Werner von Blomberg

Werner Eduard Fritz von Blomberg (Stargard in Pommern, September 2, 1878 - Nuremberg, March 13, 1946) was a German soldier who reached the rank of Field Marshal, Minister of War and Commander-in-Chief of the German Armed Forces until January 1938.

Early years

Born on Stargard, Werner von Blomberg entered the army at an early age and studied at the German War Academy in 1904. After graduating from the War Academy in 1907, von Blomberg joined the General Staff in 1908. After Serving with distinction on the Western Front during World War I, in the 19th Reserve Division, Blomberg was awarded the Pour le Mérite and promoted to major in 1916. During the conflict, his two brothers were killed in action. Blomberg stood out for his unusually tall height, massive presence and professionalism from his training.

Weimar Republic

In 1920, Blomberg was elected Chief of Staff of the Döberitz Brigade and in 1921 he was promoted to Chief of Staff of the Stuttgart Military District. In 1925, von Blomberg was appointed Chief of Military Training by General Hans von Seeckt. By 1927, von Blomberg was already a major general and Chief of the Troop Office. In 1928, Blomberg visited the Soviet Union, where he was greatly impressed by the high status that the Red Army had among the population, which left him convinced of the value of a dictatorship as a prerequisite for military power.

This trip consolidated the idea of a totalitarian Wehrstaat which, beginning in the mid-1920s, became increasingly popular among military officers. The German historian Eberhard Kolb wrote that:

From the mid-1920s onwards, Army leaders had developed and propagated new military-type social conceptions, tending towards a merger of the military and civil sectors and ultimately a totalitarian military state (Wehrstaat)..

Eberhard Kolb

Von Blomberg's visit to the USSR in 1928 confirmed his view that totalitarian power encourages greater military power. Von Blomberg believed that the next world war, like the previous one, would become a total war, requiring the total mobilization of German society and economy by the state, and that a totalitarian state would better prepare society in times of peace, militarily and economically, for war. Like most of Nazi Germany's military elite, von Blomberg assumed that for Germany to achieve the global power it had unsuccessfully sought in World War I, it would require another war, and that such a war would be a total war of a highly mechanized industrial type.

After coming into conflict over these issues with the influential General Kurt von Schleicher, in 1929, von Blomberg was relieved of his position and appointed commander of the 1st Division and the East Prussian Military District, where the general Walter von Reichenau served under him. Earlier that year, Schleicher had begun a policy of "border defense" (Grenzschutz) under which the Reichswehr would store weapons in secret depots and begin training volunteers beyond the limits imposed by the Treaty of Versailles in the eastern parts of Germany bordering with Poland. To avoid incidents with France, there should be no such Grenzschutz in West Germany.

Von Blomberg would later emerge as Schleicher's most powerful enemy within the Reichswehr. Since East Prussia was isolated from the rest of Germany and had only one infantry division stationed there, von Blomberg, to increase the number of combatants in case of a war with Poland, began to make lists of all men suitable for military service., which further increased the attraction of a totalitarian state capable of mobilizing an entire society for war. Mass levies would be ideologically motivated as the best way to fight the next war. During his time as commander of Wehrkreis I, the military district that encompassed East Prussia, von Blomberg fell under the influence of the Lutheran chaplain and Nazi sympathizer Ludwig Müller, who quickly introduced Blomberg to the world of National Socialism. von Blomberg cared little for Nazi doctrine, and his support for the Nazis was motivated more by his belief that only a dictatorship could make Germany great again. military power, and that the Nazis were the best match to create a dictatorship in Germany. Because he had command of a single infantry division in East Prussia, Blomberg relied heavily on Grenzschutz to increase the number of combat men available.. This led to him cooperating closely with the SA as a source of volunteers for the Grenzschutz forces. Blomberg had excellent relations with the SA at this time, leading to the SA serving in 1931 as a militia. unofficial that supported the Reichswehr. Many generals saw East Prussia as a model for future cooperation between the army and the Nazis throughout Germany.

