Johann Rattenhuber

Johann Rattenhuber

Johann Rattenhuber as an SS Brigadeführer
Born 30 April 1897
Munich, Germany
Died 30 June 1957 (aged 60)
Munich, Germany
Buried at Munich Ostfriedhof
Plot 90—Row 7—Grave 25/26
Allegiance German Empire German Empire (to 1918)
Germany Weimar Republic (to 1933)
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany
Service/branch Allgemeine SS
Years of service 1933 - 1945
Rank SS-Gruppenführer
Unit 13th Bavarian Infantry Regiment
16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment
Freikorps
Commands held Reichssicherheitsdienst
Battles/wars World War I
World War II

Johann Rattenhuber (30 April 1897 – 30 June 1957), also known as Hans Rattenhuber, was a German police and SS general (Gruppenführer, i. e. Generalleutnant). Rattenhuber was the head of German dictator Adolf Hitler's personal Reichssicherheitsdienst (Reich Security Service; RSD) bodyguard from 1933 to 1945.

Biography

Rattenhuber was born in Munich, where he made a career as a police officer. During World War I he served in the 16th and 13th Bavarian Infantry Regiments. He later served in the Freikorps. On 15 March 1933 he was appointed head of one of Hitler's personal bodyguard units then known as the Führerschutzkommando (Führer protection command; FSK).[1] His deputy was Peter Högl. Its original members were Bavarian criminal-police officers.[2] They were charged with protecting the Führer only while he was inside the borders of Bavaria which was the area of their authority.[3] In the spring of 1934, the Führerschutzkommando replaced the SS-Begleitkommando for Hitler's overall protection throughout Germany.[3]

The FSK was officially renamed the Reichssicherheitsdienst (RSD) on 1 August 1935.[2] The unit should not be confused with the Sicherheitsdienst or SD. However, the unit was technically on the staff of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler with the member's wearing the uniform of the SS with the SD diamond on their lower left sleeve.[4] His was a unit created to provide personal security to members of the top Nazi leadership. He was head of Hitler's bodyguard at the time of the unsuccessful July 20 plot to assassinate Hitler during the summer of 1944.

As RSD chief, Rattenhuber was responsible for securing Hitler's field headquarters. This included the Wolf's Lair which Hitler first used on 23 June 1941. Rattenhuber also traveled to Vinnytsia, Ukraine, as Hitler's Werwolf bunker was under construction to survey the area. In January 1942 he met with local SS-police leaders and civilian authorities, and ordered that the area be cleared of Jews prior to Hitler's planned arrival in summer 1942. On 10 January 1942, Rattenhuber's RSD units participated in the mass shooting of 227 Jews at Strizhavka, the actual grounds of the Werwolf site. Details of the execution were reported to Rattenhuber by his deputy, SS-Sturmbannführer Friedrich Schmidt. Additional massacres of Jews and POW laborers who worked on the construction of the Werwolf headquarters occurred on the eve of Hitler's arrival in July 1942. Rattenhuber authorized local SS-police forces to initiate and order these executions, which were carried out under the guise of "security measures."

Berlin, 1945

In January 1945, Rattenhuber accompanied Hitler and his entourage into the bunker complex under the Reich Chancellery garden in the central government sector of Berlin. Rattenhuber was promoted to SS General (Gruppenführer) on 24 February 1945.[5] On 28 April, when it was discovered that Heinrich Himmler was trying to negotiate a backdoor surrender to the Western Allies via Count Folke Bernadotte, Rattenhuber became part of a military tribunal ordered by Hitler to court-martial Himmler's SS liaison officer Hermann Fegelein. Fegelein, by that time was Eva Braun's brother-in-law. General Wilhelm Mohnke presided over the tribunal which, in addition to Rattenhuber and Mohnke, included Generals Hans Krebs and Wilhelm Burgdorf. However, Fegelein was so drunk that he was crying, vomiting and unable to stand up; he even urinated on the floor. It was the opinion of the judges that he was in no condition to stand trial. Therefore, Mohnke closed the proceedings and turned Fegelein over to the RSD security squad.[6]

Rattenhuber was one of the group to whom Hitler announced that he intended to kill himself rather than be captured by the Soviet forces who were occupying Berlin. He later testified:

"About 10 o'clock at night [on 29 April] Hitler summoned me to his room... Hitler said: 'You have served me faithfully for many years. Tomorrow is your birthday and I want to congratulate you and thank you for your faithful service, because I shall not be able to do so tomorrow... I have taken the decision... I must leave this world...' I went over to Hitler and told him how necessary his survival was for Germany, that there was still a chance to try and escape from Berlin and save his life. 'What for?' Hitler argued. 'Everything is ruined..., and to flee means falling into the hands of the Russians'..."[7]

Rattenhuber was not present when Hitler killed himself on the afternoon of 30 April in the Führerbunker. He did not see Hitler's body until after it was wrapped in grey blankets and carried out of the office/sitting room where Hitler died. He was not one of those who took the body up the stairs and outside. Instead, Rattenhuber followed Heinz Linge, Otto Günsche, Peter Högl, Ewald Lindloff and several others outside and watched Hitler's body be burned.[8][9]

Rattenhuber in Soviet captivity

On 1 May, Rattenhuber led one of the ten groups escaping from the Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker.[10] Two of the other main groups were led by SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke and Werner Naumann. Most, including Rattenhuber, were captured by the Soviets on the same day or the following day. Rattenhuber was taken to Moscow, where on 20 May he gave a description of the last days of Hitler and the Nazi leadership in the bunker complex. The text of this was kept in the Soviet archives until it was published by V.K. Vinogradov in the Russian edition of Hitler's Death: Russia's Last Great Secret from the Files of the KGB in 2000.[11] Rattenhuber was made a Soviet prisoner of war.

Post-war

In August 1951 he was charged by the Soviet Ministry of State Security that "from the early days of the Nazi dictatorship in Germany in 1933 and until the defeat of the latter in 1945, being an SS Gruppenführer, Police Lieutenant-General and the chief of the Reich Security Service, he ensured the personal security of Hitler and other Reich leaders". Rattenhuber was sentenced by the Court Martial of the Moscow Military District on 15 February 1952 to 25 years' imprisonment. By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of September 1955 he was released from prison on 10 October 1955 and handed over to the German Democratic Republic authorities, who allowed him to go to West Germany.[12] He died in Munich in 1957.[13]

Summary of promotions

From the article in the German Wikipedia

Imperial German Army

Reichswehr

Bavarian state police

SS

Notes

  1. ↑ Joachimsthaler (1999), p. 288
  2. 1 2 Hoffmann (2000), p. 36
  3. 1 2 Hoffmann (2000), p. 32
  4. ↑ Felton (2014), p. 18
  5. ↑ Johnson (1999), p. 55.
  6. ↑ O'Donnell (2001), pp. 182, 183.
  7. ↑ Vinogradov, V. K., et al. (2005), p. 193.
  8. ↑ Vinogradov, V. K., et al. (2005), p. 195.
  9. ↑ Joachimsthaler (1999), p. 193
  10. ↑ Fischer (2008), p. 49.
  11. ↑ Vinogradov, V. K., et al. (2005), pp. 183-196.
  12. ↑ Joachimsthaler (1999), p. 286
  13. ↑ Vinogradov, V. K., et al. (2005), pp. 183-184

References

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