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Alexander von Falkenhausen | |
|---|---|
 Falkenhausen in 1940 | |
| Birth name | Alexander Ernst Alfred Hermann Freiherr von Falkenhausen |
| Born | (1878-10-29)29 October 1878 |
| Died | 31 July 1966(1966-07-31) (aged 87) |
| Allegiance | German Empire Weimar Republic Republic of China Nazi Germany |
| Branch | Imperial German Army Reichswehr Republic of China Army German Army |
| Years of service | 1897–1930 1934–1944 |
| Rank | General der Infanterie |
| Battles / wars | Boxer Rebellion World War I Second Sino-Japanese War World War II |
| Awards | Pour le Mérite Order of the Sacred Tripod |
Alexander Ernst Alfred HermannFreiherr von Falkenhausen (29 October 1878 – 31 July 1966) was a German general and military advisor toChiang Kai-shek.[1][2][3] He was an important figure during theSino-German cooperation to reform the Chinese army. In 1938, Germany ended its support for China under pressure from Japan, and Falkenhausen was forced to return home.[4] Back in Europe, he later became the head of the military government of Belgium from 1940 to 1944 during itsGerman occupation.
Alexander von Falkenhausen was born atBlumenthal, near Neisse (nowNysa, Poland) in thePrussian province of Silesia, one of seven children of Baron Alexander von Falkenhausen (1844–1909) and his wife, Elisabeth. He attended a Gymnasium in Breslau (nowWrocław, Poland) and then the cadet school at Wahlstatt (nowLegnickie Pole). In his youth, Falkenhausen showed an interest inEastern Asia and its societies. He travelled and studied in Japan, northern China, Korea and Indochina from 1909 to 1911.
In 1897 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the 91st Oldenburg Infantry Regiment of theImperial German Army, taking part in quelling theBoxer Rebellion, and served as amilitary attaché in Japan from 1900 up until theFirst World War.[citation needed] He was awarded the prestigiousPour le Mérite award while serving with theOttoman Army inPalestine. After the war, he remained in theReichswehr (German Army) and in 1927 was appointed to head theDresden Infantry School.
In 1930, Falkenhausen retired from the service. In 1934, he went to China to jointhe German military advisors to the Chinese army. He became military advisor toChiang Kai-shek, the leader of theRepublic of China.[5] Von Falkenhausen was responsible for most of the military training of the army. Both had studied abroad in Japan, and their conversations were conducted directly in Japanese. They said that their friendship deepened because they did not use an interpreter.[6] The original plans byvon Seeckt called for a drastic reduction of the Chinese army to 60 elite divisions modeled on theWehrmacht. This would require disbanding some of the forces of regional leaders, and the question of which factions' troops would be axed remained a problem.
On 30 June 1934 Alexander's brother Hans Joachim von Falkenhausen, SA-Oberführer and Chief of staff to SA-GruppenführerGeorg von Detten, was killed by theSS in theNight of the Long Knives.
The Germans trained80,000 Chinese troops, in eight divisions, which formed the elite of Chiang's army. However, China was not ready to face Japan on equal terms. Chiang's decision to commit all of his new divisions in theBattle of Shanghai, despite objections from his own staff officers and von Falkenhausen, would cost him one-third of his best troops.[7] Chiang switched his strategy to preserve strength for the eventualChinese Civil War.
Von Falkenhausen recommended that Chiang fight awar of attrition as Falkenhausen calculated that Japan could not win a long-term war. He suggested that Chiang should hold theYellow River line, and not attack until later in the war. Also, Chiang should give up a number of provinces in northern China includingShandong. He also recommended construction of fortifications at strategically important locations to slow the Japanese advance.[8] Falkenhausen also advised the Chinese to establish a number ofguerrilla operations behind Japanese lines.[9]
In 1937,Nazi Germany allied with theEmpire of Japan which was fighting theSecond Sino-Japanese War with China. As a goodwill gesture to Japan, Germany recognized the Japanese puppet state ofManchukuo, withdrew German support from China and forced Falkenhausen to resign by threatening to have his family in Germany punished for disloyalty. After a goodbye dinner party with Chiang Kai-shek's family, Falkenhausen promised that he would never reveal any of the battle plans he had devised to the Japanese.