The French planned to withdraw from the Rhineland in June 1930, five years earlier than specified by the Treaty of Versailles, and Schleicher did not want violations of the Treaty that might appear to threaten France before French troops left the Rhineland. When Blomberg, whom Schleicher personally disliked, insisted on extending the Grenzschutz to areas bordering France, Schleicher in August 1929 leaked to the press that von Blomberg had attended volunteer armed maneuvers in Westphalia. The Minister of Defense, General Wilhelm Groener, called von Blomberg to Berlin to ask for explanations. Von Blomberg expected Schleicher to stick to the traditional Reichswehr policy of denying everything, and was surprised to see Schleicher attack him in front of Groener as a man who had recklessly exposed Germany to the risk of providing the French an excuse to remain in the Rhineland until 1935.

Von Blomberg's interactions with the SA in East Prussia led him to the conclusion that the Nazis made excellent soldiers, which further increased the appeal of Nazism to him. But at the same time, von Blomberg saw the SA as a junior partner of the Army, and completely opposed the SA's ambitions to replace the Reichswehr as Germany's main military force. Von Blomberg, like almost all German generals, envisioned a future Nazi military relationship in which the Nazis would indoctrinate ordinary people with the right kind of ultranationalist and militaristic values so that when young Germans joined theReichswehr they were already half-converted into soldiers, while at the same time they made it clear that control of military affairs would fall solely to the generals. In 1931, he visited the United States, where he openly proclaimed his belief in the certainty and benefits of a Nazi government for Germany. Blomberg's first wife, Charlotte, died on May 11, 1932, leaving two sons and three daughters.

In 1932, Blomberg served as part of the German delegation to the World Disarmament Conference in Geneva where, during his time as German chief military delegate, he not only continued his pro-Nazi comments to the press, but used his status as Germany's chief military delegate to communicate his views to Paul von Hindenburg, whose position as President of Germany made him Supreme German Commander-in-Chief.

In his reports to Hindenburg, von Blomberg wrote that his archrival Schleicher's attempts to create the Wehrstaat had clearly failed, and that Germany needed a new approach to it. In late January By 1933, it was clear that Schleicher's government could only remain in power by proclaiming martial law and authorizing the Reichswehr to crush any opposition. In doing so, the military would have to kill hundreds, if not thousands of German civilians; Any regime established in this way could never hope to build the national consensus necessary to create the Wehrstaa. The military had decided that only Hitler was capable of peacefully creating the national consensus that would allow the creation of the new state. and thus the military successfully pressured Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor. Blomberg served as one of the main channels through which the Reichswehr informed Hindenburg of its desire to see Hitler become Chancellor.

At the end of January 1933, President Hindenburg, without informing the chancellor, Schleicher, or the army commander, General Kurt von Hammerstein, recalled von Blomberg from the World Disarmament Conference to return to Berlin. Upon learning this, Schleicher sensed that the order to recall von Blomberg to Berlin meant that his own government was doomed. When von Blomberg arrived at the Berlin railway station on January 28, 1933, he was greeted by two officers, Adolf -Friedrich Kuntzen and Oskar von Hindenburg, aide and son of President Hindenburg. Kuntzen had orders from Hammerstein for Blomberg to immediately report to the Ministry of Defense, while Oskar von Hindenburg had orders for von Blomberg to report directly to the Reich President's Palace.

Despite Kuntzen's protests, von Blomberg decided to go with Hindenburg to meet with the president, who swore him in as defense minister. This was done in a manner contrary to the Weimar constitution, according to which the president he could only swear in a minister after receiving advice from the chancellor. Hindenburg had not consulted Schleicher about his desire to see Blomberg replace him as defense minister because in late January 1933, there were rumors circulating in Berlin that Schleicher was planning to organize a coup d'état. To counter the alleged plans for a coup of Schleicher, Hindenburg wanted to remove Schleicher as defense minister as soon as possible.

Two days later, on January 30, 1933, Hindenburg swore in Adolf Hitler as Chancellor, after telling him that von Blomberg was going to be his defense minister regardless of his wishes. Hitler, for his part, welcomed and accepted von Blomberg, insisting that the Army remain the main military force of the Reich.

Third Reich

In 1933, von Blomberg was appointed Minister of Defense by Hindenburg. As such, he vehemently defended the traditional formula that armed power was above political parties. When in the summer of 1933 it was confirmed that there would no longer exist but a single political party, the formula was politically impossible, as impossible as the existence of a dictatorship that does not dominate the army. For this reason he asked the army to unconditionally support Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party. He demonstrated this immediately by accepting as valid also for the army the provision previously dictated by Hitler by which Jews were excluded from civil positions. He also accepted the swastika as the official symbol of the army. Von Blomberg became one of Hitler's most devoted followers and was therefore nicknamed "Rubber Lion" by his critics within the army. As defense minister, von Blomberg worked feverishly to expand the size and power of the army. In 1933, von Blomberg was promoted to Generaloberst for his services.

