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Zsasz wrote:By the was, does anyone know whether the driver in this picture could be Vogel? I have been trying to figure that out for months? During his death Vogel was an Obersturmführer, I'm not sure about the rank the collar-patch of the driver is indicating.

mapugu wrote:Only the SA-Gruppe Hochland (München) held at left side of their caps the Edelweiß. I think the driver at BA picture is a Oberscharführer of Hochland. Loock also to the Collar Insignia - isn´t black (like Gruppe Berlin-Brandenburg) but it´s possible light-blue. My opinion is, that the Sturmbannführer beside driver is Julius Uhl (he held later - in June 1934 the rank of an Standartenführer). So I think the driver perhaps may be Schieweck.


Zsasz wrote:Central passage from the Meissner Memoirs with reagards to the Lichterfelde shootings:
"Since a great many cars and also some men were blocking my view at the wall, I did not immediately realise what was going on in that area. Shots were banging. A multitude of guns were firing simultaneously. Naturally the Leibstandarte was excellently trained when it came to shooting. Probably it would have been more sensible for me to seek some dark corner. However, my curiosity prevailed. I wanted to know what was going on there. With hindsight I realised that I did not think at all but rather acted automatically, pretty much like all the other people standing around watching. There was no barrier separating the execution area. As the first salvo was ringing my friend Rieb and I were leaning on a lorry with our backs. Others were standing next to us as well as before and behind us.
All of a sudden, to my horror, I got to see the man giving the command to shoot: I was no other than my old Friend Buzzi Bittner (name changed). His face was pale as chalk and he was bwaling in a loud voice. Right that moment another car arrived bringing two brown-shirts and one civilian. The first one I recognised at once, it was the Gauleiter [correct: the SA-Führer] of Berlin, Karl Ernst. In his left chest-pocket he was carrying some newspapers. Apparently he did not know what was in store for him until that very moment. He took of his cap and shouted at the SS-men what that was supposed to mean, if the comrades had gone crazy, he had not committed the slightest transgression. Bittner calls at him he should retain his composure.
Neither they put manacles around Ernst's hands, nor do they blindfold his eyes. He automatically obeys the order to place himself before the squad, his back facing the wall. Just before Bittner shouts "Fire" Ernst raises his right arm into he air and shouts "Longe live the Führer".
He collapses frontally. His legs keep twitching a few more times. Two men grab his arms and drag him over the gravel covering the ground into the former infirmary. In my memory this looks even more gruesome and horrific than the execution itself.


mty wrote: I think the driver could not be Schieweck since he did not serve in Gruppe Hochland but in Gruppe Schlesien. Sturmbannführer somehow looks like Uhl but I am not sure of his identity, was Uhl still Sturmbannführer in 1933?
Zsasz wrote:(re: execution spot) - I am grateful for any additions and/or corrections.


Zsasz wrote:BTW: Does anyone have a picture of Uhl. I know one depicted in Dornheim's "Röhms Mann fürs Ausland" but would be keen on getting to see some others.







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