Nice photo of Bassewitz-Behr, + Biography

[Michael Miller]

Thought this candid shot, and the information below (from Leaders of the SS & German Police, Volume I), might be of interest.

Best wishes,
~ Mike


Georg-Henning Ernst Adolf Graf von Bassewitz-Behr
SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS und der Polizei


Born: 21.03.1900 in Lützow / Mecklenburg.
Died: 31.01.1949 at Magadan, Kolyma Region, Eastern Siberia in Soviet captivity.

NSDAP-Nr.: 458 315 (Joined 01.02.1931)
SS-Nr.: 35 466 (Joined 20.12.1931)

Promotions:
01.04.1918 Fahnenjunker
20.12.1931 SS-Anwärter
00.00.1932 SS-Mann
06.04.1932 SS-Scharführer
09.03.1933 SS-Truppführer
12.09.1933 SS-Obertruppführer (mit Wirkung vom 02.09.1933)
25.11.1933 SS-Sturmführer (mit Wirkung vom 09.11.1933)
04.12.1933 SS-Obersturmführer (mit Wirkung vom 25.11.1933)
30.05.1934 SS-Sturmhauptführer (mit Wirkung vom 29.05.1934)
22.06.1934 SS-Sturmbannführer (mit Wirkung vom 17.06.1934)
25.04.1935 SS-Obersturmbannführer (mit Wirkung vom 20.04.1935)
01.04.1936 Unteroffizier d. R.
22.04.1936 SS-Standartenführer (mit Wirkung vom 20.04.1936)
29.08.1937 Feldwebel d. R.
11.09.1938 SS-Oberführer
08.05.1940 SS-Hauptsturmführer d. R. der Waffen-SS
01.07.1940 SS-Obersturmbannführer d. R. der Waffen-SS (mit RDA vom 01.06.1940)
01.01.1942 SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei
20.04.1943 SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei
01.07.1944 Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS und der Polizei

