Hermann Fegelein

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Hermann Otto Fegelein
30 October 1906(1906-10-30) — 29 April 1945 (aged 38)
Hermann Fegelein
Place of birth	Ansbach, Germany
Place of death	Berlin, Germany
Allegiance	Weimar Republic (to 1933) Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Waffen-SS
Years of service	1925-1945
Rank	Obergruppenführer
Commands held	Kampfgruppe Fegelein 8.SS-Freiw.KavDiv "Florian Geyer"
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords

Obergruppenführer Hermann Otto Fegelein (30 October 1906–c. 29 April 1945) was a General of the Waffen-SS in Nazi Germany, a member of Adolf Hitler's entourage, brother-in law to Eva Braun through his marriage to her sister, Gretl, and brother-in law to Adolf Hitler through Hitler's marriage to Eva Braun.

[edit] Early career

Fegelein was born in Ansbach in Bavaria. As a young boy he worked at his father's horse riding school in Munich. When it closed due to the world-wide economic depression of the 1920s, he worked as a stable boy for Christian Weber, who in the 1930s was one of the original members of the Nazi Party.

In 1925, Fegelein joined the Reiterregiment 17, leaving it in 1928 to join the Bavarian State Police in Munich. Whilst in Munich, he came into early contact with National Socialism, joining the Party (membership number 1,200,158) and the SA in 1930. By 1931, Fegelein had transferred to the SS.

Fegelein's Waffen SS Obergruppenführer rank was higher than his Allgemeine SS rank of SS Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS. His last film appearance was in a newsreel shot on April 20, 1945 (Hitler's birthday). Fegelein is in the background and his plainly visible collar tabs are those of a Gruppenführer.

[edit] SS membership

On July 25, 1937, Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler, by special order of the Oberabschnitt (SUD), created the SS Main Riding School in Munich and made Hermann Fegelein the School Commander. Only former royalty from the Hohenzollern and Kaiserzeit dynasties could send representatives, along with the top heads of German industry, who donated to Martin Bormann's German industry fund. Fegelein requested his friend, Captain Marten von Barnekow, be allowed to enter the horse riding school, and Himmler granted his request.

Fegelein rose quickly through the ranks and was briefly sent to the Russian front in 1943 with the Florian Geyer Cavalry Division, along with members of his SS Riding School (Haupt-Reitschule München). He had served under Reinhard Heydrich, and being an SS officer, was involved in the Nazi rituals at Wewelsburg Castle.

[edit] Relationship with Himmler

Fegelein was nicknamed Heinrich Himmler's "golden boy"; his boyish face and subservient attitude gained him considerable favour with Himmler, who treated him like a son. Himmler granted him the best assignments (mostly related to horses), the best staff and generous budgets. When he was injured on the Russian front, Himmler brought him home to work in Hitler's staff as Himmler's adjutant and representative of the Waffen SS.

[edit] Marriage

His politically arranged marriage to Margarete "Gretl" Braun took place on June 3, 1944, and a two-day celebration was held at Hitler's and Martin Bormann's Obersalzberg mountain homes. Photographs of the wedding dinner appeared in Britain's weekly Picture Post Magazine the next year after the war ended, showing Hitler at the festivities. A marriage license was obtained at the local town clerk's office and Heinrich Himmler presided over the simple ceremony.

Fegelein became known as a playboy and after his marriage to Gretl Braun had many extramarital affairs. Hitler was apparently aware of Fegelein's dalliances and while not entirely approving, turned a blind eye to them. This was common within Hitler's inner circle. Martin Bormann had 10 children with his wife and also kept a mistress, while Heinrich Himmler had children with both his wife and mistress.

According to Anton Joachimsthaler in a 2007 Cassell reprint of his 1995 book (ISBN 978-1-4072-0557-1) many in Hitler's entourage noted a strong affection between Eva Braun and Fegelein, and Joachimsthaler asserts that a sexual relation existed between the two. His marriage would then have been a smokescreen to cover up their affair, the author speculates.

[edit] Death

From January to April 1945, Fegelein and Martin Bormann controlled access to Hitler's office. After Fegelein's boss, Heinrich Himmler, tried to negotiate a backdoor surrender to the Allies via Count Bernadotte in April 1945, Fegelein left the Reich Chancellery bunker and was caught by SS-Obersturmbannführer Peter Högl in his Berlin apartment wearing civilian clothes and apparently preparing to flee to Sweden or Switzerland with his Hungarian mistress. He was carrying cash - German and foreign - and jewelry some of which belonged to Eva Braun. According to most accounts he was intoxicated when arrested and brought back to the bunker.

