Herbert Bellschan von Mildenburg

Herbert Bellschan von Mildenburg
Herbert Bellschan von Mildenburg
	;
Birth date	26 June 1924
Place of birth	Klagenfurt, Republic of Austria
Death date	25 October 2022
Place of death	ibid
Allegiance	National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Waffen SS
Years of service	1931–1945
Rank	SS-Untersturmführer
Unit	6. SS-Gebirgs-Division „Nord“
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Iron Cross
Other work	Rancher, businessman, author, speaker

Herbert Bellschan von Mildenburg (26 June 1924 – 25 October 2022) was a German officer of the Waffen-SS, finally SS-Untersturmführer in WWII.

Life

Herbert Bellschan von Mildenburg was an early member of the Wandervogel, Jungvolk and the Hitler Youth, even as it was illegal in Austria during the Kampfzeit. In the underground, the 10-14 year olds campaigned for Austria's annexation to the German Reich. The later “Führer and Reich Chancellor” paid tribute to the association with a visit. The personal encounter with Adolf Hitler became a formative event for Herbert. In the years that followed, he was instrumental in organizing the development of the Hitler Youth in Klagenfurt and rose to become HJ-Stammführer (Stammführer I). He had been skiing since he was five years old.

He visited the Realschule, which, in Austria since 1927 (in contrast to the Weimar Republic), was a type of school equivalent to a Gymnasium. Afterwards he visited the Lehrerbildungsanstalt in Klagenfurt (the education lasted five years and ended with the Matura and the teacher training examination) and experienced the outbreak of war as such. He said in an interview, that, like his friends, he was scared, that the war would be over before he was old enough to enlist. His greatest moment, he said, was the Accession of Austria to Greater Germany in 1938, in his heart, he always knew a true Austrian could only be a true German.^[1]

Only 17 1/2 years old, he volunteered for the Waffen-SS and was accepted. He first was commanded to the SS-Kraftfahrtechnische Lehranstalt Wien where he got his driver's license for cars, trucks and Kraftrad (Krad, military motorcycle). Afterwards he was transferred to the Replacement Battalion (with its base in Austria) of the 6th SS Mountain Division Nord. He received three months of very hard training in the Erzgebirge (Sudetenland). He was then sent with complete winter gear via Danzig (transport ship; destination still secret) to Karelien (Karelia in Finland) serving at the Eismeerfront (Murmansbahn/Murmansk-Bahn) in autumn of 1942. It was a dangerous journey, German ships were often sunken by Russian submarines from Leningrad. In Finland, Bellschan von Mildenburg served in his company (3. Kompanie/SS-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 6), coordinating the reports of the Jagdkommandos fighting partisans (Bandenbekämpfung).

He also served as Kompanietruppführer (company squad leader) with six Melder (runners) in the staff of the battalion, defending an endangered flank. On skis and in the glow of the northern lights, his fighter squad drove well behind the Russian lines. Because this operation was succesful and young Bellschan von Mildenburg contributed to the success, he received the Iron Cross 2nd Class and was recommended by his battalion leader (SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Walter Schneevoigt) for a SS-Junkerschule. After a successful selection course (Auslese-Lehrgang) he was commanded to the Panzer-Junker-Schule der Waffen-SS at the Panzertruppenschule Fallingbostel near Hanover. The commanders there realized that Bellschan von Mildenburg and another comrade knew nothing about panzers and where wrong here. They were both sent to the new SS-Junkerschule Klagenfurt on the next day, where he stayed the next three months and became SS-Standartenoberjunker. He was then sent to the SS-Oberjunker-Lehrgang at the SS-Truppenübungsplatz Beneschau near Prague. On 21 December 1944 (winter solstice), he was promoted to SS-Untersturmführer. Afterwards he received a few days leave for christmas. He was then commanded, with 600 other former Junker, to Berlin, to the SS-Personalamt (personnel office), where he asked to be transferred back to his Gebirgsjäger unit, but this was denied.

He became the youngest teaching officer (Lehroffizier) at the SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz, taking over the 22nd SS-Junkerschaft. On 21 January 1945, he was commanded to the SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Schule Kienschlag. In February/March 1945 back to the front, to the fully motorized combat group (Kampfgruppe) "Trabandt" (August-Wilhelm Trabandt) as part of the 31. SS- Volunteer Grenadier Division Böhmen-Mähren on the Eastern Front as division liaison officer. At the end of the war, he made his way along the Danube on a motorbike (Krad) until he found himself in an US-American starvation camp south of Vöcklabruck, which many of his comrades did not survive. He was then transferred to Hallein (where he broke out, reached Salzburg, Klagenfurt and Vienna, was arrested after three months by the CIC) and Glasenbach, where he was released in 1947.

He then studied – under a false name before his arrest through the CIC, later officially – world trade in Vienna, where his famous aunt and opera singer, Anna von Mildenburg, also lived. The next stages of his adventurous life took him around the world. Whether as manager of an import/export company in Trieste, as director of a bank in Morocco, as producer of orange juice concentrate ibid., as mine owner in the Sahara and Australia or as operator of his own 1000Ha cattle farm in Paraguay, Herbert passed it all tasks set to him with great success. In the meantime, he kept in regular contact with his comrades through the KIV and visited the Ulrichsberg. Due to the intolerable political conditions in his country of origin, Bellschan von Mildenburg only returned to his Carinthian home when he was very old. He was best friends with Herbert Schaller for 70 years.

Family

Herbert was the son of Hermann Bellschan von Mildenburg^[2] (b. 25 May 1898 in Görz) and his wife Josefine "Fini", née Schüst. His great aunt was the famous opera singer Anna Bahr, née Bellschan von Mildenburg (1872–1947).^[3] His great-great grandfather was the k. k. Major Theodor Bellschan von Mildenburg (1826–1894).

Marriage

It can be assumed, he was first married to Edeltraud Bellschan von Mildenburg (1940–2019). He was survived by his second wife Olivia, née González Aguirre, and, among others, his daughter Ingrid, married Krenhuber.^[4]

Quotations

As long as in Germany, which not only includes the FRG, all those laws that are illegal according to international legal standards, that disparage and humiliate people because of well-founded, scientific work and opinions expressed orally or in writing (e.g. Thilo Sarrazin), are not abolished, yes threatened with imprisonment of up to 20 years, hardly anything will and can change peacefully in the current system. 9 June 2011 at dasinvestment.com

I was, am and will remain for FREE EXPRESSION OF OPINIONS and it's a shame how this is more suppressed and persecuted, even punished, in GERMAN COUNTRIES than in China.