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Heinrich Graf von Einsiedel | |
|---|---|
 Einsiedel can be seen second from the left at the NKFD council in 1943. | |
| Born | (1921-07-26)26 July 1921 |
| Died | 18 July 2007(2007-07-18) (aged 85) |
| Allegiance |  Nazi Germany (to 1942) East Germany (to 1948) |
| Branch |  Luftwaffe |
| Years of service | 1940-42 |
| Rank |  Leutnant |
| Unit | Jagdgeschwader 2 Jagdgeschwader 3 |
| Battles / wars | World War II |
| Awards | German Cross in Gold |
| Other work | Vice-President of theNational Committee for a Free Germany Journalist of Tägliche Rundschau Member of theSDP Candidate Member ofPDS |
| Spouse | |
| Relatives | Otto von Bismarck (Great-Grandfather) |
HeinrichGraf von Einsiedel (26 July 1921 – 18 July 2007) was a Germanjournalist,politician andWorld War IILuftwaffe ace.
Einsiedel, a great-grandson ofOtto von Bismarck, was born inPotsdam,Province of Brandenburg, as the youngest child to Count Herbert von Einsiedel (1885–1945) and his wife, Countess Irene vonBismarck-Schönhausen (1888–1982). His parents were divorced in 1931.
InWorld War II, Einsiedel served as a German fighter pilot, initially withJagdgeschwader 2 over theWestern Front, flying theMesserschmitt Bf 109. He took part in escort operations over the cruisersScharnhorst,Gneisenau andPrinz Eugen as they made their 'Channel dash' from Brest to Germany in February 1942. Einsiedel claimed two of the sixFairey Swordfish of No. 825 Squadron Fleet Air Arm, who made an unsuccessful low-level torpedo attack.
In June 1942, Einsiedel was transferred toJagdgeschwader 3 on theRussian Front for the forthcoming offensive againstStalingrad. He was awarded the German Cross in Gold.[1]
On 30 August 1942, during combat with RussianRatas, he was forced to land, was captured by Russian ground forces and became aprisoner-of-war in theSoviet Union.
He became a founding member, vice-president and commissary of propaganda of theNational Committee for a Free Germany.[2]
Released after the war, Einsiedel initially worked for theTägliche Rundschau, the German newspaper of theSoviet Military Administration in Germany but became increasingly disillusioned with the Soviet regime after he experienced first-hand corruption and inefficiency.[citation needed] He was given permission to visitWest Berlin on behalf of theNKVD for intelligence-gathering purposes. While meeting his mother, he was arrested by US Forces and sentenced by an American court for spying and having forged documents. He was released on appeal. Despite a highly publicised press conference back in the East, he was by now seen as a liability by the Soviet authorities.[citation needed]
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He thus moved toWest Germany in late 1948, where he worked as a translator, scriptwriter and journalist. The governingSocialist Unity Party of East Germany acknowledged Einsiedel as a bona fide anti-fascist but apetit bourgeois who, "as soon as the class war became acute", had wavered and switched political camps for his own self-interests.
Einsiedel wrote for the liberalHamburg weekly,Die Zeit. He also wroteThe Shadow of Stalingrad: Being the Diary of Temptation in 1953, which attempted to tell his complex story. Eventually, Einsiedel joined the film industry as a scriptwriter and a film soundtrack dubber. He also played the role of a pilot in the dramaThe Last Bridge (1953) with his first wife,Barbara Rütting.
He twice won the German bridge championship and played in the bridge World Cup.
Einsiedel was a member of theSocial Democratic Party of Germany from 1957 to 1992 and was elected as a member of theGerman Bundestag as a candidate of theParty of Democratic Socialism (PDS) from 1994 to 1998.
Einsiedel died inMunich on 18 July 2007, aged 85.
Mathews and Foreman, authors ofLuftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched theGerman Federal Archives and found documentation for 35 aerial victory claims, plus one further unconfirmed claim. This number includes two claims over theWestern Allies, and 33 on theEastern Front.[3]
Regarding personal names:Graf was a title before 1919, but now is regarded as part of the surname. It is translated asCount. Before the August 1919 abolition of nobility as a legal class, titles preceded the full name when given (Graf Helmuth James von Moltke). Since 1919, these titles, along with any nobiliary prefix (von,zu, etc.), can be used, but are regarded as a dependent part of the surname, and thus come after any given names (Helmuth James Graf von Moltke). Titles and all dependent parts of surnames are ignored in alphabetical sorting. The feminine form isGräfin.
