Bogislaw Oskar Adolf Fürchtegott von Bonin (17 January 1908 – 13 August 1980) was a Colonel in the German
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
and
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
.
Early life
Von Bonin was born in
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream o ...
,
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...
, and joined the ''4. Reiterregiment'' (4th Cavalry Regiment) of the German ''
Reichswehr
''Reichswehr'' () was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshape ...
'' in 1926. From October 1927 to August 1928, he received officer training at the School of Infantry,
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
, together with
Claus von Stauffenberg
Colonel Claus Philipp Maria Justinian Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (; 15 November 1907 – 21 July 1944) was a German army officer best known for his failed attempt on 20 July 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the Wolf's Lair.
Despite ...
and
Manfred von Brauchitsch
Manfred Georg Rudolf von Brauchitsch (15 August 1905 – 5 February 2003) was a German auto racing driver who drove for Mercedes-Benz in the famous "Silver Arrows" of Grand Prix motor racing in the 1930s.
Racing career
Brauchitsch won t ...
, and was promoted to
lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...
in 1930. In 1937-1938, he attended the War Academy (''Kriegsakademie'') in Berlin and became a member of the
Army High Command
The Army High Command (ACE) of Brazil is formed by the Army Commander and other army generals in active service. The country currently holds sixteen active 4-star generals, several of then in command posts, in addition to a post in the Ministry o ...
in 1938.
World War II
![Von Bonin 05](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Von_Bonin_05.1945_Pragser_Wildsee.jpg)
In 1943, he was the chief of staff of the
XIV Panzer Corps
XIV Panzer Corps (also: XIV Army Corps or XIV. ''Armeekorps'') was a corps-level formation of the German Army which fought on both the Eastern Front and in the Italian Campaign.
History
The XIV Panzer Corps was originally formed as the XIV Mot ...
in
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
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, demographi ...
and for a short time Chief of Staff of the
LVI Panzer Corps
LVI Panzer Corps was a panzer corps in the German Army during World War II.
This corps was activated in February 1941 as the LVI Army Corps (mot.), for the German invasion of the Soviet Union, which commenced on 22 June 1941. Erich von Manstein ...
of the 1st Hungarian Army in 1944. He attained the rank of
colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...
and became the Chief of the Operational Branch of the Army General Staff (Generalstab des Heeres).
Arrest
On 16 January 1945, Bonin gave
Heeresgruppe A permission to retreat from
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
during the Soviet
Vistula-Oder Offensive, rejecting a direct command from
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
for them to hold fast. He was arrested by the Gestapo on 19 January 1945 and imprisoned first at
Flossenbürg concentration camp
Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. Unlike other concentration camps, it was located in a remote area, in the Fichtel Mountains of Bavaria, adjacent to the town of Flo ...
and then
Dachau concentration camp.
With several family members (Sippenhäftlingen) of the
20 July plot and other notable prisoners such as
Léon Blum,
Kurt Schuschnigg
Kurt Alois Josef Johann von Schuschnigg (; 14 December 1897 – 18 November 1977) was an Austrian Fatherland Front politician who was the Chancellor of the Federal State of Austria from the 1934 assassination of his predecessor Engelbert Doll ...
,
Hjalmar Schacht
Hjalmar Schacht (born Horace Greeley Hjalmar Schacht; 22 January 1877 – 3 June 1970, ) was a German economist, banker, centre-right politician, and co-founder in 1918 of the German Democratic Party. He served as the Currency Commissioner ...
,
Franz Halder and
Fritz Thyssen
Friedrich "Fritz" Thyssen (9 November 1873 – 8 February 1951) was a German businessman, born into one of Germany's leading industrial families. He was an early supporter of the Nazi Party, but later broke with them.
Biography
Youth
Thyssen w ...
, he was
transferred to Tyrol, but the transfer ended up delivering them to
Niederdorf in South Tyrol.
Upon hearing that an old friend of his,
Generaloberst
A ("colonel general") was the second-highest general officer rank in the German ''Reichswehr'' and ''Wehrmacht'', the Austro-Hungarian Common Army, the East German National People's Army and in their respective police services. The rank was ...
