Curt von Gottberg
| Curt von Gottberg | |
|---|---|
Curt von Gottberg (left) and Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski In Minsk, 1943.
|
|
| Born |
11 February 1896 Preussisch Wilten, East Prussia |
| Died | 31 May 1945 (aged 49) Flensburg, Germany |
| Allegiance |
 German Empire
|
| Years of service | 1914–18 |
| Unit | Prussian Army |
| Awards | Iron Cross 2nd and 1st Class |
| Free corps and SS career | |
| Allegiance |
 Weimar Republic Nazi Germany
|
| Service/branch |
 Waffen SS
|
| Years of service | 1919–20 1933–45 |
| Rank | Obergruppenführer |
| Service number |
NSDAP #948,753 SS #45,923 |
| Unit |
Marinebrigade Ehrhardt Waffen-SS |
| Commands held | "Combat group von Gottberg" (Kampfgruppe v.G.) XII SS-Armeekorps |
| Awards | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross |
Curt von Gottberg (11 February 1896 – 31 May 1945) was a high-ranking Nazi official and SS commander. Beginning in October 1942, within a few years he had personally combined the highest civil and military powers in occupied Belarus: from March 1943 as representative of the Higher SS and Police Leader for central Russia, and from October 1943 as the acting Commissioner-General (Generalkommissar) of the occupied Belorussian SSR.
Gottberg is known to have personally ordered many war crimes, and to have commanded units that committed atrocities against the civilian population of occupied territories. After the end of the war, he was arrested and committed suicide while in custody.
Gottberg was born in East Prussia, to an old Farther Pomeranian aristocratic family. After a training in agricultural management, from 1912, he fought in World War I, serving from 2 August 1914. He served through nearly the entire war, receiving numerous bullet and shell wounds, and was decorated with the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class. Along with other demobilised officers, he then joined the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt (a Freikorps). Gottberg returned to East Prussia in 1924, finished his agricultural training and until the end of the 1920s managed personal estates near Königsberg.
Following a common route for former Freikorps members, Gottberg joined the SA in 1931, and the NDSAP in February 1932. In September 1932 he joined the SS. By the end of 1933, as an SS-Sturmbannführer, he was head of the 3rd battalion of the SS Verfügungstruppe regiment 1 in Ellwangen: the desire to construct a military force (the basis for the Waffen-SS) compelled the SS leadership to rely on trained military personnel from World War I.
...
Wikipedia