Wilhelm Redieß

Wilhelm Redieß
Redieß as a SS-Obergruppenführer (collar tabs before 1942)
Birth name	Friedrich Wilhelm Otto Redieß
Birth date	10 October 1900(1900-10-10)
Place of birth	Heinsberg, Rhine Province, German Empire
Death date	8 May 1945 (aged 44)
Place of death	Gut Skaugum near Oslo, Norway
Allegiance	German Empire Weimar Republic National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Imperial German Army Freikorps SA Allgemeine SS / Waffen-SS
Years of service	1918–1919 1919 1925–1930 1930–1945
Rank	SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Waffen-SS und Polizei
Commands held	SS and Police Leader, Norway
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	War Merit Cross, Iron Cross
Relations	∞ 22 July 1932 Sybille Struck; 1 son, four daughters

Friedrich Wilhelm Otto Redieß (sometimes also Rediess; 10 October 1900 – 8 May 1945) was a German veteran of WWI, an officer of the SA and the SS, finally SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS in WWII. He was the SS and police leader or HSSPF (Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer Nord in Norwegen und Führer des SS-Oberabschnittes Nordost) during the German occupation of Norway, he was also the commander of all SS troops stationed in occupied Norway, assuming command from 19 June 1940 to his death.

Life

From right to left: General der Flieger Willi Harmjanz, Generaladmiral Hermann Boehm, Generaloberst Nikolaus von Falkenhorst, Reichskommissar Josef Terboven and SS-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Redieß in Norway (c. September 1942)

Wilhelm Redieß, Josef Terboven, Vidkun Quisling, SS-Obersturmbannführer Dr. jur. Rudolf "Rolf" Schiedermair (1909–1991), head of the department "General State Administration" under Josef Terboven, and SS-Brigadeführer Paul Wegener (1908–1993), advisor to Terboven as area commissioner for the occupied areas of northern Norway and as leader of the Einsatzstab "Wegener", in Oslo, Norway on 1 February 1942

SS-Gruppenführer Gottlob Berger (left) und HSSPF SS-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Redieß

The remains of Wilhelm Redieß

• 1900 Born into a Catholic family, his father was an employee of the judiciary.
• 1906 to 1914 Volksschule (compulsory education)
• 1914 to June 1918 Electrician apprenticeship and professional activity
• 22 June 1918 Drafted into the 1st Company/Replacement Battalion/3. Lothringisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 135
  • to 20 November 1918 in the Mons field recruit depot (Feld-Rekrutendepot Mons) of the 7th Infantry Division (without front deployment)
• 20 January 1919 Discharged from military service in Nienburg
• 1919 Service in a Freikorps unit
• Late Spring 1919 worked briefly as an electrician, then as an Eleve (farmer or forester during the practical training period) in agriculture
• 1920 Attendance at a technical school for electrical engineering with degree
• 1924 to 1929 Head engineer/mechanic at various companies
• 25 May 1924 Entry into the Völkisch-Social Bloc ("Völkisch-Sozialer Block"); Its philosophy was loosely aligned with that of the forbidden NSDAP.
• 25 May 1925 Member of the Sturmabteilung
• 15 July 1925 Entry into the new revived NSDAP (Nr. 25574)
• 1 December 1926 to 1 February 1932 Local group leader (NSDAP-Ortsgruppenleiter) of Düsseldorf
• 1 January 1927 to 30 April 1929 Leader of the SA-Sturm 88 in Düsseldorf
• May 1928 Unsuccessful candidacy as member of the NSDAP for the Prussian state parliament
• 1929 Unemployed for a short time due to the Great Depression, then worked again (until 1932) as an electrical engineer (Elektrotechniker)
• 22 July 1929 Stepped over from the SA to the Allgemeine SS (SS-Nr. 2839)
• 15 August to 18 November 1930 Leader of a SS-Trupp
• 18 to 21 November 1930 Leader of the SS-Sturm 54 in Düsseldorf
• 21 November 1930 to 1 January 1931 Commissioned administrator of the SS-Standarte XI in Essen
• 1 to 30 January 1931 Leader of the SS-Standarte XI
• 30 January to 30 March 1931 Commissioned administrator of the SS-Brigades 20 (Düsseldorf) and 25 (Essen)
• 30 March 1931 to 4 July 1932 Leader of the 20. SS-Standarte, at the same time administrator of the 25. SS-Standarte
• 4.7.-12.7.1932 Tasked with the leadership of the SS-Abschnitt XII in Frankfurt a. d. Oder
• 12 July 1932 to 15 March 1934 Leader (unti 6 October 1932 tasked with the leadership) of the SS-Abschnitt XI in Frankfurt am Main (as of October 1933 in Wiesbaden)
• 1932 Acceptance into the full-time party service of the NSDAP
• 1932 to 1933 Member of the Prussian state parliament (MdL)
• November 1933 to 8 May 1945 Member of the Reichstag (MdR) for the Constituency 22 (Düsseldorf-East), as of 1936 Constituency 1 (Ostpreußen)
• 17 April 1935 Feldwebel der Reserve and Reserve Officer Candidate of the Wehrmacht
  • 23 April to 11 May 1935 Reserves military training at the Infanterie-Schule Döberitz
• 15 March 1934 to 19 January 1935 Leader of the SS-Abschnitt XVI in Magdeburg
• 19 January 1935 to 15 February 1936 Leader (until 20 April 1935 tasked with the leadership) of the SS-Oberabschnitt Südost in Brieg (as of 1 January 1936 in Breslau)
• 15 February 1936 to 19 June 1940 Leader of the SS-Oberabschnitt Nordost in Königsberg
• 1936 Prussian provincial councilor (Provinzialrat) for the province of East Prussia
• 17 March 1937 State rider leader of the rural riding clubs of the East Prussian state farmer community (Landesreiterführer der ländlichen Reitervereine der Landesbauernschaft Ostpreußen)
• March/April 1938 Leader of the security staff for the referendum on 10 April 1938 in the SS-Oberabschnitt Nordost
• 28 June 1938 to 18 June 1940 Higher SS and Police Leader subordinated to the Oberpresident of East Prussia in Military District I in Königsberg (Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer beim Oberpräsidenten von Ostpreußen im Wehrkreis I)
• September 1939 to 18.6.1940 Representative of the Reichskommissar für die Festigung deutschen Volkstums (RKF) in the Gau Ostpreußen
• October/November 1939 Leader of two SS Totenkopf units (detached for the resettlement of Jews)
• 19 June 1940 to 8 May 1945 Higher SS and Police Leader at the Reich Commissioner for the Occupied Norwegian Territories and Leader of the SS Upper Section North (Oslo)
• 18 May 1942 with effect from 1 January 1942 Introduced to the post of a General of the Police (in die Planstelle eines Generals der Polizei eingewiesen)
• 1 to 31 October 1943 Commanded to the staff of the Higher SS and Police Leader Ukraine-Russia-South "to lead combat groups in anti-partisan or Bandenkampf"