In 1934 he fully assumed the consequences of the measures taken by Hitler against the leader of the SA, Ernst Röhm and his followers, since he saw, like the vast majority of the officers, the serious threat that this organization represented for the army. During the so-called Night of the Long Knives, the SS murdered the main leaders of the SA, but, taking advantage of the riots, they also took the lives of other opponents of the Nazi regime, including two army generals. Despite the pressure to which the officers subjected him for these murders, von Blomberg did not protest to Hitler. Furthermore, the army until then swore loyalty to the people and the country, but von Blomberg modified the oath in the sense that loyalty was sworn to Hitler. On April 20, 1935, when the Ministry of Defense became the Ministry of War, von Blomberg was appointed Minister of War and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. In 1936, he became Hitler's first field marshal.

On May 21, 1935, the Ministry of Defense was renamed the Ministry of War (Reichskriegsministerium); Blomberg also received the title of Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces (Wehrmacht), a title that no other German officer had held. Hitler remained Supreme Commander of the armed forces in his capacity as Head of State, as Führer of Germany. On April 20, 1936, Hitler's birthday, the loyal Blomberg became the first Generalfeldmarschall named by Hitler. On January 30, 1937, to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the Nazi regime, Hitler personally presented the Golden Party Badge to the remaining non-Nazi members of the cabinet, including von Blomberg, and inscribed it on the Party with membership number 3 805 226.

In December 1936, a crisis was created within the German decision-making machinery when General Wilhelm Faupel, the top German officer in Spain, began demanding the sending of three German divisions to fight in the Spanish Civil War. as the only way to victory. This was strongly opposed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baron Konstantin von Neurath, who wanted to limit German participation in Spain.

At a conference held in the Reich Chancellery on December 21, 1936 attended by Hitler, Hermann Göring, Blomberg, Neurath, General Werner von Fritsch, General Walter Warlimont and Faupel, Blomberg argued against Faupel that a All-out German push for victory in Spain would be too likely to cause a general war before Germany had adequately rearmed. He claimed that even if it were not so, he would consume money better spent on military modernization. von Blomberg's position prevailed against Faupel's.

Unfortunately for von Blomberg, his position as a ranking officer of Nazi Germany alienated Hermann Göring, Hitler's second-in-command and commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, Germany's air force, and Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, the security organization of the Nazi Party, and at the same time the head of all police forces in Germany, who conspired to oust him from power. Göring, in particular, had ambitions of becoming Commander-in-Chief of the entire army himself.

On November 5, 1937, the conference took place between the highest military and foreign policy leadership of the Reich and Hitler recorded in the so-called Hösbach Memorandum. At the conference, Hitler declared that it was time for war or, more accurately, wars, as what Hitler envisioned would be a series of localized wars in Central and Eastern Europe in the near future. Hitler argued that because wars were necessary to provide Germany with Lebensraum, autarky, and the arms race with France and the United Kingdom made it imperative to act before the Western powers developed an insurmountable advantage in the arms race.

From those invited to the conference, objections arose from Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath, Blomberg and the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, General Werner von Fritsch, that any German aggression in Eastern Europe was destined to trigger a war against France due to the French alliance system in Eastern Europe, the so-called cordon sanitaire. and if a Franco-German war broke out, Britain would almost certainly intervene rather than risk the prospect of French defeat. Furthermore, it was objected that Hitler's assumption was erroneous that Britain and France would simply ignore the projected wars because they had begun their rearmament later than Germany.

Consequently, Fritsch, von Blomberg, and Neurath advised Hitler to wait until Germany had more time to rearm before pursuing a high-risk strategy of localized wars that would likely trigger a general war before Germany was ready. None of those present at the conference had any moral objection to Hitler's strategy with which they basically agreed; Only the question of time divided them.

After the Hösbach Memorandum meeting of November 1937, von Blomberg was one of the few to criticize Hitler's plans to go to war no later than 1942, much to Hitler's chagrin, but in early 1938, had changed his mind on that topic.