Career:
00.00.1906 – 00.00.1914 Privately school in his parents’ home.
00.00.1914 – 00.03.1918 Attended the humanistic Gymnasium in Bad Doberan (graduated Oberprima and passed his Abitur).
01.04.1918 – 00.12.1918 Entered service as a Kriegsfreiwilliger Fahnenjunker, assigned to 2.Kürassier-
Regiment “Königin” (Base: Pasewalk); discharged without having seen combat.
00.01.1919 – 00.12.1920 Received practical training in agriculture from his uncle, Ernst Henning Arthur
Ludwig Graf von Bassewitz, at the estate “Gut Schwiessel” near Güstrow / Mecklenburg.
00.01.1921 – 00.04.1936 Career farmer at Schloss Lützow near Gadebusch / Schwerin, overseeing his
family estates at Wohrensdorf, Lützow, Blese, Walkendorf, and Dorotheenwald.
01.01.1930 – 31.12.1930 Member of the Stahlhelm-Bund.
00.09.1930 – 00.12.1930 Visited the former German colonies in Southwest Africa.
01.01.1931 Joined the NSDAP.
00.04.1931 Joined the NSKK.
20.12.1931 Joined the SS.
06.04.1932 – 01.12.1933 Assigned, after a 17-day training course at the “Reichsschule der Motor-SA”, as Führer (m.d.F.b.) of the Motorstaffel in II.Sturmbann / 22.SS-Standarte (Base: Schwerin).
25.11.1933 – 01.12.1933 Motorstaffelführer (m.d.W.d.G.b.) of 22.SS-Standarte (with effect from
09.11.1933).
01.12.1933 – 05.04.1934 Führer (m.d.F.b.) of 15.SS-Motorstandarte (under SS-Abschnitt XV, Hamburg).
Succeeded by Helmuth Otte.
00.00.1933 – 00.00.1933 Ortsbauernführer (Local Farmers’ Leader) and member of the Agrarpolitische
Apparat (Farm Policy Apparatus) of the NSDAP in Schwiessel / Mecklenburg.
05.04.1934 – 01.04.1936 Oberabschnitts-Staffelführer (m.d.W.d.G.b.) of SS-Oberabschnitt “Nord” (HQ: Hamburg-Altona). Succeeded Erich von Warzewski.
01.04.1936 – 15.08.1936 Oberabschnitt-Staffelführer (m.d.W.d.G.) of SS-Oberabschnitt “Nordwest” (new post created when the old Oberabschnitt Nord was split). Succeeded Erich von Warzewski. He was the final holder of this post.
01.04.1935 – 15.08.1936 Führer of 4.SS-Motorstandarte (Base: Hamburg). Succeeded Ernst Dittrich.
He was the last commander of this unit which was dissolved when the SS-Motorstandarten were downgraded to SS-Kraftfahrstürme.
08.06.1935 – 20.07.1935 Leave of absence to observe the automotive industry in the United States.
01.04.1936 – 30.04.1936 Army reserve training as Offiziersanwärter assigned to Panzer-Abwehr-
Abteilung 20 / 20.Infanterie-Division (Base: Schwerin).
00.00.1936 – 00.00.19__ Member of the “Bund der Kinderreichen” (League of Child Abundant Families)
and the Lebensborn Society.
15.08.1936 – 25.04.1941 Leiter of Hauptabteilung I /Mot. In the SS-Führungsamt, Berlin and “Inspekteur des SS-Kraftfahrwesens“ (Inspector of SS Motorized Units) assigned to the Stab SS-Hauptamt (originally headquartered in Berlin-Charlottenburg but after the outbreak of war, relocated to his estate at Lützow / Mecklenburg).
01.09.1936 – 26.09.1936 Army reserve training with 1.Kompanie / Panzer-Abwehr-Abteilung 20 /
20.Infanterie-Division (Base: Schwerin).
01.08.1937 – 29.08.1937 Army reserve training with 1.Kompanie / Panzer-Abwehr-Abteilung 20 /
20.Infanterie-Division (mot.)(Base: Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel).
08.05.1940 - 04.06.1940 Waffen-SS reserve service as Kommandeur of Panzerjäger-Abteilung / 6.SS-
Totenkopf-Standarte.
01.07.1940 Entered active Waffen-SS service.
01.10.1940 - 25.04.1941 Chef of 7.Abteilung / Amt II (Waffeninspektion) in the SS-Führungshauptamt,
with title of “Inspekteur der Kraftfahrwesens der Waffen-SS” (Inspector of Motorized Troops of the Waffen-SS). Succeeded by Viktor Knapp.
01.03.1941 – 00.00.1945 Reichswirtschaftsrichter (Reich Economic Judge. A 5-year appointment).
25.04.1941 - 01.09.1941 Leiter of the Abteilung SS-mot. in the Kommandostab RFSS.
25.04.1941 - 16.02.1943 Assigned to the Stab SS-Führungshauptamt.
01.08.1941 – 01.01.1942 Attached to the Stab Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer “Ostland” (SS-
Gruppenführer Hans-Adolf Prützmann).
01.09.1941 – 01.11.1941 “Landwirtschaftlicher Referent” (Agricultural Advisor) to the Stab Höherer SS-und Polizeiführer “Ostland” (Riga). He accompanied Hans-Adolf Prützmann to Kiev when Prützmann and Friedrich Jeckeln switched HSSPF posts.
03.11.1941 – 17.11.1941 Attended an instructional course for SS- und Polizeiführer with Hauptamt
Ordnungspolziei.
17.11.1941 – 09.11.1941 Detached for instruction to the Sicherheitspolizei (along with Hans Haltermann, Carl Graf von Pückler-Burghauss, and Jürgen Stroop).
09.11.1941 – 01.08.1942 “SS- und Polizeistandortführer im Generalbezirk Dnjepropetrowsk” (Ukraine).
First holder of this post. Succeeded by Hermann Harm.
09.11.1941 - 01.08.1942 “SS- und Polizei-Standortführer Dnjepropetrowsk.” First holder of this post.
Succeeded by Hermann Harm.
01.01.1942 – 01.04.1943 Assigned to the Stab SS-Hauptamt.
00.05.1942 – 00.07.1942 Two months’ home leave.
01.08.1942 – 14.01.1943 “SS- und Polizeiführer in Generalbezirk Mogilew” (in Byelorussia). First
holder of this post. Succeeded by Franz Kutschera.
22.11.1942 – 30.01.1943 “ständigerer Stellvertreter-Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer Russland-Mitte”
(Standing Deputy HSSPF for Central Russia) and “ständiger Vertreter des Bevollmächtigten für Bandenbekämpfung” (Standing Deputy to the Plenipotentiary for Anti-Partisan Warfare)(both posts under Erich von dem Bach). Assigned for training in HSSPF duties and to act for Erich von dem Bach when he was absent organizing his anti-partisan command.
12.02.1943 - 8.05.1945 “Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer bei den Reichsstatthaltern und Oberpräsidenten in Hamburg, in Oldenburg, in Bremen, in Hannover und in Schleswig-Holstein im Wehrkreis X” (Short title: HSSPF Nordsee. Redesignated on 20.02.1944 as “Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer in den Gauen Hannover, Osthannover, Schlesweig-Holstein, und Weser-Ems in Wehrkreis X”; HQ: Hamburg). Succeeded Rudolf Querner; initially only given temporary (m.d.F.b.) command, 16.02.1943 – 20.04.1943, due to having the rank of Generalmajor der Polizei which was too low to rate full HSSPF status.
16.02.1943 - 08.05.1945 Chef of Amt III (Polizei) in the Staatsverwaltung (State Administration) of
Hamburg.
16.02.1943 - 08.05.1945 Führer of SS-Oberabschnitt “Nordsee” (m.d.F.b. to 20.04.1943, then
permanent). Succeeded Rudolf Querner.
25.07.1943 – 30.07.1943 Placed in charge of damage control efforts by the Technische-Nothilfe,
Allgemeine-SS, Waffen-SS, and Sicherheitspolizei in the wake of “Operation Gomorrah”, the joint RAF/USAAF air assault on Hamburg.
13.08.1943 – 00.00.194_ “Generalkommissar für das Sicherheitswesen” (General Commissioner for
Security Matters) in Hamburg, appointed by Gauleiter Karl Kaufmann.
24.01.1944 – 29.02.1944 On orders of the Reichsführer-SS, underwent a cure at the SS-Kurheim
Höhenvilla in Karlsbad, due to a chronic stomach ailment apparently resulting from the stress of losing both of his sons on the Eastern Front in 1943/44. Dr. jur. Carl Retzlaff deputized for him during his absence.
01.10.1944 – 08.05.1945 “Höherer Kommandeur der Kriegsgefangenen im Wehrkreis X” (Senior
Commander of Prisoners of War in the Hamburg area).
00.04.1945 – 00.05.1945 Assigned to the Stab of the “Befehlshaber Führungsstab Nordküste” (known
from 7.04.1945 onward as Oberbefehlshaber Nordwest under Generalfeldmarschall Ernst Busch) as “General der Wehrmachtordnungstruppen” (HQ: Schloss Reinbek).
00.04.1945 Set up a “Werwolf” section in Weser-Ems (under the aegis of the head of the “Werwolf” organization, Hans-Adolf Prützmann).