According to some sources (especially from Communist Chinese ones in the late 1930s), Falkenhausen kept in contact with Chiang Kai-shek and occasionally sent European luxury items and food to him, the Chiang household, and his officers. On his 72nd birthday in 1950, Falkenhausen received a $12,000 cheque fromChiang Kai-shek as a birthday gift and a personal note declaring him a "Friend of China".
On Falkenhausen's 80th birthday in 1958, Wang Xiaoxi, the Nationalist Chinese ambassador to Belgium, awarded him the Grand Cordon of theOrder of the Sacred Tripod for his contributions in defending China.[10]
Recalled to active duty in 1938, Falkenhausen served as an infantry general on the Western Front, until he was appointed military governor of Belgium in May 1940, the same post his uncleLudwig von Falkenhausen held 23 years prior during theFirst World War. Throughout his period of administration, Falkenhausen had co-operated with bothEggert Reeder andDr. Werner Best, to try to apply the rules of theHague Convention in their region, often against the wishes and instructions of their Wehrmacht and SS superiors.[11]
Though opposed to Nazi extremism towards the Jewish population, he yielded to pressure fromReinhard Heydrich'sRSHA, leading in June 1942 to the deportation of 28,900 Jews.[12] His deputy for economic affairs,Eggert Reeder, was in charge of the destruction of "Jewish influence" in the Belgian economy, leading to mass unemployment of Jewish workers, especially in the diamond business. While implementation of economic policy led to mass unemployment of Belgian Jewish workers, Reeder's efforts preserved existing national administrative structures and business relations within Belgium and northern France during the German occupation. 2,250 of these unemployed Belgian Jews were sent to forced labor camps in Northern France, in order to build theAtlantic Wall forOrganisation Todt.
To ensure that all the Belgian people co-operated in the German occupation, Reeder negotiated an agreement to allow native Belgian Jews to remain in Belgium. Part of this was the non-enforcement of theReich Security Main Office order for all Jews to be marked by wearing a yellowStar of David at all times, untilHelmut Knochen's conference in Paris on 14 March 1942.[13]
He intervened twice to prevent the execution of Belgians for resistance against the Germans, at the request ofQian Xiuling, a Chinese-Belgian woman whose elder cousin, Lieutenant General Qian Zhuolun, was a good friend of Falkenhausen during his time in China and in the post-war trial Qian Xiuling spoke in his defense, saying: "Nothing I did could have been accomplished without General von Falkenhausen's help. Even though he might not deserve an award, neither should he be put on trial, definitely not."[14][15]
Falkenhausen was a close friend of the anti-Hitler conspirators,Carl Friedrich Goerdeler and Field MarshalErwin von Witzleben and soon came to detestAdolf Hitler and theNazi regime. He offered his support to Witzleben for a planned coup d'état against Hitler, but did not take any part in the coup. After the failure of the20 July Plot to kill Hitler in 1944, Falkenhausen was relieved of his command and later arrested.[16] Falkenhausen spent the rest of the war being transferred from one concentration camp to another. In late April 1945 he wastransferred to Tyrol with about 140 other prominent inmates of theDachau concentration camp.
TheSS fled, leaving the prisoners behind and he was captured by theFifth U.S. Army on 5 May 1945.[17]
Falkenhausen and Reeder were sent to Belgium for trial in 1948, where they were held on remand for three years. A trial for their role in the deportation of Jews from Belgium but not for their deaths inAuschwitz, began inBrussels on 9 March 1951 and they were defended by the lawyerErnst Achenbach.
During the trial, Falkenhausen was vouched for byQian Xiuling, former French Prime MinisterLéon Blum and a number of Belgian Jews, who gave evidence that Falkenhausen and Reeder had tried to save Belgian and Jewish lives.[14] Nevertheless, on 9 July 1951 they were convicted and sentenced to twelve years hard labour in Germany. On their return toWest Germany three weeks after the end of the trial,[18] having served one third of their sentence, as required by Belgian law, they were pardoned by ChancellorKonrad Adenauer.
On return to Germany, he first lived near the theninner German border on the estate of his friendFranz von Papen nearGrüsselbach and then, fearing kidnapping by East German agents, inNassau an der Lahn.
In 1950, Falkenhausen became a widower; in 1960 he married his second wife, Cécile Vent (1906–1977), who had been a Belgian resistance fighter.[19] He had met her during his imprisonment in 1948, when Vent was a member of the administrative commission of the prisons of Verviers.[20]
