Paul von Hase

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Paul von Hase
Paul von Hase (Portrait).jpg
Birth name Karl Paul Immanuel von Hase
Birth date 24 July 1885(1885-07-24)
Place of birth Hanover, Province of Hanover, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date 8 August 1944 (aged 59)
Place of death Plötzensee Prison, Berlin, German Reich
Allegiance  German Empire
 Weimar Republic
 National Socialist Germany
Service/branch War and service flag of Prussia (1895–1918).png Prussian Army
Iron Cross of the Luftstreitkräfte.png Imperial German Army
Freikorps Flag.jpg Freikorps
War Ensign of Germany (1921–1933).png Reichswehr
Balkenkreuz.jpg Heer
Years of service 1905–1944
Rank Lieutenant General
Battles/wars World War I
World War II
Awards Iron Cross
German Cross in Silver
Relations ∞ 1921 Margarethe Freiin von Funck

Karl Paul Immanuel von Hase (24 July 1885 – 8 August 1944) was a German officer, finally Generalleutnant (Lieutenant General) of the Wehrmacht and Kommandant of Berlin in World War II.

Life

Paul von Hase (in a leather coat), commander of the 46th Infantry Division, with officers from his staff during the Poland Campaign in 1939.
On 4 May 1943, Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda and Gauleiter Berlin, welcomed a combat group from Demyansk under the leadership of Otto Benzin (left picture). At Benzin's side Oberwachtmeister Otto Ude, at Goebbel's side Lieutenant General Paul von Hase.
Paul von Hase II.jpg
Generalleutnant Paul von Hase III.jpg
Paul von Hase, Volksgerichtshof.jpg

After graduating from Joachimsthalschen Gymnasium in Berlin in 1904, he began studying law at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin. On 1 October 1905, von Hase joined the Kaiser Alexander Guard Grenadier Regiment No. 1 of the Prussian Army in order to complete his mandatory military service as a one-year volunteer (Einjährig-Freiwilliger). During 1906, he decided to become an active officer and completed officer training, was promoted from Fahnenjunker to Fähnrich and was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on 27 January 1907 (with patent from 1905). On 1 October 1913, he was transferred Garde-Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 5 and served with the 4th Company.

During the First World War, von Hase completed several commands as a platoon leader with his regiment and in the general staff. In February 1915, he was wounded[1] and only returned to duty in July 1915. In September 1915, commander of the 3rd Company/Garde-Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 5 was wounded again.[2] He then served with the General Staff of Army High Command 8, General Staff of the 1st Landwehr-Division and General Staff of the 238th Infantry-Division.

At the end of the war, he was a Hauptmann (Captain). He then served with the Freikorps under Alfred Georg Friedrich Kuno Karl von Randow (Freiwilligen Detachement von Randow) and with the border protection unit Grenzschutz Ost. At this time, he was officially subordinated to the 4. Infanterie-Division in the Posen area as a special-purpose officer (Offizier z. b. V.). He was transferred to the 30th Reichswehr-Infantry-Regiment on 1 October 1919 and, as company commander, to the 51st Reichswehr-Infantry-Regiment on 15 May 1920.

  • Company Commander in the 9th (Prussian) Infantry-Regiment (01 Jan 1921-01 Oct 1922)
  • Transferred to the Staff of 3rd Division (01 Oct 1922-01 Apr 1923)
  • Hauptmann with the Staff of the Training-Battalion of the 9th Infantry-Regiment (01 Apr 1923-01 Oct 1925)
  • Company Commander in the 9th Infantry-Regiment (01 Oct 1925-01 Oct 1926)
  • Director of Firing-Grounds Kummersdorf (01 Oct 1926-01 Mar 1931)
  • Transferred into the Staff of 3rd Division (01 Mar 1931-01 Feb 1934)
  • Commander of II. Battalion of the 5th Infantry-Regiment (01 Feb 1934-01 Oct 1934)
  • Commander of the Training-Battalion of Infantry-Regiment Frankfurt/Oder (01 Oct 1934-15 Oct 1935)
  • Commander of the 50th Infantry-Regiment (15 Oct 1935-10 Nov 1938)
  • Infantry Commander 3 in Guben (10 Nov 1938-26 Aug 1939)
  • Commander of the 46th Infantry-Division (26 Aug 1939-24 Jul 1940)
  • Commander of the 56th Infantry-Division (24 Jul 1940-25 Nov 1940)
  • Commandant of Berlin (25 Nov 1940-24 Jul 1944)
  • Führer-Reserve OKH (24 Jul 1944-04 Aug 1944)

Death

On 20 July 1944, after the failed assassination of Hitler at the Führerhauptquartier Wolf's Lair in East Prussia, von Hase ordered Major Otto Ernst Remer of the Wach-Bataillon „Großdeutschland“ to seal off the government quarter in Berlin during the subsequent coup d'état attempt (Operation Valkyrie). Remer later removed the cordon and von Hase was arrested by the Gestapo that evening whilst he was dining with Joseph Goebbels (von Hase had just assured Goebbels that he knew nothing about the assassination attempt and was only following orders).