Postwar Confinement:
Arrested and released on two occasions by British authorities in Schleswig-Holstein, May 1945. He then lived under a false name as a farm worker on the island of Fehmarn. Arrested by U.S. Army authorities in Bremen, 19.09.1945. Transferred to British custody, he was held at internment camps in Neumünster-Gadeland, Eselheide bei Paderborn (CIC No. 7), Minden, and Fischbek. Appeared as a witness before the British military tribunal at the Hamburg “Curio-Haus” in the trial of Neuengamme concentration camp staff, 09.04.1946. He was himself tried by the British Military Tribunal at the Hamburg “Curio-Haus” in the “Fuhlsbuettel Case”, 06.08.1947 – 27.08.1947. Specifically charged with the murder of Russian laborers at Fuhlsbüttel Prison on 14.11.1943; in the death of 10 recaptured French officer POW’s (several of whom were shot in Fuhlsbüttel; the others were deported to KL-Mauthausen where they were killed); and the murder at KL-Neuengamme of 71 prisoners from Fuhlsbüttel. He was acquitted on all of these charges. Upon learning that he was to be extradited to the Soviet Union, he took poison and was subsequently hospitalized in Hameln. Turned over to Soviet authorities in Berlin, 16.09.1947. Tried by a Soviet court, he was accused of responsibility for the death of 45,000 people in the area of Dnjepropetrowsk in 1941/42. Although no witnesses were called by the prosecution, he was sentenced to 25 years’ hard labor. He was held at a Soviet prison camp at Magadan in the Kolyma region of eastern Siberia.

Decorations & Awards:
04.08.1943 1939 Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse
00.00.1943 1939 Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse
00.00.1942 Kriegsverdienstkreuz I. Klasse mit Schwertern
20.04.1941 Kriegsverdienstkreuz II. Klasse mit Schwertern
20.08.1942 Medaille “Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42”
ca. 1939 Spange “Prager Burg” zur Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938
ca. 1939 Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938
ca. 1938 Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 13. März 1938
00.00.19__ Ehrenzeichen für deutschen Volkspflege 3. Klasse
00.05.1935 Goldenes Ehrenschild des Deutsches Motorsport
00.00.19__ Deutsches Motorsportabzeichen 2. Stufe (Silber)
06.03.1940 Dienstauszeichnung der NSDAP in Bronze
[01.12.1937] Deutsches Reichssportabzeichen in Silber
[01.12.1937] SA-Sportabzeichen in Bronze
[01.12.1937] Ehrendegen des Reichsführers-SS
[01.12.1937] Totenkopfring der SS
00.00.193_ SS-Zivilabzeichen (Nr. 16 433)
16.12.1935 Julleuchter der SS
00.00.193_ Ehrenwinkel für alte Kämpfer