Heinrich von Vietinghoff
Heinrich Gottfried Otto Richard von Vietinghoff genannt Scheel (6 December 1887 – 23 February 1952) was a German general (''Generaloberst'') of the Wehrmacht during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oa ...
, was in command of Army Group C with headquarters in
Bolzano
Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...
, Bonin attempted to contact him in order to ask him to safeguard the prisoners, making the identity of the high-status prisoners known as well as the fear that they were to be executed before liberation by US troops. Not getting hold of von Vietinghoff, he instead spoke to his chief of staff General
Hans Röttiger
Hans Röttiger (16 April 1896 – 15 April 1960) was a Panzer General in the German Army during the Second World War and the first Inspector of the Army of the Bundeswehr.
Biography
Röttiger joined the Prussian Army in 1914 and served from 1 ...
, whom he also knew, who promised to get hold of von Vietinghoff for him.
A message was sent to
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
troops in
Sexten, 17 km east of Niederdorf, resulting in the arrival next day of Captain
Wichard von Alvensleben
Wichard von Alvensleben (May 19, 1902 – August 14, 1982) was a German agriculturist, Wehrmacht Officer, and Knight of the Order of Saint John. He was a member of the aristocratic House of Alvensleben, one of the oldest in Germany.
Then a ...
together with 15 soldiers. Thus, on 30 April, against the background of advancing US troops and Alvensleben's unit, which had now surrounded the village, the SS guards decided to escape in one bus and one lorry. The freed prisoners were then accommodated at the Pragser Wildsee Hotel until advance units from the
42nd Infantry Division and the
45th Infantry Division reached Niederdorf, on 5 May 1945.
Post World War II
Bonin became a
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...
and started working as a freight forwarder in 1947, but later on for
Daimler Benz. In 1952, he joined the "
Amt Blank" (Bureau Blank, named after its director
Theodor Blank
Theodor Anton Blank (19 September 1905 – 14 May 1972) was a German politician of the CDU. He was one of the founders of the CDU in 1945.
Blank was born in Elz an der Lahn. He was the third of ten children of a carpenter. His family was R ...
), the predecessor of the later
Federal Ministry of Defence
The Federal Ministry of Defence (german: Bundesministerium der Verteidigung, ), abbreviated BMVg, is a top-level federal agency, headed by the Federal Minister of Defence as a member of the Cabinet of Germany. The ministry is headquartered at ...
, as the head of the subdivision "military planning", to map out a strategy for the German contribution to the
European Defence Community. However, he came into conflict with the
Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman who served as the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of the Christian Demo ...
government, as he favoured a more neutral or independent German policy. In 1955, before the German
Bundeswehr
The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...
was established, Bonin was released and became a journalist.
Bonin died in
Lehrte.
Awards
*
German Cross
The War Order of the German Cross (german: Der Kriegsorden Deutsches Kreuz), normally abbreviated to the German Cross or ''Deutsches Kreuz'', was instituted by Adolf Hitler on 28 September 1941. It was awarded in two divisions: in gold for repe ...
in Gold on 14 January 1942 as ''
Major im Generalstab'' in the 17. Panzer-Division
[Patzwall & Scherzer 2001, p. 51.]
References
Olaf Theiler: ''Abschreckung oder Verteidigung.'' Das Sicherheitsdilemma der Bundesrepublik. - Gescheiterter Außenseiter – Der Rebell Bogislaw von Bonin, in: Informationen für die Truppe – Zeitschrift für Innere Führung (der Bundeswehr)
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20160328113124/https://www.bundesarchiv.de/oeffentlichkeitsarbeit/bilder_dokumente/00879/index-23.html.de Reaction of Blank (March 1955)*Heinz Brill, Bogislaw von Bonin im Spannungsfeld zwischen Wiederbewaffnung – Westintegration – Wiedervereinigung. Ein Beitrag zur Entstehungsgeschichte der Bundeswehr 1952-1955, Band I. Baden-Baden 1987, Band II. Baden-Baden 1989
*
External links
list of prisoners at the Pragser WildseeBonin in May 1945
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonin, Bogislaw Von
1908 births
1980 deaths
Military personnel from Potsdam
Military personnel from the Province of Brandenburg
Recipients of the Gold German Cross
Flossenbürg concentration camp survivors
Dachau concentration camp survivors
German Army officers of World War II
German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States