ss officer fate: Franz Mattheis

[ninoo]

Hi Folks,

Is there anybody who know about the fate of Standartenfuehrer Franz Mattheis from 'Handzar' after the war? Is he captured by Yugoslavia Partisans? Also want to know his death circumstance.

Thanks

[title changed]

[Phil Nix]

Sentended to death 9.11.1946 executed 17.9.1947
Phil Nix

[Topspeed]

What was he accused of ?

[Mikedc]

Hello Ninoo or Phil,

Do you have any more information about SS-Standartenführer Franz Matthijs???

I can find anything about this officer in my files, did a search with google(nothing)and one on this forum(almost nothing).
Would be nice to have a short bio about this officer(with his SS- and party-number, DoB, ranks, etc. ).

Thanks in advance for whoever can help me with this.
Greetings,
Mike

[ninoo]

Thanks for your precious info Mr. Phil Nix.

Topspeed wrote: What was he accused of ?
Maybe for the crime of his regiment. Reg. 28 was known for theirs atrocious behaviour to Serbs civilians, although there is a source that claim that the crimes mainly works of Albanian battalion.

Mikedc, I just know that that Mattheis was a Volksdeutche and once served in Austro-Hungary army. But his competence as commander was doubt thus he didn't lead the 28 Reg for a long time. But I believe, you should ask Mr. Lepre for the question. After all, he was an expert of the Division.

Regards

[Zlatni ljiljan]

(...) Maybe for the crime of his regiment. Reg. 28 was known for theirs atrocious behaviour to Serbs civilians, although there is a source that claim that the crimes mainly works of Albanian battalion.

Not ONLY to Serbs civilians. Have you ever heard for massacre in Vrazici, on March 18. 1944.? In this Muslim village, 28 civilians were brutally assassinated by soldiers of I/28 SS Rgt. According to official report of Yugoslav Federal Commission for investigating crimes of Occupations forces and Collaborators (written in March 1947.), Handschar Division killed 1803 civilians. According to names of victims (which not all discovered), over 200 were Muslim Bosniaks (men and women, even a children). Report is, by the way, much exaggerated: Handschar Division was charged for all crimes in their operational zone, but many crimes actually committed Handschar's allied, Croatian Army, Ustashe, Chetniks and Muslim militia. Have you heard for mass executions of Serbs civilians (who supported Partisans) committed by the Chetniks? For example, in village Bjelosevac Chetniks killed 27 civilians, in Cengic - 17, near Bosanska Raca - 21, in Cardacine - 22, etc. All these crimes were committed by the Chetniks after operation Osterei.

One Partisan's report claimed that Chetniks in 1944. killed over 500 civilians in Serbs villages in Semberija, accused as Partisan supporters (!), which is probably exaggerated number.

[George Lepre]

Matheis was replaced as commander of SS-Rgt. 28 on 1 December 1943, i.e. long before the Handschar Division left Germany. Although he had won the coveted Maria Theresia Orden as a young lieutenant in World War I, he could not lead a mountain regiment in modern warfare and was replaced by Raithel.

Ninoo - cite a source for your claim of the 28th Regiment's crimes and "atrocious behavior." I have never seen any source, Yugoslav or otherwise, that singles out any particular Handschar element in this manner. It's funny how any discussion of Bosnian Muslims in which you are involved invariably veers on to the subject of atrocities....

Matheis was executed for treason, as he had been a senior officer in the Yugoslav army and did not resist when the Germans invaded in 1941. It is true that he was a Volksdeutsche, but when he accepted his commission, he had sworn an oath to defend Yugoslavia, so the charge was justified.

Zlatni ljiljan - Your intimation that the casualty figure is exaggerated is (seemingly) confirmed by the post-war trial of Handschar officers and NCOs. There, the indictment against the defendants charged the division with murdering a total of 5000 persons (whether they were civilians or POWs was not stated). It seems unlikely that 1803 died on a single day, as the division operated in Vojvodina and Bosnia for about eight months.

George Lepre

[Phil Nix]

Hello Ninoo or Phil,

Do you have any more information about SS-Standartenführer Franz Matthijs???

I can find anything about this officer in my files, did a search with google(nothing)and one on this forum(almost nothing).
Would be nice to have a short bio about this officer(with his SS- and party-number, DoB, ranks, etc. ).

