Winrich Behr

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Winrich Hans Hubertus Behr (born January 22, 1918 in Berlin ; † April 25, 2011 in Hubbelrath ) was a German major , tank commander and holder of the Knight's Cross . He became known for his appearance as a contemporary witness in Guido Knopp's television series about the Second World War .

Military career

Winrich Behr comes from a Berlin officer family. On January 1, 1938, he was promoted to lieutenant . As an officer in the 3rd Panzer Division , Behr and his company took part in the campaign against Poland and then in the western campaign. Originally part of the armored force, he was wounded in the western campaign .

On January 15, 1941, Behr was assigned to the 5th Light Motorized Division in Africa. There he was promoted to first lieutenant , awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross as a company commander and mentioned by name in the Wehrmacht report.

After taking part in the Africa campaign, from the beginning of October 1942, during the Battle of Stalingrad, he held the post of 1st orderly officer to the commander of the 6th Army , General of the Armored Force Friedrich Paulus . In mid-January 1943, on behalf of Paulus, he tried to convince Adolf Hitler in his headquarters in Wolfsschanze of the hopeless situation of the German troops encircled in Stalingrad, and asked him for freedom of action for the 6th Army, which, however, was not granted by Hitler. He was then refused to return to Stalingrad in order not to weaken Paul's will to persevere.

When the Allies landed in Normandy , he was a major staff officer of Generals Rommel and Model . In this capacity he was involved in the last bloody skirmishes in Holland, especially near Arnhem . He was among the officers who model after his suicide on the spot buried .

When Prince Bernard of the Netherlands was suspected after the Second World War of having betrayed the upcoming British airborne operation to the Germans, Winrich Behr was able to exonerate him of this suspicion with a written, notarized declaration.

Managerial career after the end of the war

In the 1950s, Behr worked as a staunch European for the High Authority in Luxembourg. There he was a close associate of the First Secretary General of the High Authority of the ECSC , Max Kohnstamm , and successively head of the press office and head of cabinet of the German Vice-President Franz Etzel . From 1958/59 he was then Deputy Secretary General of the European Commission in Brussels . Back in Germany, he led German companies and was among others Director General of the Frankfurt Society & Telefonbau and standard time (TN), Lehner Co . 1961–1965 he was also a member of the board of directors of the Aral oil company in Bochum . Winrich Behr last lived withdrawn in Düsseldorf.

Behr was an honorary member of the Jean Monnet Association .

Awards

Quotes

“On November 19th we had 80 tanks ready to drive. The Russians competed with 1200 brand new T 34s. "

- Winrich Behr, staff officer of the 6th Army

"The fact that Hitler tried (according to his report in Wolfsschanze) to mislead me as an envoy from Paulus with such fairy tales made it clear to me - you can copy the man."

- Winrich Behr : Interview in the Spiegel (No. 51/2002)

literature

  • Mak, Geert: In Europa , Siedler Verlag 2004. Also published by Atlas Verlag, Amsterdam. An interview with Winrich Behr is published in this book .
  • You can write off the man . In: Der Spiegel . No. 51 , 2002 ( online ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary notice in the Süddeutsche Zeitung
  2. ↑ Hope for a wonder of the world . In: Der Spiegel . September 9, 1974, p. 66 ( spiegel.de [accessed July 29, 2019]).
  3. ↑ You can copy the man . In: Der Spiegel . No. 51 , 2002 ( online ).
personal data
SURNAME Behr, Winrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Behr, Winrich Hans Hubertus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German military and manager
DATE OF BIRTH January 22, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 25, 2011
Place of death Hubbelrath