Anton

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empir ...

von Hohberg und Buchwald (21 September 1885 – 2 July 1934 (date estimated)) was a German officer in the

Prussian Army The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power. The Prussian Army had its roots in the co ...

and also in the ''

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe ...

'' (SS). He was murdered on 2 July 1934.

Life

Hohberg was born in

Wismar Wismar (; Low German: ''Wismer''), officially the Hanseatic City of Wismar (''Hansestadt Wismar'') is, with around 43,000 inhabitants, the sixth-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the fourth-largest cit ...

Mecklenburg-Schwerin The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a duchy in northern Germany created in 1701, when Frederick William and Adolphus Frederick II divided the Duchy of Mecklenburg between Schwerin and Strelitz. Ruled by the successors of the Nikloting Hou ...

, and started a career as a

Cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...

officer in the

German Imperial Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (german: Deutsches Heer), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the l ...

. He served throughout

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

as a ''Rittmeister'' (captain) and was retired after 1918. After his dismissal, he went to his family's manor in Dulzen near Preussisch Eylau,

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label= Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...

, where he started to work as a farmer. In 1909 he married Gertrud von Rheinbaben (1888–1949), daughter of Prussian Minister of Interior and Finances , but divorced in 1912 after a duel with Horst

von Blumenthal The von Blumenthal family are Lutheran and Roman Catholic German nobility, originally from Brandenburg-Prussia. Other (unrelated) families of this name exist in Switzerland and formerly in Russia, and many unrelated families (quite a few of them Je ...

, whom she then married. Around 1930 he joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party and was temporarily a member of the staff of East Prussian SS leader Erich von dem Bach–Zelewski, but came into personal conflicts with him. On 14 May 1934, Hohberg was dismissed as SS–''Oberabschnittsreiterführer'' (regional SS Cavalry leader) with a rank of SS-''

Obersturmführer __NOTOC__ (, ; short: ''Ostuf'') was a Nazi Germany paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organisations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. The rank of ''Obersturmführer'' was first created in 1932 as the result of an expa ...

'' (first lieutenant). During the

Night of the Long Knives The Night of the Long Knives (German: ), or the Röhm purge (German: ''Röhm-Putsch''), also called Operation Hummingbird (German: ''Unternehmen Kolibri''), was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from 30 June to 2 July 1934. Chancellor Ad ...

, von dem Bach gave the order to kill Hohberg. Most probably on 2 July 1934, Hohberg was shot in his manor house in Dulzen by SS-''Scharführer'' Zummach (von dem Bach's chauffeur) and SS-''Obersturmführer'' Carl Reinhard. Hohberg was one of the few SS-members, and probably the highest-ranking one, killed in the Röhm-Putsch.

Aftermath

Von dem Bach-Zelewski was a high-ranking SS-officer throughout

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. On 16 January 1961, he was sentenced to four and a half years imprisonment by a West German court for the Hohberg murder. He died in prison in 1972.Wojskowy Instytut Historyczny: Historia Militaris Polonica. 1974, S. 273

Notes

References

*Alfred Gerigk: Deutschland und das Weltgeschehen, 1961, p. 285 *Bernt Engelmann: , 1975, p. 328 *Heinz Höhne: Der Orden unter dem Totenkopf. Die Geschichte der SS, 1967, p. 115 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hohberg Und Buchwald, Anton Von 1885 births 1934 deaths Barons of Germany German Army personnel of World War I People from Wismar People from the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin SS-Obersturmführer Victims of the Night of the Long Knives People from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania executed by Nazi Germany Executed German people People executed by Germany by firearm