Walter von Seydlitz: for that the Soviet Union put the German

History 15/01/20 Walter von Seydlitz: for that the Soviet Union put the German “Vlasov”

General of the artillery Walter von Seydlitz of Kurzbach was taken prisoner by the Soviet military at the end of the battle of Stalingrad in late January 1943. After the war, German military leader was sentenced to 25 years in prison. However, your time background Seidlitz of Kurzbach never left. After 5 years of General released to his homeland.

From the Lieutenant to the Iron cross

according Alexei Isaev in his illustrated encyclopedia “Stalingrad”, Walther von Seydlitz of Kurzbach was a hereditary military family, his father at the time also was promoted to the rank of General. However, he Walter began, as everything from the lower levels. The first World war he met with the rank of Lieutenant, and graduated with the rank of captain. When came the Second World Seidlitz of Kurzbach was already the head of the artillery commanders on the Western front. As rightly observes Isaev, for Walter it was the ceiling: it must become of me?

However, Seidlitz of Kurzbach proved themselves in battle. If you believe the Denis Solovyov, author of the book “Prisoners of the generals of Hitler. Eastern front”, in December 1941, the German commander became a knight of the highest awards – Knight of the Iron cross with oak leaves and was given a new title, this time General. However, the white stripe in the life of Walter did not last long. During the Stalingrad battle, his troops were part of the famous army of General Paulus, was encircled, and he Seidlitz of Kurzbach were in Soviet captivity.

anti-fascist activities in captivity

As stated in the publication of the German-Russian Museum “Berlin-Karlshorst” “Memory of Stalingrad: the Stalingrad in German and Russian memory”, while in the pow camp, Walter von Seydlitz of Kurzbach became an active member of the National Committee “Free Germany” and took the post of Chairman of “Union of NEMAckih officers.” The German General was confident that Hitler and his national socialist party must be overthrown in order to save the German Reich.

Despite the fact that, according to Konstantin Zalesskiy in his book “the Iron cross. The most famous military decoration of the Second World war”, the organization has received the support of the authorities of the Soviet Union and were provided with all sorts of propaganda materials, their activity in General anything is not particularly affected. But cooperation Seidlitz of Kurzbach with the Soviet side really hurt the Nazis. The General was declared a traitor and sentenced to death in absentia. However, this was not the end.

the Sentence, the release and rehabilitation

After the victory over Germany “the Union of German officers” were disbanded. Walter von Seydlitz of Kurzbach remained out of work. He repeatedly asked permission to go home. But the confidence of the Soviet authorities in General did not cause. As reported by N. N. Bernikov, V. A. Vsevolodov and A. Krupennikov in his book “For Germany – against Hitler!”, in 1950 Seydlitz-Kurzbach suddenly arrested, on 8 July of the same year the Tribunal of the Moscow military district announced the German commander a war criminal and sentenced him to 25 years imprisonment. However, your time background Seidlitz of Kurzbach never left.

It was released in October 1955. Then he returned home. This circumstance is due not only to the anti-fascist activities Seydlitz-Kurzbach and a death sentence that was passed by the Nazis, but the arrival in Moscow of German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. A few months later, a German court also overturned his sentence. However, most of my friends turned away from the General. So Seidlitz of Kurzbach tried to live unnoticed. 20 years after the death of Walter Seydlitz-Kurzbach the Prosecutor’s office of the Russian Federation it is fully rehabilitated.

Yulia Popova

Source:
© Russian Seven

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