Thanks in advance for whoever can help me with this.
Greetings,
Mike

Here is a brief bio note his rank was Waffen Standartenführer not SS Staf
Phil Nix

[Mikedc]

Hello Phil,

As usual great piece of info. I can't thank you enough but this goes for others as well I guess because
I've seen much of these great bios of yours in different posts.
You often make alot of people very happy.


Greetings,
Mike

[Zlatni ljiljan]

Zlatni ljiljan - Your intimation that the casualty figure is exaggerated is (seemingly) confirmed by the post-war trial of Handschar officers and NCOs. There, the indictment against the defendants charged the division with murdering a total of 5000 persons (whether they were civilians or POWs was not stated). It seems unlikely that 1803 died on a single day, as the division operated in Vojvodina and Bosnia for about eight months.

George Lepre

Thank you for your note, Mr. Lepre. Your book on Handschar is excellent and I was excited when I read it.


I'll quote Report here:

"13. SS divizija zvana 'Handžar' za cijelo vrijeme svog boravka na terenu Bosne od marta do oktobra 1944. godine poubijala je ukupno u svim srezovima kuda se kretala osim grada Bijeljine i Brčkog, 1803 lica, sve mirnog neboračkog stanovništva (...) U Bijeljini i Brčkom gdje su dovođeni zarobljeni partizani i /uhapšeni/ saradnici NOP-a iz svih krajeva kuda se kretala divizija, nije bilo moguće ustanoviti tačan broj ubijenih lica (...) U svom prolazu kroz Srijem pobijeno je od pripadnika ove divizije još oko 500 do 600 lica."


Translated to English:
"13. SS Division called Handschar for all time spent on Bosnian ground, from March to October 1944 in all districts where it passed trough, except towns Bijeljina and Brčko, killed in total 1803 persons – all peaceful non-fighters inhabitants. (...) In Bijeljina and Brčko, where all Partisan's POWs and /arrested/ NOP supporters from all regions where Division passed trough was brought to, it was impossible to discover number of killed persons. (...) In Division’s passing through Srijem, 500-600 persons were murdered by members of this Division."

As you can see - according to this report (his conclusion, in fact), 1803 civilians (not POWs and Partisans) were killed by Handschar soldiers in Bosnia from March to October 1944, and other 500-600 persons (only “persons” in Report – obviously not only civilians, but Partisan soldiers and POWs too) were killed by Handschar in Srijem (during operation Wegweiser).

Like I said, report is probably exaggerated. Report ignore a fact that Handschar Division WAS NOT ONLY units who fight Partisans. All of units who participated in anti-Partisans operations (Regular Croatian Army, Ustashe, Chetniks) were killing civilians during the fight. But, only Handschar was charged for all those crimes.

Report of Yugoslav war-crime investigates commissions also has some dubious parts. For example, report mentions some “Gestapo of 13. SS Division”, that each member of Division had Siegrunen tattooed on his left hand, that divisional collar patch was miniature mosque, etc.

There’s also one controversial statement: that each member of Division got special knife called “Handžar” for throat-slitting. OK, this could be malicious interpretation, but did they really have any special knifes? According to Commission, the name of Division came from the name of these knifes.



I think that Handschar war-crimes mostly were incidents and revenges. But, genocide of Serbs committed by Ustashe and slaughter of Muslim Bosniaks committed by Chetniks were ideologically based. These numbers in Commission’s report probably look horrible, but there are much worse examples of war crimes in Bosnia, like massacre of over 1.400 Bosnian Muslim men, women and children, committed by Chetniks of Pavle Đurišić in Sandžak and Podrinje in January 1942. Many of survives men from destroyed villages (33 villages in all) joined to Handschar Division. Atrocities committed by Chetniks like this could be a motive for Handschar crimes against Serbs in Semberija and Majevica, but for all this, Handschar was allied with Chetniks. Quite paradoxical, isn't it?

Matheis accused Handschar soldiers for, as he said, “slaughtering everyone who didn’t wear fez”. This is nonsense – Croatian peasants in Posavina don’t wear fezes. According to his statement, they also were victims of Handschar Division? Or, all Muslim who was killed by Handschar, they probably didn’t wear fezes when they killed?

[Allen Milcic]

Topspeed wrote: What was he accused of ?
Maybe for the crime of his regiment. Reg. 28 was known for theirs atrocious behaviour to Serbs civilians, although there is a source that claim that the crimes mainly works of Albanian battalion.

ninoo:

"Known" for their atrocious behaviour to Serb civilians? Please provide something resembling a primary source for this claim, or stop spreading dis-information.

