Helmut Beck-Broichsitter

Helmut Beck-Broichsitter
Born	(1914-08-30)30 August 1914 Kiel
Died	25 September 2000(2000-09-25) (aged 86) Heist
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Heer
Years of service	1935–45
Rank	Major im Generalstab
Unit	Infantry Regiment Großdeutschland
Battles/wars	World War II Battle of France Battle of Sedan (1940) Battle of Dunkirk Invasion of Yugoslavia Operation Barbarossa Battle of Białystok–Minsk Yelnya Offensive Battle of Kiev (1941) Battle of Memel East Prussian Offensive
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Other work	Police officer

Helmut Beck-Broichsitter (30 August 1914 – 25 September 2000) was a Major i.G in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes). The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.

Career

Beck-Broichsitter became a member of the Nazi Party in 1931, of the Sturmabteilung in 1932 and of the police in 1939. In the years till 1944 he served in Feldgendarmerie units and combated partisans behind the lines.

After the war Beck-Broichsitter founded the "Bruderschaft" (Fraternity) in 1949 of former officers of the Wehrmacht. The ideological basis of the brotherhood laid in the National Socialist and conservative revolutionary ideology of the Weimar time. Beck-Broichsitter focus was in a front against Bolshevism. Accused of spying for the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution he resigned from leadership. He later joined the openly Nazi orientated Socialist Reich Party.

Awards and decorations

• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class
  • 1st Class
• Wound Badge
  • in Black
  • in Silver
• Infantry Assault Badge
• Eastern Front Medal
• Honour Roll Clasp of the Army (7 June 1943)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 4 September 1940 as Oberleutnant and Chef of 14.(Panzer-Jäger)/Infanterie-Regiment "Großdeutschland"

References

Bibliography

• Breitman, Richard and Goda, Norman J. W. (2010). Hitler's shadow: Nazi war criminals, U.S. intelligence, and the Cold War. DIANE Publishing, ISBN 978-1-4379-4429-7.
• Brunner, Bernhard (2004). Der Frankreich-Komplex: die nationalsozialistischen Verbrechen in Frankreich und die Justiz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. (in German). Wallstein. ISBN 3-89244-693-8.
• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Huß, Jürgen; Viohl, Armin (2003). Die Ritterkreuzträger des Eisernen Kreuzes der preußischen Provinz Schleswig-Holstein und der Freien und Hansestadt Lübeck 1939–1945 (in German). Zweibrücken, Germany: VDM Heinz Nickel. ISBN 978-3-925480-79-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Searle, Alaric (2003). Wehrmacht Generals, West German Society, and the Debate on Rearmament, 1949–1959. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. ISBN 978-0-275-97968-3.

External links

• World War 2 Awards.com
• Ritterkreuztraeger 1939-1945
• Beate Baldow, Episode oder Gefahr? Die Naumann-Affäre. Diss. phil. FU Berlin 2012, passim about Beck-Broichsitter and his "brotherhood" of old Nazis (Deutsche Bruderschaft) in post-war times (in German)