Joachim Albrecht Eggeling - Misplaced Pages

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Joachim Albrecht Eggeling" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

German Nazi, Gauleiter, SS-Obergruppenführer

Joachim Albrecht Eggeling
Joachim Albrecht Eggeling, 1936

Gauleiter of Halle-Merseburg
In office 20 April 1937 – 15 April 1945
Appointed by	Adolf Hitler
Preceded by	Rudolf Jordan
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Oberpräsident of Halle-Merseburg
In office 18 August 1944 – 15 April 1945
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Acting Gauleiter of Magdeburg-Anhalt
In office 23 October 1935 – 20 April 1937
Appointed by	Adolf Hitler
Preceded by	Wilhelm Friedrich Loeper
Succeeded by	Rudolf Jordan
Deputy Gauleiter of Magdeburg-Anhalt
In office 1933 – 10 February 1936
Preceded by	Paul Hofmann
Succeeded by	Rudolf Trautmann

Personal details
Born	(1884-11-30)30 November 1884 Blankenburg am Harz, Duchy of Brunswick, German Empire
Died	15 April 1945(1945-04-15) (aged 60) Moritzburg Castle, Halle, Nazi Germany
Cause of death	Suicide by gunshot
Political party	Nazi Party (NSDAP)
Occupation	Soldier Agriculturist
Military service
Allegiance	German Empire
Branch/service	Imperial German Army
Years of service	1904–1919
Rank	Hauptmann
Unit	10th Hanoverian Jäger Battalion
Battles/wars	World War I
Awards	Iron Cross

Joachim Albrecht Leo Eggeling (30 November 1884 – 15 April 1945) was the German Nazi Gauleiter of Halle-Merseburg and the Oberpräsident (High President) of the Province of Halle-Merseburg. He was also an SS-Obergruppenführer.

Early years

Eggeling was born in Blankenburg am Harz in the Duchy of Brunswick. A farmer's son, Eggeling went to the Bürgerschule (a type of vocational school once found in some parts of Germany) and the Gymnasium in Blankenburg. Between 1898 and 1904 he completed officer training at the cadet schools at Oranienstein and Groß-Lichterfelde.

He completed the cadet school and was commissioned Leutnant (Second lieutenant) in March 1904. Eggeling was subsequently assigned to the 10th Hanoverian Jäger Battalion in Goslar, Lower Saxony. He served with that unit until early 1913, when he was promoted to Oberleutnant (First lieutenant) and transferred to the 7th Machine Gun Detachment (Maschinengewehr Abteilung Nr. 7) assigned to the 1st Battalion of 158th Lorraine Infantry Regiment.

Following the outbreak of World War I, Eggeling was promoted to Hauptmann (Captain) in January 1915 and assumed command of the 5th Machine Gun Detachment (Maschinengewehr Abteilung Nr. 5) assigned to East Prussian 45th Infantry Regiment. He participated in the combats on the Eastern Front until the end of September 1916, when his Detachment was transferred to the Western Front.

While there, Eggeling participated in the combats in Belgium and France and was wounded three times. For his service during the War, he was awarded the Iron Cross, first and second class, both classes of Oldenburg Friedrich-August-Kreuz, and also received Austrian Military Merit Cross, 3rd Class with War Decoration.

After November 1918, he fought as a member of the Goslar riflemen against the left-wing Marxist Spartacus League in Hanover. In October 1919 Eggeling retired from the army and attended the Agricultural College at Halle until 1922. He completed his studies at the age of 35 and began work as an agriculturist. In November 1922 he was administering the state agricultural farm at Frose in Anhalt.

