Karl August Theodor Julius Nerger (25 February 1875 – 12 January 1947) was a naval officer of the Imperial German

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, who achieved fame and recognition during the war for his command of the

auxiliary cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...

'' SMS Wolf''. On 15 August 1945, Nerger was interned by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

at the Sachsenhausen NKVD camp where he died two years later.

Naval career

Nerger was born in

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

Mecklenburg-Schwerin The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin () was a duchy in northern Germany created in 1701, when Frederick William, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Frederick William and Adolphus Frederick II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Adolphus Frederick II divided ...

. Nerger had entered the Navy as a cadet in April 1893, and as a junior officer participated in the China Relief Expedition during the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

, where he had also been decorated for bravery and intrepidity. In Summer 1914, then-

Korvettenkapitän (; ) is the lowest ranking Field officer, senior officer in the German navy. Germany Korvettenkapitän, short: KKpt/in lists: KK, () is the lowest senior officer military rank, rank () in the German Navy. Address The official manner, in li ...

Nerger had taken command of the light cruiser SMS ''Stettin'', which he commanded until taking over SMS ''Wolf'' in March 1916. As captain of the ''Wolf'', he led the commerce raider on a 451-day expedition, the longest voyage of a warship during

, until May 1918, and was promoted to Fregattenkapitän on 13 January 1917. In May 1918, he became commander of minesweeper units of the

High Seas Fleet The High Seas Fleet () was the battle fleet of the German Empire, German Imperial German Navy, Imperial Navy and saw action during the First World War. In February 1907, the Home Fleet () was renamed the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpi ...

with the light cruiser as his

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

, a command he held until war's end. He retired on 25 July 1919, characterized as a

Kapitän zur See Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The rank is equal to the army rank of colonel and air force rank of group captain. Equivalent ranks worldwide include ...

Decorations and awards

For his exploits, Nerger was awarded the highest military decorations of the five main states of the German Empire, a feat achieved only by

Kaiser Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as the Hohenzollern dynasty ...

himself,

Franz Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the Grand title of the emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death ...

-Hungary, Field Marshals Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria, Duke Albrecht of Württemberg, and

Paul von Hindenburg Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German military and political leader who led the Imperial German Army during the First World War and later became President of Germany (1919� ...

, the Kaiser's son General Crown Prince Wilhelm, Nerger, and one other commerce raider captain, Nikolaus Burggraf und Graf zu Dohna-Schlodien. Nerger received

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

Pour le Mérite The (; , ), also informally known as the ''Blue Max'' () after German WWI flying ace Max Immelmann, is an order of merit established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. Separated into two classes, each with their own designs, the was ...

on 24 February 1918, the day SMS ''Wolf'' returned home. This was followed by

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

's Military Order of Max Joseph (28 March 1918), Knight's Cross of

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

's Military Order of St. Henry (25 February 1918),

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

's Military Merit Order, and

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

's Military Karl-Friedrich Merit Order. In addition to these highest awards of the major states, he also received the 1914

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 ...

1st and 2nd Class, the Knight's Cross with Swords of Prussia's Royal

House Order of Hohenzollern The House Order of Hohenzollern ( or ') was a dynastic order of knighthood of the House of Hohenzollern awarded to military commissioned officers and civilians of comparable status. Associated with the various versions of the order were crosses an ...

, the Military Merit Cross 1st and 2nd Class of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the Friedrich August Cross 1st and 2nd Class of Oldenburg, and the

Hanseatic Cross The Hanseatic Cross () was a military decoration of the three Hanseatic city-states of Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck, who were members of the German Empire during World War I. Each republic established its own version of the cross, but the design ...

es of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

and

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

Post-World War I

Nerger was named an honorary citizen of Rostock in 1919 and received an honorary degree in medicine from the

University of Rostock The University of Rostock () is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continental northern Europe and the Baltic Se ...

. Nerger resigned the German Navy almost immediately after the war and did not share the fame that other German commerce raiders enjoyed. Only with the rise of the Nazis to power was Nerger celebrated as a war hero in Germany again. In 1920 he began working for Siemens-Schuckert, where he rose to be in charge of factory security. Nerger benefited from the regime and its persecution of Jews, purchasing a Jewish-owned villa in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

in 1936 for a discount price after the owners were forced to flee. Whether he was involved with the supervision of slave labour used at Siemens during World War II in his role as head of security is unknown but, given his role in the company, historians think it likely. At the end of World War II, Nerger was arrested by the Soviets and incarcerated at the former

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners t ...

, which had become the NKVD special camp Nr. 7, where he died in January 1947. The official cause of death was reported as

cachexia Cachexia () is a syndrome that happens when people have certain illnesses, causing muscle loss that cannot be fully reversed with improved nutrition. It is most common in diseases like cancer, Heart failure, congestive heart failure, chronic o ...

, but, according to former inmate Heinz Masuch, Nerger was actually beaten to death by another inmate, Wilhelm Wagner, who ran a protection racket at the camp. Wagner was found not guilty for the crime, which he denied, in 1967 but sentenced to five years imprisonment for other assaults on inmates.Guilliatt & Hohnen, page 298

References

Literature

* Peter Hohnen & Richard Guilliatt, ''THE WOLF - The true story of an epic voyage of destruction in World War One'', 2009, Bantam Press, * Edwin P. Hoyt, ''Raider Wolf, The Voyage of Captain Nerger, 1916–1918'', New York 1974, . * Roy Alexander: ''The Cruise of the Raider Wolf'', Yale University Press, 1939.

External links

Report on the voyage of the ''Wolf''
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nerger, Karl August 1875 births 1947 deaths Military personnel from Rostock Military personnel from the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class) Knights of the Military Order of Max Joseph Recipients of the Hanseatic Cross (Bremen) Recipients of the Hanseatic Cross (Lübeck) World War II civilian prisoners People who died in NKVD special camp Nr. 7 German military personnel of the Boxer Rebellion Imperial German Navy personnel of World War I Counter admirals of the Kriegsmarine