Adrian Freiherr von Fölkersam 20 December 1914 – 21 January 1945) was a German Brandenburger and

Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...

officer in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Career

Fölkersam was born into an aristocratic

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

family with a long record of service to the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. Fölkersam's family fled Russia after the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

and settled in

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. From 1934 he attended university in Munich, Königsberg and Vienna studying economics, at this time he became a member of the National Socialist movement and the SA. Fölkersam joined the Brandenburgers in May 1940, forming a special unit comprising ''

Volksdeutsche In Nazi Germany, Nazi German terminology, () were "people whose language and culture had Germans, German origins but who did not hold German citizenship." The term is the nominalised plural of ''wikt:volksdeutsch, volksdeutsch'', with denoting ...

'' (ethnic Germans) of Russian origin. His unit was active extensively during

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

, and he even led an operation to capture the Maikop oilfields with his men dressed as an NKVD detachment. In 1944 Fölkersam's unit transferred to the

and became the major part of ''SS-Jagdverband Ost''. This unit was active on the Eastern Front and took part in the kidnapping of Miklós Horthy Jr. and the deposition of his father, the Hungarian regent

Miklós Horthy Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya (18 June 1868 – 9 February 1957) was a Hungarian admiral and statesman who was the Regent of Hungary, regent of the Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946), Kingdom of Hungary Hungary between the World Wars, during the ...

Operation Panzerfaust Operation Panzerfaust () was a military operation undertaken in October 1944 by the German to ensure the Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946), Kingdom of Hungary would remain a German ally in World War II. When German leader Adolf Hitler received wo ...

. During the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive or Unternehmen Die Wacht am Rhein, Wacht am Rhein, was the last major German Offensive (military), offensive Military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western ...

, Fölkersam participated in

Operation Greif Operation Greif ( () was a special operation commanded by ''Waffen-SS'' commando Otto Skorzeny during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. The operation was the brainchild of Adolf Hitler, and its purpose was to capture one or more of the brid ...

, and worked in close coordination with

Otto Skorzeny Otto Johann Anton Skorzeny (12 June 1908 – 5 July 1975) was an Austrian-born German SS-''Standartenführer'' in the ''Waffen-SS'' during World War II. During the war, he was involved in a number of operations, including the removal from power ...

. In January 1945, having posted to the Eastern Front, he fought against the advancing

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

in central

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Adrian von Fölkersam was killed in action on 21 January 1945 near

Inowrocław Inowrocław (; , ) is a city in central Poland with a total population of 68,101 (as of December 2022). It is situated in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is one of the largest and most historically significant cities within the historic re ...

, Poland. At the time of his death, he was an SS-Hauptsturmführer (captain), and was in command of the ''SS-Jagdverband Ost''.

Awards

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

(1939) 2nd and 1st Class *

Infantry Assault Badge The Infantry Assault Badge () was a German military decoration awarded to Waffen-SS and ''Wehrmacht Heer'' soldiers during the Second World War. This decoration was instituted on 20 December 1939 by the Commander-in-Chief (''Oberbefehlshaber'' ...

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (), or simply the Knight's Cross (), and its variants, were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. While it was order of precedence, lower in preceden ...

on 14 September 1942 as Leutnant der Reserve and adjutant in the Stab of the I./Lehr-Regiment z.b.V. 800 "Brandenburg"Scherzer 2007, p. 313.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Mortimer, Gavin. (2012)
Daring Dozen, 12 Special Forces Legends of World War II
Osprey Publishing. . * {{DEFAULTSORT:Folkersam, Adrian von 1914 births 1945 deaths Military personnel from Saint Petersburg German World War II special forces Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross SS-Sturmbannführer Baltic-German nobility Sturmabteilung personnel Latvian emigrants to Germany Nobility in the Nazi Party 20th-century German nobility Waffen-SS personnel killed in action