Rudolf Benkendorff

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Rudolf Benkendorff (born August 5, 1890 in Hamburg ; † August 4, 1973 ibid) was a German meteorologist in the Wehrmacht Air Force and later President of the German Weather Service .

Life

In 1908, Benkendorff began studying political science at the University of Heidelberg , which he continued from 1910 at the University of Kiel . On June 23, 1913, he graduated as Dr. rer. pole. and a year later, at the beginning of the First World War , he was used in the army as an infantryman . After he was wounded at the end of the war and had spent a month in the hospital, he worked as a meteorologist from 1919. On April 1, 1933, he moved to the Reich Ministry of Aviation as a senior government councilor , where he headed the aviation weather service of the Reich Office for Air Traffic Control and for the weather service. From October 15, 1934, he then held the position of head of the weather service department in Luftkreis-Kommando VI (See) in Kiel and joined the NSDAP in 1937 (No. 5825472). In the summer of 1939 he took over the post of chief meteorologist for Luftflotte 2 , which he held until June 25, 1943. During this time, the Luftwaffe was involved in the Western campaign , the Battle of Britain and the German-Soviet War . During this time he was promoted to government director (April 1, 1940) and chief meterologist (January 7, 1941). On June 25, 1943, he was promoted to Chief of the Weather Service in the Air Force High Command and was promoted to Ministerial Director on November 1, 1944 . On May 9, 1945 he was taken prisoner by the Allies near Zell am See , from which he was released on December 5, 1945.

From February 1953 to 1960 he was President of the newly founded German Weather Service .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. German Weather Service. Annual report 2012. In: dwd.de. P. 90 , accessed April 14, 2018 .