He was discharged from the Wehrmacht by the Court of Honour of the German Army (Ehrenhof des Deutschen Heeres) on 4 August 1944. In the trial against him and a number of other members of the plot at the Volksgerichtshof (People's Court) on 8 August 1944, he was sentenced to death and hanged later the same day at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin. He died c. 17:28 hours shortly after Generalfeldmarschall Erwin von Witzleben and shortly before Generaloberst Erich Hoepner.

Family

Paul was the son of military Oberstabsarzt (finally regimental doctor of the Cuirassier Regiment and chief doctor of the garrison hospital in Halberstadt[3]) Dr. med. Paul Erwin von Hase (1840–1918) and his wife Maria Elise Friederike "Frieda", née Sperber (1849–1943). He had four siblings:[4]

  • Karl Erwin Friedrich (1877–1908), 2nd Lieutenant of the Reserves and author; ∞ Buenos Aires 1902 (o¦o 1907) Luise Wohlgemuth (b. 1 April 1878)
  • Eva Margarethe Pauline (1879–1950), lady of the manor (Herrin auf Rhinow und Kietz, Havelland)
    • ∞ Berlin 5 June 1902 Joachim Otto Friedrich von der Hagen (b. 27 December 1874 in Berlin), lord of the manor, Captain and Company Commander in the Garde-Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 1, died at the military hospital Bapaume on 3 October 1914 of his wounds received at Achiet le Grand (ᛣ⚔)
    • ∞ Berlin 25 July 1924 (o¦o 31 March 1925) Werner Engelhardt, merchant
  • Karl Paul Rudolf Günther (1881–1948), Lieutenant Colonel of the Army and Colonel (ret.) of the State Police (Landespolizei)
    • ∞ Wangern 2 August 1914 Ina Karola Wilhelmina Auguste Ottilie Anna Hicketier (1882–1972), 2 children
  • Karl Benidikt (b. 2 May 1883 in Hanover), königlich preußischer Regierungs-Referendar, Dr. jur., killed in action as 2nd Lieutenant of the Reserves with the Füsilier-Regiment „Königin“ (Schleswig-Holsteinisches) Nr. 86 on 5 October 1914 near Saint-Mard (Western Front)

Marriage

On 12 December 1921, Paul von Hase married Baltic German noblewoman Margarethe Loide Josephine Freiin von Funck (b. 27 April 1898 in Mitau; d. 25 November 1968 in Vilafranca del Penedès near Barcelona) in Neustrelitz. Captain von Hase met his future wife 1917 in Courland. Like so many Baltic Germans, family von Funck fled from the Bolsheviks in late 1918 arriving in Germany in early 1919. They had four children:

  • Ina Loide Frieda (1922–2001); ∞ 21 March 1942 Victor/Viktor Theodor Gerrit Baron von Medem (1911–2008), Baltic German originally from Michailow where he spent his first few years as a child, officer of the Wehrmacht, Soviet POW until 1950, later Senior Horticultural Director of the City of Ludwigshafen am Rhein where he died on Christmas Eve[5]
  • Maria-Gisela Pauline Margarethe (b. 1 November 1923 in Charlottenburg); ∞ 1951 Hans Carl Boehringer (1927–1999), German American Lutheran pastor (born in New York), Professor at Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Director of the Institute of Liturgical Studies, Editor of the Lutheran Church Year Guide, visiting professor at a number of universities, buried in Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana, USA, 2 children[6]
  • Lothar Karl Rüdiger Georg Alexander (1925–2004)
  • Friedrich-Wilhelm Paul Karl Alexander (b. 26 June 1937 in Landsberg an der Warthe), classic archaeologist, Prof. Dr. phil.

Promotions

  • 1906 Fahnenjunker (Officer Candidate)
  • 18 October 1906 Fähnrich (Officer Cadet)
  • 27 January 1907 Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant) with Patent from 19 July 1905[7]
  • 4 July 1914 Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant)
  • 18 August 1915 Hauptmann (Captain)
  • 1 April 1928 Major[8]
  • 1 February 1933 Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel)
  • 1 February 1935 Oberst (Colonel)
  • 1 Apr 1938 Generalmajor (Major General)
  • 1 April 1940 Generalleutnant (Lieutenant General)

Awards, decorations and honours

Honours

  • 1938 Honorary citizen of the city of Pilnikau (Sudetenland)
  • 1945 Paul-von-Hase-Straße, Düsseldorf (street)
  • 1991 Memorial plaque, Berlin, Giesebrechtstraße 17
  • 1995 Memorial plaque at the former Joachimsthalschen Gymnasium, Berlin, Bundesallee 1-12
  • 1996 Paul-von-Hase-Straße, Neuruppin (Brandenburg)

References