Death

SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Waffen-SS und Polizei Redieß committed suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound upon the collapse of the Third Reich in Norway on 8 May 1945. His remains were destroyed the same day when Reichskommissar Josef Terboven (de) killed himself by detonating fifty kilograms of dynamite in a bunker on the Skaugum (estate, manor house and the official residence of the Norwegian crown) compound.

Promotions

• 25 May 1925 SA-Mann
• 1 January 1927 SA-Sturmführer
• 22 July 1929 SS-Mann
• 15 August 1930 SS-Scharführer
• 18 September 1930 SS-Sturmführer
• 1 January 1931 SS-Sturmbannführer
• 30 March 1931 SS-Standartenführer with effect from 8 March 1931
• 6 October 1932 SS-Oberführer
• 21 February 1934 SS-Brigadeführer (other sources state 15 March 1934)
• 20 April 1935 SS-Gruppenführer (other sources state 10 April 1935)
• 17 April 1935 Feldwebel der Reserve and Reserve Officer Candidate of the Wehrmacht

WWII

• 9 April 1941 Generalleutnant der Polizei
• 9 November 1941 SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei
• 20 June 1944 General der Waffen-SS und Polizei with effect from 1 July 1944

Awards and decorations

• Nürnberger Parteitagsabzeichen 1929
• SS-Zivilabzeichen (Nr. 19.1930)
• Abzeichen vom SA-Treffen in Braunschweig 1931
• Honour Chevron for the Old Guard (Ehrenwinkel für Alte Kämpfer)
• Golden Party Badge, 1934
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918
• Julleuchter der SS on 16 December 1935
• SS-Ehrendegen
• DRL/Reich Sports Badge (Deutsches Reichssportabzeichen) in Silver on 13 August 1937
• Rider's Badge (Deutsches Reitabzeichen)
• SA Sports Badge in Gold (SA-Sportabzeichen)
• SS-Ehrenring, 1939
• NSDAP Long Service Award in Bronze (10 years) and Silver (15 years)
• Gau-Ehrenzeichen Danzig, 1939
• Anschluss Medal (Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 13. März 1938)
• Sudetenland Medal (Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938)
• Memel Medal (Medaille zur Erinnerung an die Heimkehr des Memellandes) on 21 November 1939
• Danzig Cross, 1st Class (Danziger Kreuz, I. Klasse)
• SS Long Service Award (10 years)
• War Merit Cross (1939), 2nd and 1st Class with Swords
  • 1st Class on 30 January 1942
• Iron Cross (1939), 2nd Class on 11 November 1943

Gallery

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External links

• Redieß, Friedrich Wilhelm Otto / 1900-1945