Konrad Henlein
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| Konrad Henlein | |
|---|---|
| 6 May 1898 - 10 May 1945 | |
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| Place of birth | Maffersdorf |
| Place of death | Plzeň |
| Allegiance | Germany |
| Years of service | 1938-1945 |
| Rank | Obergruppenführer |
| Commands | Gauleiter of the Sudetenland |
| Awards | Golden Party Badge |
Konrad Henlein (May 6, 1898 - May 10, 1945) was the most important pro-Nazi politician in Czechoslovakia and leader of Sudeten German separatists.
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[edit] Early Life
Born in north Bohemian Maffersdorf (today Vratislavice nad Nisou borough in Reichenberg/Liberec). In light of being a potential leader of Sudeten German movement, Henlein's origin was not without difficulties. His mother Hedvika Anna Augusta Dvořáček was a daughter of German while her father was Czech. As Henlein pursued against mixed marriages after 1938, he was forced to change his mother's name from Dvořáček to Dworatschek, which sounded more German and thus was more comfortable for Henlein's career as a high Nazi official.
He attended a German business academy in Liberec. After the First World War, during which he spent time in Italian captivity as an Austrian soldier, and subsequent breakup of Austria-Hungary he worked as a bank clerk in the interwar Czechoslovakia while taking an active part in the Sudeten German communal life.
[edit] Leader of SdP
In the first half of the 1930s, Henlein made a pro-Czechoslovak and overtly anti-Nazi point in his public speeches and did not become a follower of Adolf Hitler until 1937, when the pro-German camp within the Sudeten-German Party (SdP) represented by Karl Hermann Frank emerged victorious. He then swiftly aligned himself with the slogan "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer!" (One People, One Country, One leader), thus making the predominantly German-speaking border areas of Czechoslovakia known as Sudetenland a part of Germany (they had been Austrian until 1918, as was the whole Bohemia and Moravia). Such political union would, however, have removed from Czechoslovakia not only its richest iron-producing regions but also any geographic barrier to German invasion. Henlein's political party's dominance of the Sudetenland in the 1930s ultimately led to the Munich Agreement on September 30, 1938, which he helped to accomplish by influencing the British delegate Lord Runciman during the latter's visit of Czechoslovakia. Henlein presented his party's policy as one striving to fulfill the "justified claims" of the then largely nazified German minority of Czechoslovakia. In September 1938 he helped organize civil unrest raging in Czechoslovak border areas settled by Germans and instigated by Hitler's frenetic speech in Nuremberg. Since the turmoil was quickly suppressed by Czechoslovak forces, Henlein fled to Germany and made numerous intrusions into Czechoslovak territory as a commander of Sudeten German guerilla bands of Freikorps. After the final secession of the Sudetenland, Henlein's party merged with Hitler's NSDAP on November 5, 1938. Henlein then became Gruppenführer (later Obergruppenführer) SS and a Reichstag deputy. On May 1, 1939 he was nominated Gauleiter of the Sudetenland, a position he held until the end of the war.
In May 1945, while in American captivity in the barracks of Plzeň, he committed suicide by cutting his veins with his broken glasses. He was buried anonymously in the Plzeň Central Cemetery.
[edit] Summary of his career
[edit] Dates of rank
- SS-Gruppenführer: ?
- SS-Obergruppenführer: June 21, 1943
[edit] Notable decorations
- War Merit Cross without swords Second (?) and First (?) Classes
- SS Honour Ring (?)
- Golden Party Badge (?)
- Wound Badge in Black (?)
