↑ Leonid Reschin: Field Marshal in cross-examination - Friedrich Paulus in Soviet captivity from 1943 to 1953. Edition q, 1996, ISBN 3-86124-323-7 , p. 266.
  89. ↑ Spiegel edition 1977, Volume 31, p. 77.
  90. ↑ Jens Gieseke: The full-time employees of the State Security. Personnel structure and living environment 1950–1989 / 90. Christoph-Links Verlag, 2000, p. 63.
  91. ↑ a b Rudolf Bamler's own statement in the questionnaire of the head office for training of September 28, 1950, p. 3.
  92. ↑ Helmut Welz: In the last hour - The decision of General Arno von Lenski. Verlag der Nation Berlin 1978, p. 308.
  93. ↑ Helmut Welz: In the last hour - The decision of General Arno von Lenski. Verlag der Nation Berlin 1978, pp. 312-313.
  94. ^ Wolfgang Hartmann:  Hans-Joachim Bamler . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  95. ↑ Klaus Eichner and Gotthold Schramm : Scouts in the West: Top Sources of the GDR Enlightenment Remember. Edition Ost 2003, p. 33.
  96. ↑ a b c Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 42.
  97. ^ Official assessment of Rudolf Bamler from January 27, 1953.
  98. ↑ a b c Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 43.
  99. ^ A b c d Peter Joachim Lapp: Ulbricht's helpers: Wehrmacht officers in the service of the GDR. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, 2000, p. 212.
  100. ^ Rüdiger Wenzke: The unpleasant legacy of the Wehrmacht and the development of the GDR People's Army. In: Rolf-Dieter Müller: The Wehrmacht: Myth and Reality , Oldenbourg Verlag, 1999, p. 1120.
  101. ↑ a b c d e Torsten Diedrich and Rüdiger Wenzke: The camouflaged army - history of the barracked people's police in the GDR. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 195.
  102. ↑ a b Klaus Froh, Rüdiger Wenzke: The Generals and Admirals of the NVA - A biographical manual. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2000, p. 69.
  103. ^ A b Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 44.
  104. ^ A b Peter Joachim Lapp: Ulbricht's helpers: Wehrmacht officers in the service of the GDR. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, 2000, p. 132.
  105. ^ A b Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 45.
  106. ^ Official assessment of Rudolf Bamler from February 10, 1953.
  107. ↑ a b c d e f Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 47.
  108. ^ Heidi Roth: June 17, 1953 in Saxony. Böhlau Verlag, 2003, p. 45.
  109. ↑ a b Torsten Diedrich: Arms against the people: June 17, 1953 in the GDR. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2003, p. 198.
  110. ^ Rüdiger Wenzke: Public enemies in uniform? Resistant behavior and political persecution in the NVA. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2005, p. 74.
  111. ↑ a b c d Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 48.
  112. ↑ a b Daniel Niemetz: The field-gray legacy. The Wehrmacht Influences in the Army of the Soviet Zone / GDR (1948 / 49–1989). Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2006, p. 105.
  113. ^ Rüdiger Wenzke: Public enemies in uniform? Resistant behavior and political persecution in the NVA. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2005, p. 48.
  114. ↑ a b c d e f Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 49.
  115. ^ Peter Joachim Lapp: The second chance - Wehrmacht officers in the service of Ulbricht. Helios Verlag, 2010, p. 67.
  116. ^ Rolf-Dieter Müller: The Wehrmacht: Myth and Reality. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1999, p. 1130.
  117. ↑ Harald Schmid, Justyna Krzymianowska: Political memory: history and collective identity. Königshausen & Neumann, 2007, p. 146.
  118. ↑ AeO bulletin No. 6/1958, pp. 13–15.
  119. ^ The time of February 13, 1959: DEFA forged documents
  120. ^ A b Siegfried Suckut, Walter Suess: State Party and State Security. On the relationship between the SED and the MfS. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 1997, p. 137.
  121. ^ Hermann Zolling and Heinz Höhne: Pullach internally - General Gehlen and the history of the Federal Intelligence Service. Hoffmann and Campe Verlag, 1971, p. 284.
  122. ↑ Helmut Müller-Enbergs, Armin Wagner (ed.): Spies and news dealers : Secret service careers in Germany 1939-1989 Verlag Ch. Links Verlag, 2016, ISBN 9783861538721 , p. 256.
  123. ↑ a b c d Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 52.
  124. ^ Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 50.
  125. ↑ Heinz Höhne: Canaris - Patriot in the twilight. Bertelsmann 1976, p. 186.
  126. ^ New Germany of March 2, 1966, p. 2.
  127. ^ A b Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner: Comrade General! The GDR military elite in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-86153-312-X , p. 53.
  128. ↑ a b c Rüdiger Wenzke: Rudolf Bamler - career break in the CIP . In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Comrade General! The military elite of the GDR in biographical sketches. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 54.

Remarks

  1. ↑ The award of the Eastern Medal is not fixed in writing. Contemporary pictures of Bamler, however, show the general with the ribbon of the medal on his uniform skirt.
  2. ↑
    Field Marshal Busch's order to create new detention positions on June 27, 1944.
    The original order to the subordinate 4th Army was:

    “The 4th Army , holding the Mogilow fixed place, retreats behind the Drut up to the last section, staggering as much as possible on both wings and always fighting to save time. Later setting down in the Berasina section from Stary Ostroff to Tschurnjawa-Krupki-Lukomskoje Lake is planned. Gen. Kdo. XXXLX.Pz.K. is to be withdrawn as soon as possible and made available to Okdo.H.Gr.Mitte on the march to Borissow. A sub-staff capable of working with at least one General Staff Officer must be sent in advance immediately. Time of submission of the entire Gen.Kdos. is to be reported. "

  3. ↑ Her names and dates of life can be found on the inscription on the gravestone for the communal grave of Rudolf and Auguste Bamler.
  4. ↑ The wording of the assessment:

    "Gene. Major Bamler is very intelligent and has a good general education. He has organizational skills and is good at dealing with people. He has a close relationship with the party. His devotion to the government of the GDR cannot be doubted. Due to his age and personal experience, he tends to be a little arrogant towards younger people. He knows how to hide this. In the past (1951) he was not always ready to unconditionally accept the teachings of the Soviet armies. It is not yet known whether he has changed in this respect. He fills his position. "

    - boss d. Administration f. Educational institutions Gen. Major Johne
personal data
SURNAME Bamler, Rudolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bamler, Rudolf Karl Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, lieutenant general in World War II and major general of the GDR
DATE OF BIRTH May 6, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Osterburg (Altmark)
DATE OF DEATH March 13, 1972
Place of death Groß Glienicke , Nauen district