As for the dubious claim that the "Handschar" Division was named after a special "throat-slitting" knife that was issued to all members - as ridiculous as the oft-seen claims that members of the "Handschar" Division committed warcrimes against US forces in Italy.

Allen/

[Klemen L.]

"Known" for their atrocious behaviour to Serb civilians? Please provide something resembling a primary source for this claim, or stop spreading dis-information.

Enver Redžić: "Muslimansko autonomaštvo i 13 SS divizija. Autonomija Bosne i Hercegovine i Hitlerov Treći Rajh", Sarajevo 1987. Redzic used for his book interrogation papers by Franz Matheis, which he got from the National Archives in Sarajevo or Belgrade (there is the exact number of the fond in the book). During his interrogation Franz Matheis stated that most of the crimes of the SS-Handschar Division were committed in Eastern Bosnia, mostly around Brcko and Bijeljina. It appears from his papers that for most of these crimes were responsible the Albanian members of the division, who later saw transfer to SS-Skanderbeg. I have never verfieid Matheis' statement, whether it is true or not, but you can freely take the blame for this on the shoulders of Franz Matheis and not Nino, Allen.

[George Lepre]

Hi Zlatni ljiljan -

Thank you for your kind remarks regarding my book.

As you know, the name "Handschar" refers to a Turkish sword, not a knife. Regarding knives issued to Handschar members: I have several photographs of a pay book (Soldbuch) issued to a Bosnian Muslim volunteer in the Handschar Division named Alija Karahodzic. He enlisted in the division on 13 June 1944 so he was one of the division's earliest members. I checked the pages that list all of the clothing items and equipment issued to him and no such item is listed.

Hi Klemen -

Did you ever receive those papers I sent you? I may be having trouble with my pm's so I never found out if you did or not.

Matheis' statement was entered as evidence at Nuremburg as Document NO-4951. This document does not make specific mention of Bosnian Serbs. The Albanian Battalion (I/28) served in combat in Bosnia from 15 March to about 17 April 1944. During this time, it operated on the Posavina plain where the Handschar Division crossed the Sava River, and for a few days in the Majevicas. As Zlatni ljiljan pointed out, the Posavina region has a large Catholic population.

There are host of broad (one could almost say sweeping) statements made by Handschar Division officers at different times that paint a confusing picture of the division's relations with Bosnian Serbs. For example:

In June 1944, Sauberzweig wrote, "When the (Handschar) Division first arrived in (Bosnia), the Cetniks panicked, fearing Muslim revenge. In the meantime, the constructive-minded Serbians have realized that the division shall include all elements of the population in its mission of liberation." He added, "An acceptable, almost comradely cooperation with the Cetniks has emerged." When I interviewed former Handschar officers and mentioned the atrocity reports, they expressed surprise and replied, "The Cetniks were our friends" while citing instances of cooperation between the division and the Cetnik forces. Does this mean that a "love affair" began between the Handschar Divison and Bosnia's Serbs? I doubt it - it was more like a "marriage of convenience" borne of mutual anti-communism.

On the other hand, the Matheis statement and an off-the-cuff remark made by Hermann Fegelein in Hitler's headquarters intimate that atrocities were committed. Unfortunately, hard information on specific incidents is not provided, although this has not stopped Serb nationalists like ninoo from using these remarks as anti-Muslim propaganda. As I have written MANY TIMES on this forum, the only way this question can be answered is through objective archaeological spade work in the areas where the division operated.

We asked ninoo to cite primary sources for his statement because he is simply unable to hold a discussion on this forum without mentioning Muslim atrocities. We our losing our patience.

Best regards,

George

[ninoo]

Hi,

Mr. Phil Mix and Zlatni Ijiljan, thank U very much for your great infos.

Allen, I never said about

a special "throat-slitting" knife that was issued to all members - as ridiculous as the oft-seen claims that members of the "Handschar" Division committed warcrimes against US forces in Italy.

. You must mistaken me with another person in another encounter in this site.

Klemen, thank you for your great info.

Mr. Lepre, thank u for you great infos. Sorry, if I made you offended.

BTW, once again I thanked again for all of you.

Regards

[Zlatni ljiljan]

Mr. Lepre, thank you for your response.


Regarding Matheis, I think we must understand a circumstances in wich his statement was given. In communist prisons in Yugoslavia between 1945.-1953., methods and ways of investigation and treatment of prisoners were totally brutal (like mediaeval inquisition). Prisoners were maltreated and tortured until they signed statements wich usually they haven’t read. Matheis case probably was that kind of.