Rupprecht Gerngroß
Encyclopedia
Rupprecht Gerngroß was a German
lawyer
and leader of the Freiheitsaktion Bayern, the FAB, (English:Bavarian freedom initiative), a group involved in an attempt to overthrow the Nazis in Munich
in April 1945.
in 1915, to German
parents who both originated from Munich
. He returned with his family to Germany after the First World War and was educated in Munich.
He served as a volunteer in the Wehrmacht
during the Second World War, was promoted to officer and was wounded. Recovering in a hospital in Poland
, he witnessed the execution of a group of Jewish people, an event which turned his opinion against the Nazis.
Upon his return he was put in charge of an interpreter company in the Bavaria
n capital. Within this unit he found a group of people who were unconvinced of the Nazi ideals and ideas and he managed to arm his officially unarmed company. From 1942, this company formed the heart of the Freiheitsaktion Bayern, but it also involved a number of civilians. All up, the resistance movement had a strength of about 400 people. Jürgen Wittenstein, a friend of the members of the Weiße Rose, collected weapons for the movement from wounded soldiers at the Italian front
, where he had volunteered to serve in order to escape the Gestapo
.
During the war, he managed to complete his law degree at the University of Erlangen in 1942.
In the final days of the war, when the order was issued to defend Munich to the last man by blowing up all bridges and using the Munich trams to form barricades, he decided to resist this order to prevent a complete destruction of the infrastructure of the city.
in an interpreter company in Munich. On the morning of 28 April 1945, he ordered the occupation of the radio transmitters in Freimann
and Erding
and he broadcast messages in multiple languages, encouraging soldiers to resist the Nazi regime. He proclaimed a hunt for the golden pheasants (German:Jagd auf die Goldfasane), this being a popular nickname for NSDAP officials due to the color of their uniforms, and encouraged people to display white flags from their homes as a sign of surrender. His group also occupied the Munich city hall and the headquarters of the Völkischer Beobachter
and Münchner Neuesten Nachrichten, two newspapers vital to the Nazi propaganda. The claim that the Freiheitsaktion had taken control over Munich was however premature and led to other uprisings against the Nazis in the region, which were often brutally suppressed by the SS.
Gerngroß's attempt to stop further bloodshed was quickly crushed by the Nazi and SS units still loyal to the collapsing regime. Paul Giesler
, Gauleiter
of the Gau Munich-Upper Bavaria was personally involved in putting it down. While Gerngroß escaped into the mountains, many others of his movement did not and more than forty were executed hours before the liberation of the city.
While unsuccessful in liberating Munich that day, Gerngroß did save a number of lives through his action. The prisoners of the Dachau concentration camp were supposed to be sent on a death march
south with their SS guards to be used as laborers in the Alpenfestung. His broadcast triggered an uprising in Dachau and the SS left in panic, abandoning the inmates who were liberated by the arriving US forces soon thereafter. He is also credited with saving the city of Munich from further destruction, and is therefore considered to be the leader of the only successful putsch against Hitler. His announcement of the end of the Nazis in Munich led many German soldiers to desert the lost cause and the US forces arriving in Munich on 30 April experienced virtually no resistance when taking the city.
Franz Ritter von Epp, Reichskommissar
of Bavaria
, refused his support to the movement, contributing to its failure to succeed completely. Gerngroß had counted on his support.
Junk
in Hong Kong
. He took it across the Indian Ocean
, sailing to the Mediterranean Sea
, where it supposedly was the only one of its kind traveling the Adriatic Sea
. He named the boat Mau Yee (German:Münchner Freiheit). Gerngroß sailed through the Adriatic for another twenty years before eventually returning to Munich, dying there in 1996.
was renamed Münchner Freiheit
(Munich liberty) to commemorate the courageous attempt to free Munich from the Nazis in the last days of the Second World War.
While the Freiheitsaktion Bayern was a failure from a military point of view, it did prevent the further destruction of Munich and sped up the collapse of the Nazi regime in the city. The US occupation authorities acknowledged this fact by recognising the FAB and asking the surviving members to support the Counterintelligence Corps - CIC but the group declined.
Upon her death in 2001, his widow left a substantial amount of documents about the FAB, collected by Gerngroß, to the Bavarian state archives.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
and leader of the Freiheitsaktion Bayern, the FAB, (English:Bavarian freedom initiative), a group involved in an attempt to overthrow the Nazis in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
in April 1945.
Life
Rupprecht Gerngroß was born in ShanghaiShanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
in 1915, to German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
parents who both originated from Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. He returned with his family to Germany after the First World War and was educated in Munich.
He served as a volunteer in the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
during the Second World War, was promoted to officer and was wounded. Recovering in a hospital in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, he witnessed the execution of a group of Jewish people, an event which turned his opinion against the Nazis.
Upon his return he was put in charge of an interpreter company in the Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n capital. Within this unit he found a group of people who were unconvinced of the Nazi ideals and ideas and he managed to arm his officially unarmed company. From 1942, this company formed the heart of the Freiheitsaktion Bayern, but it also involved a number of civilians. All up, the resistance movement had a strength of about 400 people. Jürgen Wittenstein, a friend of the members of the Weiße Rose, collected weapons for the movement from wounded soldiers at the Italian front
Italian Campaign (World War II)
The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war in Europe. Joint Allied Forces Headquarters AFHQ was operationally responsible for all Allied land forces in the Mediterranean theatre, and it planned and commanded the...
, where he had volunteered to serve in order to escape the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
.
During the war, he managed to complete his law degree at the University of Erlangen in 1942.
