Siegfried Haenicke

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Siegfried Haenicke (born September 8, 1878 in Konstanz , † February 19, 1946 in the special camp Mühlberg / Elbe ) was a German officer , most recently general of the infantry in World War II .

Life

Haenicke joined the 6th Pomeranian Infantry Regiment No. 49 in Gnesen on March 13, 1897 , coming from the cadet corps as a second lieutenant . From September 15, 1900 he acted as a battalion adjutant, was assigned to the Prussian War Academy from October 1, 1904 to July 21, 1907 , and was promoted to first lieutenant on May 18, 1907 . After Haenicke had become a captain on December 18, 1912 , he was transferred to the staff of the 1st Warmian Infantry Regiment No. 150 in Allenstein from April 18, 1913 . Here he acted as a company commander from October 1, 1913 .

First World War

With the outbreak of World War I and the mobilization , Haenicke and his regiment were deployed on the Eastern Front and fought in the Battle of Tannenberg . On December 2, he was appointed commander of the 2nd Battalion, with which he was now deployed on the Western Front . From August 19, 1918, he was the leader of the replacement battalion.

Reichswehr

After the end of the war, Haenicke became the commander of the field recruits depot of the 37th Division on November 12, 1918, and two months later he was reinstated as commander of the 2nd battalion, which he led until demobilization . The Haenicke volunteer battalion was then recruited from parts of this unit under his leadership . He was accepted into the Reichswehr on May 1, 1920 and assigned to the staff of the Reichswehr Infantry Regiment 20. There he was promoted to major on May 18, 1920 and was employed from October 1, 1920 to September 30, 1921 with the staff of the 2nd (Prussian) Infantry Regiment . Then Haenicke was transferred to the staff of the 1st Division in Königsberg . From there, Haenicke came to Munich on April 1, 1924, to the Central Infantry School there , where he was initially employed as a teacher and promoted to lieutenant colonel on October 1, 1925 . After the school was relocated to Dresden , he was the last course director there and was transferred to the staff of the 3rd (Prussian) Infantry Regiment in Deutsch Eylau on October 1, 1928 . As a colonel (since February 1, 1929), he was appointed commander of the 2nd (Prussian) Infantry Regiment on November 1, 1930. He was promoted to major general on April 1, 1932. He retired from military service on September 30, 1932.

In civil life he was director of the Reichsender Königsberg from May 1933 to June 1935 .

Second World War

Haenicke was reactivated on June 1, 1938, made available to the army and appointed commander of the 61st Infantry Division on August 8, 1939 . With the association he participated in the attack on Poland at the beginning of World War II and took part in the conquest of Warsaw as part of the 3rd Army . After the end of the attack on Poland, Haenicke was promoted to lieutenant general on November 1, 1939 . He then commanded the division in the western campaign and in the attack on the Soviet Union . On April 27, 1942, he was replaced and transferred to the Führerreserve . With simultaneous promotion to General of the Infantry on April 1, 1942 Haenicke was with the leadership of the XXXVIII. Army Corps instructed. From July 1 to September 30, 1942 he was once again in the Führerreserve and then acted first as military district commander , then as commander of the army area Generalgouvernement . In this function, he ordered the participation of the Wehrmacht in the suppression of an uprising of the prisoners in the Sobibor extermination camp in October 1943 . On January 31, 1945 he was reassigned to the Führerreserve and on May 8, 1945 he left active service and was retired. At that time he was in Bad Lausick .

Imprisonment and death in the Soviet occupation zone

Haenicke was arrested by the Soviet occupying forces on July 20, 1945. From September to October 1945 Haenicke was the head of the German self-administration of the prisoners in the Soviet NKVD - Special Camp No. 1 Mühlberg . His successor at this post, Walther Haller, assigned him to head of the manure command in the camp in October 1945. Haenicke died on February 19, 1946.

Awards

Haenicke was one of only 19 soldiers who were awarded the highest German bravery award - the Pour le Mérite and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross - in the First and Second World Wars.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Arad, Yitzhak: Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka: The Operation Reinhard Death Camps . Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-253-21305-1 , p. 336.
  2. ↑ Achim Kilian : Instruct for complete isolation. NKVD special camp Mühlberg / Elbe 1945–1948 , Forum Verlag Leipzig, 3rd edition 2000, ISBN 3-931801-28-4 , note 286, p. 216.
  3. ↑ Achim Kilian : Instruct for complete isolation. NKVD special camp Mühlberg / Elbe 1945–1948 , Forum Verlag Leipzig, 3rd edition 2000, ISBN 3-931801-28-4 , p. 86.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres , Ed .: Reichswehrministerium , Mittler & Sohn Verlag , Berlin 1925, p. 125.
  5. ↑ a b c 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 , p. 359.
personal data
SURNAME Haenicke, Siegfried
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently General of the Infantry in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH September 8, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Constancy
DATE OF DEATH February 19, 1946
Place of death Mühlberg / Elbe