Wilhelm von Dommes

Wilhelm Ernst Justus Dommes , von Dommes since 1903 (born September 15, 1867 in Göttingen , † May 5, 1959 in Verden (Aller) ) was a German lieutenant general and authorized representative of the Prussian royal family.

Life

origin

Wilhelm was the elder of two sons of the later Prussian major general August von Dommes (1834–1913). On December 19, 1903, the father was raised to the hereditary Prussian nobility .

Career

Dommes entered the Prussian Army in Hofgeismar on September 29, 1885 as a flag junior in the Dragoon Regiment "Freiherr von Manteuffel" (Rheinisches) No. 5 and was appointed ensign there on May 13, 1886 . As a second lieutenant (since January 15, 1887) he was employed as a regimental adjutant from September 17, 1892. From October 1, 1894 to July 20, 1897, Dommes was assigned to the War Academy in Berlin , where he was promoted to Prime Lieutenant on March 22, 1895 . After attending the academy, he came to Allenstein in the "King Albert of Saxony" (East Prussian) dragoon regiment No. 10 . On April 1, 1898, he was assigned to the General Staff and on March 29, 1900, he was transferred here. On December 16, 1902, he came to Thorn as squadron chief in the Uhlan Regiment “von Schmidt” (1st Pomeranian) No. 4 , where he served until May 1, 1905. He then acted as 1st Adjutant to the Chief of the General Staff of the Army Alfred von Schlieffen , and later his successor Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke , and was promoted to major on March 22, 1907 . From May 3, 1910 on, he acted as the wing adjutant on duty to Kaiser Wilhelm II. In this function, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on October 1, 1912 and on January 27, 1913, while remaining in his position as wing adjutant, he was commander of the Leib-Guard Hussar regiment in Potsdam .

With the outbreak of World War I , he was appointed head of the political department of the Chief of the General Staff of the Field Army at the Great Headquarters , promoted to Colonel on September 5, 1914 , in order to be able to deploy him as Chief of the General Staff of the VIII Army Corps on October 22 . On February 11, 1915 he took on the same function in the "Marshal" army corps, which was formed in the Austro-Hungarian 7th Army on the lower Dniester, and from whose staff the newly established Guard Reserve Corps on the western front should emerge in April 1916 . In 1917 Colonel Dommes was transferred to the German military mission under Liman von Sanders in the Ottoman Empire . In 1917 he served as chief of the general staff of Army Group Yıldırım in Palestine. For a short time, Dommes was made available on February 25, 1918 and promoted to major general on March 22, 1918 .

On March 31, 1918, Dommes returned to the Western Front and was given command of the 66th Infantry Brigade and three months later of the 2nd Division . He remained in this post after the end of the war, was made available in May 1919 and retired from the army on July 12, 1919. Dommes was given the character of Lieutenant General on August 27, 1939, the so-called Tannenberg Day.

During the Weimar Republic , Dommes was a member of the "Christian-German Movement". In addition, he was the last chairman of the Prussian Federation from 1925 to 1934 and from 1932 until the death of Wilhelm II in 1941 he was head of the general administration of the formerly ruling Prussian royal family and authorized representative of the Prussian royal family. After the end of the Second World War , he held this position again from 1945 to December 1947. Its seat was in the Dutch Palace in the Soviet sector of Berlin .

Then Dommes moved to his brother Georg von Dommes (1872–1952), who lived in Verden (Aller) , where he died in 1959 and was buried in the cathedral cemetery with the military escort of the Bundeswehr.

family

Wilhelm von Dommes was married to Elisabeth Countess von Kanitz (1882–1958) since 1912. The marriage remained childless.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
• Pour le Mérite on June 8, 1918
• Order of the Red Eagle III. Class with the bow and crown
• Order of the Crown III. class
• Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern
• Prussian service award cross
• Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Order of the Zähringer Lion
• Bavarian Order of Military Merit IV class with crown
• Officer's Cross of the Order of Albrecht
• Commander of the House Order of the White Falcon
• House Order of Lippe, 2nd class
• Knight's Cross of the Order of the Württemberg Crown
• Commander II class of the Frederick Order
• Commander of the Order of St. Alexander
• Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
• Order of the Iron Crown II class
• Russian Order of Saint Anne II Class
• Osmanje Order II class

literature

• Dermot Bradley (ed.), Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Markus Roevekamp: Die Generale des Heeres 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 3: Dahlmann – Dahlmann-Fitzlaff. Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1994, ISBN 3-7648-2443-3 , pp. 182-183.

Web links

• Wilhelm von Dommes in the online version of the Reich Chancellery Edition Files. Weimar Republic

Individual evidence

1. ^ Christoph Weiling: The Christian-German movement. A study on conservative Protestantism in the Weimar Republic . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1998, p. 340 .
2. ↑ Jürgen Brinkmann: The Knights of the Order Pour le Mérite 1914-1918. Hanover 1982.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p} War Ministry (ed.): Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps for 1914. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1914, p. 356.