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Rudolf Toussaint

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German army general (1891-1968)

Rudolf Toussaint

Born	(1891-05-02)2 May 1891 Egglkofen,Bavaria,German Empire
Died	1 July 1968(1968-07-01) (aged 77) Munich,West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918) Weimar Republic (to 1933) Nazi Germany
Branch	Bavarian Army (to 1918) Reichsheer (to 1933) Wehrmacht
Service years	1911–1945
Rank	General der Infanterie
Conflicts	World War I World War II
Awards	German Cross, in silver War Merit Cross, with Swords Iron Cross, 1st and 2nd class

Rudolf Toussaint (2 May 1891 – 1 July 1968)^[1] was a GermanArmy officer. Toussaint saw action in both World Wars. DuringWorld War II he was appointed Commissioner of the German army in the office of the Reich Protector ofBohemia and Moravia.^[2]

Biography

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He was born on 2 May 1891 inEgglkofen. He joined theRoyal Bavarian Army on 21 September 1911 in the rank ofFahnenjunker (cadet). He was commissioned as aLeutnant (second lieutenant) on 25 October 1913 and assigned to the 18th Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment. He fought inWorld War I, where he was wounded, and was awarded the Iron Cross (First Class) and the Iron Cross (2nd class) in 1914. After the war, he remained in the army and, on 1 December 1935 was promoted toOberstleutnant; on 1 April 1938 he was promoted further to the rank ofOberst (colonel).From 1 April 1939 till 1941 he served as a military attaché in the German embassy in Rome. After that, he was promoted on 1 October 1941 asGeneralmajor and on 1 October 1942 asGeneralleutnant.

In September 1943, as General der Infanterie (promoted on 1 September 1943), he became commissioner of the German army in Italy (Bevollmächtigter General der deutschen Wehrmacht in Italien). On 26 July 1944, he was replaced in this position by SS-ObergruppenführerKarl Wolff and Toussaint became commissioner of the German army in the office of the Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, replacingFerdinand Schaal and, simultaneously, held the position of Commander of the Military District of Bohemia and Moravia.^[3] As such, he was the last Nazi commander ofPrague. AfterWorld War II, he was captured by US troops inPlzeň and, on 19 April 1947, he was transferred into Czechoslovakia, where on 26 October 1948 he was condemned to life imprisonment for the murder of civilians in thePrague uprising.^[4]

In 1955, he agreed to collaborate withCzechoslovak State Security,^[5] but the Central Committee of theCommunist Party of Czechoslovakia refused to consent to his release from prison. While still in prison, he provided them information relating to the West German military leaders and political figures. In 1961, as part of an exchange for two communist agents, he was released to West Germany, where he died in 1968.