Wilhelm Burgdorf

Wilhelm Burgdorf
Wilhelm Burgdorf
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918) Weimar Republic (to 1933) Nazi Germany
Service / branch	Heer
Rank	General der Infanterie
Commands	Infanterie-Regiment 529
Battles / wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Wilhelm Burgdorf (14 February 1895 – 2 May 1945) was a German officer. Born in Fürstenwalde, Burgdorf served as a commander and staff officer in the German Army during World War II.

Military career

Burgdorf joined the German Army (Reichsheer) at the outbreak of World War I as an officer cadet and was commissioned as an infantry officer in Grenadier Regiment 12 in 1915. Between the wars he served in the Reichswehr and was promoted to captain in 1930. In 1935 he became an instructor in tactics at the military academy in Dresden with the rank of major and was appointed an adjutant on the staff of the IX corps in 1937. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1938 and served as the commander of the 529th Infantry Regiment from May 1940 to April 1942. In May 1942 he became deputy chief of the personnel department of the German army and was promoted to chief of the department in October 1944. He held this position until his death.

Erwin Rommel

From October 1944, Burgdorf also served as Adolf Hitler's chief adjutant. As part of this function, he played a key role in the death of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Rommel had been implicated as having a peripheral role in the bomb plot of 20 July 1944, in which an attempt was made to assassinate Hitler. Hitler recognised that to haul the most popular general in Germany before a People's Court would cause a scandal throughout Germany and accordingly arranged a face-saving manoevre.

On 14 October 1944, Burgdorf, with General Ernst Maisel, arrived at the Rommel home. Burgdorf had been instructed by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel to offer Rommel a choice — take poison, receive a state funeral, and obtain immunity for his family and staff, or face a trial for treason. Rommel drove away with Burgdorf and Maisel. Rommel's family received a telephone call 10 minutes later saying that he had died.

Berlin

Burgdorf joined Hitler in the Führerbunker in 1945 during the Battle of Berlin. Many of Burgdorf's activities in Berlin at this time were documented by the writings of Gerhardt Boldt, a German soldier who wrote about his observations and experiences in the Führerbunker.

On 28 April, when it was discovered that Heinrich Himmler was trying to negotiate a surrender to the Allies via Count Folke Bernadotte, Burgdorf became part of a tribunal set up by Hitler to court-martial associates of Himmler who could be rounded up in Berlin. One person to face this tribunal was Hermann Fegelein, Eva Braun's brother-in-law. General Wilhelm Mohnke presided over the tribunal, which, in addition to Burgdorf and Mohnke, included Generals Hans Krebs and Johann Rattenhuber.

On 29 April 1945, Burgdorf, Krebs, Joseph Goebbels, and Martin Bormann witnessed and signed Hitler's last will and testament. On 1 May or 2 May, following the suicides of Hitler and Goebbels, Burgdorf and his colleague Chief of Staff Hans Krebs also committed suicide. The bodies of Krebs and Burgdorf were found when Soviet personnel entered the bunker.

Portrayal in the media

Wilhelm Burgdorf has been portrayed by the following actors in film and television productions.

• Everett Sloane in the 1951 United States drama The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel.
• Erik Frey in the 1955 West German film Der Letzte Akt (Hitler: The Last Ten Days).
• Peter Jacob in the 1966 French/U.S. film Paris brûle-t-il? (Is Paris Burning?).
• Hector Ross in the 1973 British television production The Death of Adolf Hitler.
• Joss Ackland in the 1973 British film Hitler: The Last Ten Days.
• Justus von Dohnányi in the 2004 German film Downfall (Der Untergang).
• Paul Gustavson in the 2006 United States documentary Rommel and the Plot Against Hitler.

See also

• Last will and testament of Adolf Hitler

Bibliography

• Lehrer, Steven (2006). The Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker Complex: An Illustrated History of the Seat of the Nazi Regime. McFarland. p. 214. ISBN 0786423935.
• Lehrer, Steven (2002). Hitler Sites: A City-by-city Guidebook (Austria, Germany, France, United States). McFarland. p. 224. ISBN 0786410450.

• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945. Friedburg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas, 2000. ISBN 3-7909-0284-5.
• Lexikon der Wehrmacht. Personenregister. Burgdorf, Wilhelm. [2] This website is maintained by Volksbund Deutscher Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V., a non-governmental charity that cares for German World War II military graves and the remains of Hitler's soldiers, both in Germany and in other parts of the world. See Hitler Sites: A City-by-city Guidebook (Austria, Germany, France, United States) for further detail.