Scandal and fall from grace

Did you mean: Su posición como hombre influyente del ejército perturbaba a Hermann Göring y Heinrich Himmler, que conspiraron para alejar a von Blomberg del poder.

Göring and Himmler found their chance in January 1938, when the 59-year-old von Blomberg married his second wife, Erna Gruhn (1913-1978, sometimes referred to as "Eva" or " #34;Margarete"). Von Blomberg had been a widower since the death of her first wife, Charlotte, in 1932. Gruhn was a 25-year-old typist and secretary, but the Berlin police had a long criminal file on her and her mother, a former prostitute. Among the reports was documentation that Erna Gruhn had posed for pornographic photos in 1932.

This situation was reported to the Berlin police chief, Wolf-Heinrich von Helldorf, who informed Wilhelm Keitel with the reports of the new Mrs. Blomberg. Helldorff was unsure what to do but Keitel, seeing the opportunity to destroy von Blomberg's career, suggested to Helldorf that he take the reports to Göring, which he did.

As this marriage contravened official regulations, there were no witnesses for the wedding. It was soon revealed that his wife had a past as a prostitute, to which Hitler ordered von Blomberg to annul her marriage to avoid a scandal and preserve the integrity of the army. Von Blomberg refused to annul the marriage, so he resigned from all his positions on January 26, 1938, when Göring threatened to make his wife's past public. After the wedding, Göring argued that von Blomberg was unfit to serve as war minister. Göring then informed Hitler, and Hitler in turn ordered von Blomberg to annul the marriage to avoid a scandal and preserve the integrity of the army.. The upcoming wedding of one of von Blomberg's daughters, Dorothea, would have been threatened by the scandal. She was engaged to Karl-Heinz Keitel, the eldest son of Wilhelm Keitel. Von Blomberg refused to end their marriage, but when Göring threatened to make public the past of Erna Gruhn and her mother, von Blomberg was forced to resign from his position to avoid defamation, which he did on January 27, 1938. His daughter married in May of the same year.

As a consequence, Hitler took personal command of the military; He retained the title of Supreme Commander, abolished the Ministry of War and in its place created the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) under his control, to be the supervisory body of the Wehrmacht.^{[citation required]} Keitel, who would be promoted to the rank of field marshal in 1940, and von Blomberg's former right-hand man would be appointed by Hitler as Head of the OKW of the Armed Forces. Keitel thus became de facto Minister of War.^{[citation needed]}

A few days later, Göring and Himmler accused Generaloberst Werner von Fritsch, Commander in Chief of the Army, of being homosexual. Hitler took advantage of these opportunities for a major reorganization of the Wehrmacht. Fritsch was later acquitted; Together, the events became known as the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair.

Von Blomberg and his wife went on their honeymoon for a year to the island of Capri, after having postponed the trip. Admiral Erich Raeder decided that von Blomberg had to commit suicide to atone for his marriage, and sent an officer to Italy, who followed the Blombergs on their honeymoon and persistently, though unsuccessfully, tried to force von Blomberg to commit suicide. The officer at one point even tried to force a gun into von Blomberg's hands, but he refused to end his life. After spending World War II in obscurity, von Blomberg was captured by the Allies in 1945, after which he would testify at the Nuremberg Trials. von Blomberg's health rapidly deteriorated while he was detained during the trial. He faced the contempt of his former colleagues and his young wife's intention to abandon him. It is possible that he showed symptoms of cancer as early as 1939. On October 12, 1945, he noted in his diary that he weighed just over 72 kilograms, and was diagnosed with colorectal cancer on February 20, 1946. Resigned to his fate and gripped by the depression, he spent the last weeks of his life refusing to eat.

Von Blomberg died while in detention on March 13, 1946 and did not complete the Nuremberg trial. His body was buried without ceremony in an unmarked grave. His remains were subsequently cremated and buried at his residence in Bad Wiessee.