Nazi Party career

Eggeling first joined the Nazi Party in September 1923 shortly before it was banned in the wake of the Beer Hall Putsch. He rejoined on 28 July 1925 (member number: 11,579) after the ban on the Party was lifted. He founded several ortsgruppen (local groups) in Anhalt in 1926, and from 1926 to 1930 was the agricultural policy advisor to the Gauleiter of Anhalt-Sachsen-Nord. In 1930, Eggeling organized the agrarian policy apparatus in Gau Magdeburg-Anhalt. In 1933 he was named Deputy Gauleiter for Gau Magdeburg-Anhalt. In May 1933, he became a member of the Anhalt State Council (Staatsrat). In June 1933 he was appointed provincial agricultural leader (Landesbauernführer) of both Anhalt and the Prussian Province of Saxony. Eggeling's skills so impressed his superiors that he was elected to the Reichstag from electoral constituency 10 (Magdeburg) in November, 1933. In 1934 he was appointed to the Prussian Provincial Council for the Province of Saxony.

After Gauleiter Wilhelm Friedrich Loeper's death on 23 October 1935, Eggeling, as Deputy Gauleiter, was charged with the leadership of the Gau's business, and was formally named Acting Gauleiter on 10 February 1936. Owing to this, he was granted leave from his job as a provincial agricultural leader at that time. In June of the same year, Eggeling joined the SS (membership number: 186,515). He was given the honorary rank of SS-Brigadeführer and attached to the staff of the Reichsführer-SS.

On 20 April 1937 Eggeling was appointed Gauleiter of Gau Halle-Merseburg, succeeding Rudolf Jordan. At the same time, he was elected to the Prussian State Council and promoted to SS-Gruppenführer. On 10 April 1938, he was elected to the Reichstag for constituency 11 (Merseburg). In April 1941, he became a member of the Reich Advisory Council for Food and Agriculture. On 16 November 1942, he was named Reich Defense Commissioner for his Gau.

On 21 June 1943, Eggeling was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer. On 18 August 1944 he was appointed Oberpräsident of the newly created Province of Halle-Merseburg. He thus united under his control the highest party and governmental offices in the province. In September 1944, he assumed command of the recently established Volkssturm units in his Gau. On 13 April, 1945, convinced of the futility of defending the town of Halle, overcrowded with thousands of refugees, from the advancing American troops, Eggeling traveled to the Führerbunker to try and get Adolf Hitler to rescind his unconditional order to defend to the death. He first raised the issue of a peaceful handover of the city with Martin Bormann, Personal Secretary to the Führer, who warned Eggeling that this would result in his execution and the extermination of his family. At their meeting, Hitler ordered Eggeling to continue to defend the city to the last man. Having failed in his mission, Eggeling returned to Halle and committed suicide by gunshot at Moritzburg Castle on 15 April.

Awards and decorations

1914 Iron Cross, second and first class
1914 Wound Badge in black
Friedrich-August-Kreuz, second and first class
Austrian Military Merit Cross, 3rd Class with War Decoration
Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918
Golden Party Badge
War Merit Cross Second Class and First Class without swords
SS Honour Ring
Sword of honour of the Reichsführer-SS

Notes

^ Williams 2015, p. 286.
^ Ailsby 1997, p. 39.
Ailsby 1997, pp. 39–40.
Miller & Schulz 2012, p. 128.
^ Ailsby 1997, p. 40.
Miller & Schulz 2012, pp. 129–130.
Miller & Schulz 2012, p. 132.
Miller & Schulz 2012, pp. 130–134.
Miller & Schulz 2012, p. 134.

References

Ailsby, Christopher (1997). SS: Roll of Infamy. Motorbooks Intl. ISBN 0760304092.
Miller, Michael D.; Schulz, Andreas (2012). Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925-1945. Vol. I (Herbert Albrecht – H. Wilhelm Huttmann). R. James Bender Publishing. ISBN 978-1-932970-21-0.
Williams, Max (2015). SS Elite: The Senior Leaders of Hitler's Praetorian Guard. Vol. I. Fonthill Media LLC. ISBN 978-1-78155-433-3.

External links

Media related to Joachim Albrecht Eggeling at Wikimedia Commons
Information about Joachim Albrecht Eggeling in the Reichstag database

Categories: