Eduard Wagner
Eduard Wagner | |
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![]() Wagner in 1939 | |
Born | Kirchenlamitz, Bavaria, Germany | 1 April 1894
Died | 23 July 1944 Zossen, Brandenburg, Nazi Germany | (aged 50)
Cause of death | Suicide by gunshot |
Allegiance |
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Battles/wars |
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Eduard Wagner (1 April 1894 – 23 July 1944) was a general in the
Life
He was born in
On 24 July 1939, he drew up regulations that allowed German soldiers to take hostages from civilian population and execute them as response to resistance.
In May 1941, he drew up the regulations with
, he had a role in ensuring that suitable winter clothing was supplied to the German forces, and on 27 November 1941 he reported, "We are at the end of our resources in both personnel and material. We are about to be confronted with the dangers of deep winter."Wagner created policies against Soviet POWs. On 13 November 1941, he declared that ill Soviet prisoners-of-war who were unfit for labor should be allowed to starve to death. Rations for the rest were cut, which ultimately resulted in the deaths of countless Soviet POWs. He also advocated for the Siege of Leningrad.[4][5]
During the summer of 1942, before his visit to inspect the 6th Army during the Battle of Stalingrad, he informed Hitler of the "lack of sources of fuel." By then, "all the generals avoided contradicting Hitler," as "all feared the hysterical outbursts of this lofty dictator."[6]
After the war, Otto Bräutigam of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories claimed in his book that in February 1943, he had the opportunity to read a personal report by Wagner regarding a discussion with Heinrich Himmler in which Himmler had expressed the intention to exterminate about 80% of the populations of France and England by [special forces of the SD after the German victory.[7]
He became a conspirator against Hitler. When
After the failure of the coup attempt, Wagner feared that his arrest by the Gestapo was imminent and that he might be forced to implicate other plotters. He committed suicide by shooting himself in the head at noon on 23 July 1944.
References
- ISBN 0-7425-4481-8.
- ISBN 0-521-47407-8.
- ISBN 0-88736-255-9.
- ^ "Soviet Prisoners of War: Forgotten Nazi Victims of World War II". HistoryNet. 2006-06-12. Retrieved 2022-09-14.
- ^ Greenspan, Jesse (30 July 2019). "Who Was Behind the July Plot—and Why These Germans Conspired to Kill Hitler". HISTORY. Retrieved 2022-09-14.
- ISBN 9781473833869.
- ^ Bräutigam, Otto (1968). So hat es sich zugetragen... Germany: Holzner Verlag. p. 590.
- ISBN 0-297-81774-4.