Generalmajor Wolfgang Ziegler (1890-1939)

[Stauffenberg II]

Hi everybody!

Does anybody know the reasons of Gen. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Chappuis (XXXVIIIth Corps, 27.08.1942) and Gen. Maj. Wolfgang Ziegler (71st Inf. Div., 14.10.1939) for committing suicide, in a pretty successful time for the Germans?

Thanks to all!

[askropp]

It seems quite clear that Chappuis killed himself because he could not get over his dismissal as corps commander in April 1942, having been placed in the Führerreserve without another command forthcoming. But I really wonder about Ziegler. Has any new evidence surfaced over the last 10 years?

[Stauffenberg II]

I am not sure if Ziegler did commit suicide. His death card shows "schwer verwundet", "[HOWA ????] Schußverltzg., "Rückenmark Entzündung" "Kreislaufschwäche".

His full name as per as birth register Mannheim: Karl Otto Hermann Wilhelm Wolfgang

btw: Both death cards show 15.10.1939 as DoD!

[askropp]

If he had been killed or mortally wounded by enemy action, he would have been made a hero by the propaganda. The Militärwochenblatt says he "verstarb durch Unglücksfall" and confirms the death date. If he shot himself on 14 October, this could be a cover up of his suicide. Or he really mishandled a handgun. It is difficult to imagine how he could have been wounded during the "Sitzkrieg" anyway.

[JakeV]

The card reads: "Thora[x] Schußverletzung, Rückenmark-Entzündung, Kreislaufsschwäche" (it was - and is - very usual for clerks to misspell medical terms).

No new insights from this one. It seems as though the wound was not immediately fatal (it takes some time for "spinal cord inflammation" to develop).

I think it would be extremely unusual for a public announcement to say that an officer committed suicide, so the Militär-Wochenblatt claim is equivocal. Also, in Nazi Germany, even official documents were falsified to cover up unwanted facts. For example, the card of General der Artillerie Dr. phil. h.c. Dr. Ing. Karl Becker says he died of a stroke, as does the death certificate ("stroke, sudden death").

Regards

[graveland]

Thank you, boys.

[Rittmeister22]

Small addition:

Karl Otto Hermann Wilhelm Wolfgang Ziegler was the older brother of Oberst der Reserve Gerhard Edgar Wilhelm Christian Friedrich Georg "Gerhard-Georg" Ziegler (viewtopic.php?f=5&t=275788).