In the final days of the war, when the order was issued to defend Munich to the last man by blowing up all bridges and using the Munich trams to form barricades, he decided to resist this order to prevent a complete destruction of the infrastructure of the city.
Freiheitsaktion Bayern
In the final days of the Second World War, Gerngroß was serving as a CaptainCaptain (OF-2)
The army rank of captain is a commissioned officer rank historically corresponding to command of a company of soldiers. The rank is also used by some air forces and marine forces. Today a captain is typically either the commander or second-in-command of a company or artillery battery...
in an interpreter company in Munich. On the morning of 28 April 1945, he ordered the occupation of the radio transmitters in Freimann
Freimann
Freimann or Freiman may refer to:Freimann* Freimann , an underground railway station in Munich, Germany* Studentenstadt Freimann, a student housing complex in Munich, Germany...
and Erding
Erding
Erding is a town in Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district Erding. It had a population of 34,122 in 2004. It is twinned with Bastia in CorsicaThe original Erdinger Weissbier is a well-known Bavarian specialty...
and he broadcast messages in multiple languages, encouraging soldiers to resist the Nazi regime. He proclaimed a hunt for the golden pheasants (German:Jagd auf die Goldfasane), this being a popular nickname for NSDAP officials due to the color of their uniforms, and encouraged people to display white flags from their homes as a sign of surrender. His group also occupied the Munich city hall and the headquarters of the Völkischer Beobachter
Völkischer Beobachter
The Völkischer Beobachter was the newspaper of the National Socialist German Workers' Party from 1920. It first appeared weekly, then daily from February 8, 1923...
and Münchner Neuesten Nachrichten, two newspapers vital to the Nazi propaganda. The claim that the Freiheitsaktion had taken control over Munich was however premature and led to other uprisings against the Nazis in the region, which were often brutally suppressed by the SS.
Gerngroß's attempt to stop further bloodshed was quickly crushed by the Nazi and SS units still loyal to the collapsing regime. Paul Giesler
Paul Giesler
Paul Giesler was a member of the NSDAP, from 1941 NSDAP Gauleiter of Westphalia-South and as of 1942 also acting Gauleiter of the Gau Munich-Upper Bavaria...
, Gauleiter
Gauleiter
A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau.-Creation and Early Usage:...
of the Gau Munich-Upper Bavaria was personally involved in putting it down. While Gerngroß escaped into the mountains, many others of his movement did not and more than forty were executed hours before the liberation of the city.
While unsuccessful in liberating Munich that day, Gerngroß did save a number of lives through his action. The prisoners of the Dachau concentration camp were supposed to be sent on a death march
Death march
A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees. Those marching must walk over long distances for an extremely long period of time and are not supplied with food or water...
south with their SS guards to be used as laborers in the Alpenfestung. His broadcast triggered an uprising in Dachau and the SS left in panic, abandoning the inmates who were liberated by the arriving US forces soon thereafter. He is also credited with saving the city of Munich from further destruction, and is therefore considered to be the leader of the only successful putsch against Hitler. His announcement of the end of the Nazis in Munich led many German soldiers to desert the lost cause and the US forces arriving in Munich on 30 April experienced virtually no resistance when taking the city.
Franz Ritter von Epp, Reichskommissar
Reichskommissar
Reichskommissar , in German history, was an official gubernatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and the Nazi Third Reich....
of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, refused his support to the movement, contributing to its failure to succeed completely. Gerngroß had counted on his support.
After the war
In 1962, Gerngroß ordered a ChineseChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
Junk
Junk (ship)
A junk is an ancient Chinese sailing vessel design still in use today. Junks were developed during the Han Dynasty and were used as sea-going vessels as early as the 2nd century AD. They evolved in the later dynasties, and were used throughout Asia for extensive ocean voyages...
in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. He took it across the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
, sailing to the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
, where it supposedly was the only one of its kind traveling the Adriatic Sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
. He named the boat Mau Yee (German:Münchner Freiheit). Gerngroß sailed through the Adriatic for another twenty years before eventually returning to Munich, dying there in 1996.
Legacy
Gerngroß remains almost forgotten within the small German resistance movement. In 1946, the Feilitzschplatz in the Munich suburb of SchwabingSchwabing
Schwabing is a borough in the northern part of Munich, the capital of the German state of Bavaria. It is divided into the city borough 4 and the city borough 12...
was renamed Münchner Freiheit
Münchner Freiheit
The Münchner Freiheit is a square in Munich's Schwabing, near the English Garden. It is a popular tourist attraction, especially during winter when one of Munich's largest Christmas markets takes place....
(Munich liberty) to commemorate the courageous attempt to free Munich from the Nazis in the last days of the Second World War.
While the Freiheitsaktion Bayern was a failure from a military point of view, it did prevent the further destruction of Munich and sped up the collapse of the Nazi regime in the city. The US occupation authorities acknowledged this fact by recognising the FAB and asking the surviving members to support the Counterintelligence Corps - CIC but the group declined.
Upon her death in 2001, his widow left a substantial amount of documents about the FAB, collected by Gerngroß, to the Bavarian state archives.
Assassination attempts on Hitler
On two occasions, Gerngroß apparently tried to assassinate Hitler.Further reading
- So war das damals 1945 mit der Freiheits Aktion Bayern, FAB (in German) by Rupprecht Gerngross, 1970
External links
Sources
- Schwabing · Der vergessene Held (in German) Münchner Wochen Anzeiger: Article on the 60th anniversary of the "Freiheitsaktion Bayern"
- BR-Online: Interview with Felix Heidenberger about the Freiheitsaktion Bayern (in German)
- Nuclear age peace foundation - "The White Rose:" Student Resistance in Germany During WWII