Heinz Reinefarth

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Heinz Reinefarth
SS-Gruppenführer, also Generalleutnant of the Waffen-SS and Police
UnitKampfgruppe Reinefarth
Commands heldXIV SS Corps
XVIII SS Corps
Battles/warsWorld War II
Awards
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
Other workPolitician and judge

Heinz Reinefarth (26 December 1903 – 7 May 1979) was a German

atrocities. After the war, Reinefarth became the mayor of the town of Westerland, on the isle of Sylt, and member of the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag. Polish demands for extradition were never accepted, and Reinefarth was never convicted of any war crime
.

Early years

Reinefarth was born in

SS
.

World War II

Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Reinefarth was conscripted as a reserve Feldwebel. For his actions during the invasion of Poland he received the 2nd Class Iron Cross. He took part in the 1940 campaign against France, for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. On 20 April 1942, he was promoted to SS-Brigadeführer, the equivalent of Generalmajor in the Wehrmacht.

After promotion to brigadier, Reinefarth was appointed as General Inspector of SS in the

Poznań Voivodeship
annexed by Germany in 1939).

Warsaw uprising

After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, Reinefarth was ordered to organise a military unit consisting of personnel from various security units and head for Warsaw. Upon arrival, his forces (Kampfgruppe Reinefarth) were included in the Korpsgruppe von dem Bach of General Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski who was ordered by Heinrich Himmler to quell the rebellion. From 5 August 1944, Reinefarth's group took part in mass murders in the undefended Wola area.

Murder of civilians

Polish civilians murdered in the Wola massacre. Warsaw, August 1944.

In two days, the units of Reinefarth, which included the notorious

Armia Krajowa in the Old Town. In September, his forces were transferred to attack the boroughs of Powiśle and Czerniaków, where they committed further atrocities, including killing of POWs and wounded found in military hospitals. In all 150,000–200,000 Polish civilians were killed during the uprising. For his actions during the Warsaw Uprising Reinefarth was awarded the Oak Leaves
to his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 30 September 1944.

Later war activity

In November 1944, Reinefarth was given command over the

XVIII SS Corps in the central Oder river area. Between January and March 1945, he commanded the defence of "Festung Küstrin" (Kostrzyn nad Odrą
). He declined to defend it to the last man and Hitler found fault with the way he withdrew his troops. Himmler, acting on Hitler's order, had Reinefarth arrested at the end of March 1945. Later he was sentenced to death by a military court. However, the sentence was not carried out, and he continued to command those of his troops that managed to leave the fortress. He moved his troops to the west and surrendered to the British.

Postwar

After World War II, the Polish communist authorities demanded his

Communist Poland, he was not extradited as the German courts had ruled that there was no evidence of him committing any crimes. He was considered not guilty in the eyes of the law and the federal government. He received a general's pension upon retirement.[4]
He died on 7 May 1979 in his mansion on Sylt.

Legacy

In 2014, the local authorities of Westerland raised a memorial table remembering Polish victims of Reinefarth. A local SPD member, Ernst Wilhelm Sojan, who was present at the ceremony had campaigned since the 1960s to raise awareness of acts committed by Reinefarth but said that he was always met with a "wall of silence". The regional Schleswig-Holstein government issued a special statement expressing regret that Heinz Reinefarth had been allowed to work as politician in the region. Polish President

Bronislaw Komorowski praised the authorities of Sylt for attempting to deal with its past.[5]

Awards

  • Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (25 September 1939) & 1st Class (28 May 1940)[6]
  • Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
    • Knight's Cross on 25 June 1940[7]
    • 608th Oak Leaves on 30 September 1944 as SS-Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant of the Police, and commander of a Kampfgruppe in the Korpsgruppe von dem Bach[7]

Films

"Holiday on Sylt" 1957 by the Eastern German film director Andrew Thorndike

See also

  • List SS-Gruppenführer
  • Planned destruction of Warsaw

References

Citations

  1. ^ Jacek Tebinka, ibidem.
  2. ^ PGI (2013). "Paragraph §220a (genocide) of Germany's Strafgesetzbuch". Genocide and international crimes in domestic courts. Chapter: Germany. Prevent Genocide International. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  3. ISBN 978-0199646531. Retrieved 26 May 2013. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help
    )
  4. ^ Marcin Zasada (2009-07-31), Syn Warszawskiej Niobe (The son of Warsaw Niobe). Polska: Magazyn, pp. 1–5. Polskapresse 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  5. ^ "Gmina Sylt złożyła hołd Polakom pomordowanym przez Reinefartha". dzieje.pl (in Polish).
  6. ^ Thomas 1998, p. 190.
  7. ^ a b Scherzer 2007, p. 620.

Bibliography

External links

Media related to Heinz Reinefarth at Wikimedia Commons

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