Notes:
* Only son of the estate owner Rittmeister a. D. Adolf Carl Otto Alexander von Bassewitz-Behr (1849 - 1916) and Dorothea Helene Luise Wanda Ebba Krell (1873 - 1960). His father was married twice before, and Georg-Henning had three half-sisters. From his father’s first marriage to Marie von Steinaecker, Georg-Henning’s half-sister Alice Gräfin von Bassewitz (1874 - 1925) was born; from the second marriage to Helene von Kleist-Retzow were born his half-sisters Barbara Dorothee Marie Helene von Bassewitz (1894 - 1984) and Gisela Dorothee Annaluise Marianne Lilla Gräfin von Bassewitz (1895 - 1946). From Adolf’s third and final marriage came his full-sisters Ilsabe Dorothee Ella Ina Elsbeth von Bassewitz (1898 - ??) and Wendel Dorothea Marie Martha Madeleine von Bassewitz (1905 - 1985).
* Religion: Protestant until 28.11.1941, then declared himself “gottgläubig.”
* Married in Breslau on 15.09.1920 to Ilse Margarete Amelie Bernhardine Gräfin von Pfeil und von Klein-Ellguth, daughter of a Prussian Generalleutnant (born 24.03.1900 in Kassel / died 1987). Two sons (Adolf-Friedrich Albrecht Henning Gerd Graf von Bassewitz-Behr, born 10.08.1924 / Killed in Action 25.03.1944; and Krafft-Georg Albrecht Cuno Arthur Cala Graf von Bassewitz-Behr, born 19.10.1925 / Died of wounds sustained in fighting near Berdichev as SS-Panzer-Grenadier, 30.12.1943. Three daughters (Dorothea-Luise Auguste Marie Ilsabe Gräfin von Bassewitz-Behr, born 03.07.1921; Ilsabe Gerda Gabriele Erika Ilse Gräfin von Bassewitz-Behr, born 01.11.1926; and Helene Dorothea Auguste Barbara Annemarie Gräfin von Bassewitz-Behr, born 06.02.1929.
* A fitness report from Werner Lorenz dated 01.04.1935 described him as a man with a modest, respectable, and upstanding character. He was also described as a practical man with good leadership qualities, and was recommended for higher commands. He was seen by Lorenz as a good comrade, adroit, with a good head for finance.
* In 02.1943 he was the subject of an investigation carried out by the SD-Leitabschnitt Hamburg (under Walter Herforth). The problem was that two of his sisters were married to non-Germans. His sister Gisela married a Swedish Army officer, Carl- August Graf Ehrenvard (city adjutant in Stockholm), and became a Swedish citizen. She had previously been married to Maximilian Graf Sponeck. His sister Ilsabe married Kay Nissen-Lass, a farmer in Southwest Africa who had served in the German Army during the Great War. Ilsabe returned to Germany in 1938 and her husband was interned in Rhodesia by the British in 1940. A number of letters passed between von Bassewitz-Behr and Maximilian von Herff (head of the SS Personnel Main Office), but nothing came of the investigation and his career did not suffer.
* Height: 5 ft., 11 in (180 cm)

[Helly Angel]

Really really.. a beautiful photo!!!!

[Michal78]

Mike
Thank you for posting. Very nice photo. Pity that you didn't use it in your book.
Michal

[Michael Miller]

Hi, Michal~
Didn't have it at the time, otherwise I definitely would have.

That was my only disappointment aside from the stupid typos and mistakes (small [to most] but huge [to me]) that I made in the text: NOT ENOUGH PHOTOS (only 2 or 3 for Albert Forster !!!). I'm being more adamant with my publisher this time around that we need to pack future volumes with as many photos as possible, and if I have to drive 200+ miles to his house to ensure he illustrates these things as heavily as possible, that's what I'll do. The images need to be of some quality, of course, but I want lots of them, and a lot of variety- photos of them as babies, in civilian attire, in World War I uniform, passed out drunk on the floor of a bar, postwar (hanging from a noose, stammering defensively at their de-Nazification hearings, ranting at DRP rallies), etc. Even if it necessitates printing more volumes, with 800 or more pages; that makes things more costly for the publisher and the consumer, but at least I'll know it was done right.

Best wishes,
~ MIke