At this point, historical accounts begin to differ radically. In The Last Days of Hitler, historian Hugh Trevor-Roper remarked:

The real causes and circumstances of the execution of Fegelein provide one of the few subjects in this book upon which final certainty seems unattainable.

Journalist James P. O'Donnell discovered in his interviews numerous claims and theories as to what happened next to Fegelein, many of which disagreed with each other, and some of which seemed preposterous (i.e., a claim that Hitler himself gunned Fegelein down). Many claimed he had been shot following a court-martial, and this theory predominated for many years. General Wilhelm Mohnke, who presided over the court-martial, told O'Donnell the following:

Hitler ordered me to set up a tribunal forthwith. I was to preside over it myself...I myself decided the accused man [Fegelein] deserved trial by high-ranking officers. The panel consisted of four general officers - Generals Wilhelm Burgdorf, Hans Krebs, Johann Rattenhuber, and me...We did, at that moment, have every intention of holding a trial.

What really happened was that we set up the court-martial in a room next to my command post...We military judges took our seats at the table with the standard German Army Manual of Courts-Martial before us. No sooner were we seated than defendant Fegelein began acting up in such an outrageous manner that the trial could not even commence.

Roaring drunk, with wild, rolling eyes, Fegelein first brazenly challenged the competence of the court. He kept blubbering that he was responsible to Himmler and Himmler alone, not Hitler...He refused to defend himself. The man was in wretched shape - bawling, whining, vomiting, shaking like an aspen leaf. He took out his penis and began urinating on the floor...

I was now faced with an impossible situation. On the one hand, based on all available evidence, including his own earlier statements, this miserable excuse for an officer was guilty of flagrant desertion... Yet the German Army Manual states clearly that no German soldier can be tried unless he is clearly of sound mind and body, in a condition to hear the evidence against him. I looked up the passage again, to make sure, and consulted with my fellow judges...In my opinion and that of my fellow officers, Hermann Fegelein was in no condition to stand trial, or for that matter to even stand. I closed the proceedings...So I turned Fegelein over to [SS] General Rattenhuber and his security squad. I never saw the man again. (O'Donnell, The Bunker, 1978).

Some survivors of the bunker say Eva Braun pleaded to Hitler to spare her brother-in-law Hermann^[1] and some say she did not speak a word in his defense. There is agreement among bunker survivors that when Fegelein was first arrested Braun did inform Hitler her sister was pregnant and this apparently led Hitler to initially consider releasing him without punishment. However there is no agreement on whether she said anything once Hitler condemned him to death.

[edit] Aftermath

Both Fegelein's parents survived the war and claimed to have received messages (via a third party) that he was continuing resistance underground. However, there is no evidence Fegelein was alive after April 29, 1945 and no bunker witnesses have ever suggested he survived. Gretl inherited some of her sister Eva's valuable jewelry (of questionable provenance), also survived the war and gave birth to a daughter (named Eva after her late aunt). Eva Fegelein committed suicide in 1975 following an unhappy romance. Gretl Fegelein died in 1987, aged 72.

[edit] Awards

• Infantry Assault Badge (silver)
• Close Combat Clasp (silver)
• Wound Badge (silver)
• Eisernes Kreuz 2. and 1. class
• German Cross in Gold (1 November 1943)
• Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves
  • Knight's Cross (2 Mar 1942)
  • Oak Leaves (22 Dec 1942)
  • Swords (30 Jul 1944)

[edit] Portrayal in the media

Hermann Fegelein has been portrayed by the following actors in film and television productions.^[2]

• Julius Jonak in the 1955 West German film Der Letzte Akt (Hitler: The Last Ten Days).^[3]
• Jean Topart in the 1972 French television production Le Bunker.
• Julian Glover in the 1973 British film Hitler: The Last Ten Days.
• Inigo Jackson in the 1973 British television production The Death of Adolf Hitler.^[4]
• Terrence Hardiman in the 1981 United States television production The Bunker.
• Volker Spengler in the 1989 West German film 100 Jahre Adolf Hitler (100 Years of Adolph Hitler).
• Thomas Kretschmann in the 2004 German film Downfall (Der Untergang).

[edit] References

• O'Donnell, James. The Bunker. New York: Da Capo Press (reprint)(2001). ISBN 0-306-80958-3
• Florian Berger. Mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern. Die höchstdekorierten Soldaten des Zweiten Weltkrieges. Selbstverlag Florian Berger (2006). ISBN 3-9501307-0-5
• Junge, Traudl, Until the Final Hour, (English edition) London, 2002, ISBN 0-297-84720-1
• Patzwall, Klaus D. and Scherzer, Veit. Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 - 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II. Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, 2001. ISBN 3-931533-45-X.