Decorations

• Cross of the Order of the Royal Crown of Prussia, 4th Class (Königlicher Preußischer Kronenorden, Kreuz 4. Klasse) – 13 Sep 1911.
• 2nd Class Iron Cross, 1914 (Eisernes Kreuz 1914 2. Klasse) – 18 Set 1914.
• Friedrich-August Cross of 2nd Class with War Brooch (Oldenburgisches Friedrich August-Kreuz 2. Klasse am Band für Kämpfer) – 24 Jun 1915.
• Cross of Knights with Swords of the Order of the House of Hohenzollern of the Kingdom of Prussia (Königlich Preußischer Hausorden von Hohenzollern, Ritterkreuz mit Schwertern) 07 Oct 1916
• Iron Cross 1.a Class, 1914 (Eisernes Kreuz 1914 1 Klasse) - 30 Oct 1916
• Friedrich-August Cross of Oldenburg 1914 of 1.a Class (Oldenburgisches Friedrich August-Kreuz 1914 1. Klasse) – 09 Feb 1917
• Hessen Medal of Honor (Hessische Tapferkeitsmedaille) – 19 Set 1917.
• Cross to the Military Merit of Braunschweig (Braunschweigisches Kriegsverdienstkreuz 1. Klsse) – 10 Jan 1918.
• Cross of Knights of One Class with swords of the Order Albrecht of the Kingdom of Saxony (Königlicher Sächsischer Albrechtsorden, Ritterkreuz 1. Kl. mit Schwertern) – 25 Jan 1918.
• Hanseatic Cross of Bremen (Bremisches Hanseatenkreuz) - 30 Jan 1918
• Pour le Mérité N° 5187 (Königlicher Preußen «Pour le Merité» Nr. 5187) – 03 Jun 1918.
• Order to the Military Merit 4.a Class with swords and Crown of the Kingdom of Bavaria (Königlicher Bayerischer MVO 4. Kl. mit Schwertern u. mit Krone) - 02 Aug 1918
• Front Combatant Honorary Cross 1914-1918 (Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer 1914-1918) – 1934.
• NSDAP Gold Brooch (Goldenes Parteiabzeichen) – 30 Jan 1937.
• Kaiser Guillermo Memorial Medal of the Kingdom of Prussia (Königlicher Preußische Kaiser Wilhelm-Erinnerungsmedaille 1897).
• Order to Military Merit 4.a Class with Brides of the Kingdom of Bayern (Königlicher Bayerischer Militär-Verdienstorden Kreuz 4.Klasse mit Schwertern).
• Cross of Honor of 3.a Class with swords and Crown of the House of Prince of Hohenzollern (Fürstlicher Hausorden von Hohenzollern Ehrenkreuz 3. Klasse mit Schwerten und Krone).
• Cross to Merit in the Sachsen-Meiningen War (Sachsen-Meiningensches Ehrenkreuz für Verdienst im Kriege).
• Cross of Schaumburg-Lippe of 1914 by Leales Services Leales 1914 of Schaumburg-Lippe (Schaumburg-Lippisches Kreuz für Treue Dienste 1914).
• Cross to Lippe War Merit (Lippisches Kriegsverdienstkreuz)
• Cross to the Military Merit of 2.a Mecklenburg-Schwerin Class with War Brooch (Mecklenburg-Schwerin Militärverdienstkreuz 2. Klasse am Band fü Kämpfer)
• 3rd Class Armed Forces Service Cross 12 years (Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung 3. Klasse, 12 Jahre)
• 1.a Class Armed Forces Service Cross 25 years (Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung 1. Klasse, 25 Jahre)
• Plate of wounded in bronze 1914 (Verwundetenabzeichen 1914 in Bronze).
• Combined gold-pilot pattern with diamonds (Gemeinsames Flugzgeugführer- und Beobachter-Abzeichen in Gold mit Brillanten)
• 1.a Class Cross of Officers by Services of the Kingdom of Prussia (Preußische Offizier-Dienstauszeichnung 1. Klasse)
• Order of the Saints Marurizzio and Lazzaro of Italy (Ordine ss Maurizio e Lazzaro).

Promotions

• Leutnant (13 March 1897)
• Oberleutnant (18 May 1907)
• Hauptmann 20 March 1911
• Major (22 March 1916)
• Oberstleutnant (20 December 1920)
• Oberst (1 April 1925)
• Generalmajor (1 April 1928)
• Generalleutnant (1 October 1929)
• General der Infanterie (30 January 1933)
• Generaloberst (31 August 1933)
• Generalfeldmarschall (20 April 1936)