| Hermann Otto Fegelein | |
|---|---|
| 30 October 1906 – 29 April 1945 (aged 38) | |
 Hermann Fegelein as SS-Standartenführer |
|
| 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 | 'SS
Cavalry Brigade 8.SS-Freiw.KavDiv "Florian Geyer" |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
| Awards | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords |
| Relations | Waldemar Fegelein (brother) |
SS-Obergruppenführer Hans Georg Otto Hermann Fegelein (30 October 1906– 28 April[1] or 29 April[2] 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.
Contents |
Fegelein was born in Ansbach, Bavaria, to the retired Catholic Oberleutnant Hans Fegelein. As a young boy, he worked at his father's horse riding school in Munich. When it closed due to the worldwide economic depression of the 1920s, he worked as a stable boy for Christian Weber, who was one of the original members of the Nazi Party.
In 1925, after studying for two terms at Munich University,[3] Fegelein joined the Reiterregiment 17 and on 27 April 1927, he joined the Bavarian State Police in Munich as an officer cadet. 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.
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 other German Empire (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 to that of a SS Gruppenführer. He saw active service on the Russian front with the 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer on 3 separate occasions, from April 1942 - August 1942, 14 May 1943 - 13 September 1943 and from 22 October 1943 - 1 January 1944.
He was a prominent member of the SS Riding School (Haupt-Reitschule München). He had also served under Reinhard Heydrich, the Sicherheitsdienst (the SS intelligence service) commander.
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 (although he was only 6 years Himmler's junior). Himmler granted him the best assignments (mostly related to horses), the best staff and generous budgets. Himmler brought Fegelein home after he was wounded on the Russian front in October, 1943. Himmler reassigned Fegelein to Hitler's HQ staff as Himmler's adjutant and representative of the SS.
His politically arranged marriage to Margarethe "Gretl" Braun took place on June 3, 1944 at the Palace of Mirabell in Salzburg. A marriage license was obtained at the local town clerk's office and Heinrich Himmler was a witness at the simple ceremony. A two-day celebration was then held at Hitler's and Martin Bormann's Obersalzberg mountain homes and the Eagle's Nest. 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.
Fegelein was a known 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, ignored them.
From January to April 1945, Martin Bormann controlled access to Hitler's office. Fegelein was on close terms with him. Further being married to Eva Braun's sister placed him in Hitler's inner circle. 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. Some theories which disagreed with each other, and a few 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."[4]
Some survivors of the bunker say Eva Braun pleaded with Hitler to spare her brother-in-law Hermann[Notes 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.
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, inheriting some of her sister Eva's valuable jewelry (of questionable provenance), also survived the war and gave birth to a daughter (named Eva Barbara Fegelein, after her late aunt, Eva Braun). Eva Fegelein committed suicide in 1975 following an unhappy romance. Gretl Fegelein died in 1987, aged 72.
Hermann Fegelein has been portrayed by the following actors in film and television productions.[11]
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by SS-Brigadeführer Gustav Lombard |
Commander of 8.
SS-Kavallerie-Division Florian Geyer April 1942 – August 1943 |
Succeeded by SS-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Bittrich |
| Preceded by SS-Brigadeführer Gustav Lombard |
Commander of 8.
SS-Kavallerie-Division Florian Geyer 14 May 1943 – 13 September 1943 |
Succeeded by SS-Gruppenführer Bruno Streckenbach |
| Preceded by SS-Gruppenführer Bruno Streckenbach |
Commander of 8.
SS-Kavallerie-Division Florian Geyer 22 October 1943 – 1 January 1944 |
Succeeded by SS-Gruppenführer Bruno Streckenbach |
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  | The Death of Adolf Hitler (1973) (TV) - The Death of Adolf Hitler (1973) (TV) |
| | Letzte Akt, Der (1955) - Der letzte Akt (1955) |
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