Wilfried von Loewenfeld

Wilhelm Friedrich Julius Hans "Wilfried" Höffer von Loewenfeld (born September 25, 1879 in Spandau , † July 5, 1946 in Schleswig ) was a German vice admiral and free corps leader.

family

He came from a noble family that has appeared in Swabia since the 17th century and traces his descent to the imperial city judge in Vienna Friedrich Höffer (imperial nobility 1633), and was the son of the Prussian major general Julius von Loewenfeld (1838-1916) and his wife Elisabeth , born von Witzleben (* 1854, † after 1933). The family carried the name Höffer von Loewenfeld until the beginning of the 19th century, after which Höffer only remained as a first name.

Loewenfeld married on September 24, 1927 in Berlin Dorothee Countess von Bismarck-Schönhausen (born December 9, 1892 in Hanover ; † July 14, 1975), who divorced from her first marriage to Reinhold Graf von Rehbinder and was the granddaughter of the first Reich Chancellor .

His uncle was the Prussian infantry general Alfred von Loewenfeld (1848–1927).

Military background

Loewenfeld joined the Imperial Navy as a cadet on April 7, 1897 . After successfully training cadets and officers, he became first officer on the small cruiser SMS Breslau in May 1912 . There he also became a fatherly friend and mentor of the later Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz . Promoted to Korvettenkapitän on May 19, 1914 , he came on July 8, 1914 as a navigational officer on the liner SMS Helgoland , on which Loewenfeld was still on duty after the outbreak of the First World War . In November 1915 he took over the position of first officer on the great cruiser SMS Prinz Heinrich and in August 1916 as commander of the auxiliary mine-layer Germany . In the further course of the war Loewenfeld was Admiralstabsoffizier at the commander of the naval facilities in Courland . From August 17, 1917 to August 7, 1918 he was on the staff of the 1st Marine Division and experienced the defensive battles on the western front in Flanders . Then Loewenfeld came as first adjutant of the chief of the naval war command , Reinhard Scheer , in the admiralty staff of the navy. From November 3, 1918, he was first officer on the large-scale ship SMS Markgraf .

Shortly after the outbreak of the November Revolution in Kiel on November 4, 1918 , when the German Empire collapsed and the German Republic was proclaimed as a result , Loewenfeld gathered anti-republican naval officers in a secret group. This group also included Wilhelm Canaris and Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière , the most successful submarine commander in the war.

From February 18, 1919 set Loewenfeld on the orders of Defense Minister Gustav Noske , the 3rd Marine Brigade , a volunteer corps of Navy volunteers and commanded it until 30 June 1920. He was elected during this time on March 8, 1920 Commander promoted. At the beginning of March 1919 the brigade was about 1,500 men strong. After infantry training, it was used in June 1919 during the traffic strike in Berlin and then in the first Polish uprising in Upper Silesia . After the fighting was over, she was deployed in the border guard near Breslau during the winter of 1919/20 . However, one battalion of the brigade remained permanently stationed in Kiel. In order to prevent "contamination" by "left" elements in Kiel, the battalions were changed regularly - about every two months.

During the Kapp Putsch in March 1920, Loewenfeld and the brigade supported the attempted coup with the occupation of Wroclaw, but vacated the city again after the collapse of the uprising. In Kiel there was bloody fighting between the battalion stationed there and marines loyal to the republic. After a brief hesitation, the government sent the brigade at the end of March to fight the communist uprising in the Ruhr area , where it was deployed as part of the 3rd Cavalry Division in the Bottrop area.

In mid-May 1920, the order to disband the naval brigade was issued, but it was only fully implemented after two years. Despite his anti-republic attitude, Loewenfeld and many other anti-republic naval officers were accepted into the Reichsmarine in 1920. Unlike many other naval officers, Loewenfeld now presented himself as a Republican of reason who was loyal to the republic.

After he had given up command of the brigade, Loewenfeld was initially at the disposal of the chief of the naval command until March 23, 1921. During this time, an investigation into his role during the Kapp Putsch took place. Subsequently, he was commander of the ship master division of the Baltic Sea and promoted in this position on December 1, 1921 to the sea captain. Loewenfeld commanded the school cruiser Berlin from July 1922 to September 1923 . In 1924 he became chief of staff at the Baltic Sea Naval Station and at the same time leader of the Association of Reconnaissance Forces. From September 1925 to March 1927 Loewenfeld was head of the naval department in the naval command and was responsible for the more cruiser-like design of the Germany-class armored ships . Then he was commander of the naval forces in the Baltic Sea and on January 1, 1928 promoted to Rear Admiral.

On October 31 In 1928 under award of the character as Vice Admiral his dismissal from military service. On July 25, 1939 Loewenfeld was made available to the Navy , but not used for active military service.

Loewenfeld was a legal knight of the Order of St. John .

Grave site at the Nordfriedhof Kiel

Loewenfeldstrasse

Commemoration

Loewenfeld is buried in the Nordfriedhof in Kiel, where members of his brigade are also buried. Until mid-2019 the site had the character of an honorary grave . The council meeting in Kiel reversed this on June 13, 2019, because at the award ceremony in 1968 there was no examination of the merit and because Loewenfeld pursued anti-democratic intentions, acted militarily unauthorized and played a major role in the brutal suppression of the Ruhr uprising in 1920. However, the tomb will continue to be preserved as a historical burial site and maintained in a simple form. As part of a labeling concept for monuments and graves in the north cemetery, an information board is also to be installed there.

In Bottrop-Kirchhellen a street was named after Loewenfeld. There is a grave of honor for his Freikorps unit in the Kirchhellen cemetery.

Publications

• The Loewenfeld Freikorps . In: Hans Roden (Hrsg.): German soldiers from the front army and free corps via the Reichswehr to the new Wehrmacht . Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1935, pp. 149–158

literature

• Dermot Bradley (eds.), Hans H. Hildebrand, Ernest Henriot: Germany's Admirals 1849-1945. The military careers of naval, engineering, medical, weapons and administrative officers with admiral rank. Volume 2: HO. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1989, ISBN 3-7648-1499-3 , pp. 389-390.
• Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the noble houses. Part B 1933, Justus Perthes Verlag, Gotha 1933.
• Heinz Höhne : Canaris. Patriot in the twilight. Bertelsmann , Munich 1984, ISBN 3-570-01608-0 .

Web links

• The page about the grave site in Kiel, with a picture of the tombstone, is currently being revised.
• Wilfried von Loewenfeld in the online version of the Reich Chancellery Edition Files. Weimar Republic
• Discussion about renaming Loewenfeldstrasse in Bottrop-Kirchhellen

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Harold J. Gordon Jr .: The Reichswehr and the Weimar Republic. Defense Publishing House Bernard & Graefe. Frankfurt am Main 1959. p. 69.
2. ↑ Meeting of the council meeting on June 13, 2019. Agenda item Loewenfeld honorary grave. Available online (accessed October 28, 2019) at: [1]