Peter Fritz Theodor Wilhelm Hans Poleck (8 November 1905 in Lissa – 27 November 1989) was a

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

officer during

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 ...

. He was notable for being a delegate at the

German surrender at Lüneburg Heath On 4 May 1945, at 18:30 British Double Summer Time, at Lüneburg Heath, south of Hamburg, British Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery accepted the unconditional surrender of the German forces in the Netherlands, northwest Germany including ...

as a member of the

Oberkommando der Wehrmacht The (; abbreviated OKW

ː kaːˈve The colon alphabetic letter is used in a number of languages and phonetic transcription systems, for vowel length in Americanist Phonetic Notation, for the vowels and in a number of languages of Papua New Guinea, and for grammatical tone in s ...

Armed Forces High Command) was the Command (military formation), supreme military command and control Staff (military), staff of Nazi Germany during World War II, that was directly subordinated to Adolf ...

(OKW) command group.

Marital status

He was Protestant and until his death in 1989 married with Ilse Poleck née Roeder. They had three sons.

Wehrmacht

Fritz Poleck belonged from 10 November 1938 to 31 March 1941 to the OKW. He was commanded on 1 April 1941 as First General Staff Officer (Ia) to the

170th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) The 170th Infantry Division (German: ''170. Infanterie-Division'') was a German Army (Heer) infantry division in World War II that specialized in cold-weather warfare, combined arms, conventional warfare, maneuver warfare, trench warfare, and ur ...

. With effect from 15 April 1943, its displacement was carried out in the guide reserve of the OKH. By 21 May 1943, he returned as a

Quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land army, armies, a quartermaster is an officer who supervises military logistics, logistics and requisitions, manages stores or barracks, and distri ...

to the

German General Staff The German General Staff, originally the Prussian General Staff and officially the Great General Staff (), was a full-time body at the head of the Prussian Army and later, the Imperial German Army, German Army, responsible for the continuous stu ...

Promotion to Major General

In this service position he was promoted in accordance with decision of 9 May 1945 retroactive to 20 April 1945 to major general.

Signing of the partial surrender

On 4 May 1945 on the Timeloberg at Wendisch Evern he was a signatory to the unconditional surrender to the British of the German forces in the Netherlands, in north west Germany including all islands, and in Denmark and all naval ships in those areas, with Admiral

Hans-Georg von Friedeburg Hans-Georg Friedrich Ludwig Robert von Friedeburg (15 July 1895 – 23 May 1945) was a German admiral, the deputy commander of the U-boat Forces of Nazi Germany and the second-to-last Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine. He was the only repr ...

, General

Eberhard Kinzel __NOTOC__ Eberhard Kinzel (18 October 1897 – 25 June 1945) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II who commanded several divisions. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Military career Kinzel w ...

, Rear Admiral Gerhard Wagner and Major Hans Jochen Friedel.

Postwar

After his release from captivity in 1947 Poleck completed a business training, which he finished on September 30, 1949. In October 1950 he joined the

Gehlen Organization The Gehlen Organization or Gehlen Org (often referred to as The Org) was an intelligence agency established in June 1946 by U.S. occupation authorities in the United States zone of post-war occupied Germany, and consisted of former members of the ...

, the forerunner of the

Federal Intelligence Service The Federal Intelligence Service (, ; BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Chancellor's Office. The BND headquarters is located in central Berlin. The BND has 300 locations in Germany and foreign cou ...

. In 1957, he joined the

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

. On 7 November 1957 Federal President

Theodor Heuss Theodor Heuss (; 31 January 1884 – 12 December 1963) was a German liberal politician who served as the first president of West Germany from 1949 to 1959. His civil demeanour and his cordial nature – something of a contrast to German nati ...

appointed Fritz Poleck to colonel. Poleck worked officially for the office for military customer. On 31 March 1964 Poleck retired from active service. He died on 27 November 1989.

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 Class (25 June 1940) ** 1st Class (5 August 1941) * German Cross in Gold (12 March 1942)Klaus D. Patzwall, Veit Scherzer: ''Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941-1945.'' Band II: ''Geschichte und Inhaber.'' Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt 2001, , p. 356. *Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Literature

Klaus D. Patzwall, Veit Scherzer: ''Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941-1945.'' Band II: ''Geschichte und Inhaber.'' Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt 2001, , S. 356.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poleck, Fritz 1905 births 1989 deaths German Army personnel of World War II Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany