Erich Hampe (17 December 1889 – 28 June 1978) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Army officer with the rank of

generalmajor is the Germanic variant of major general, used in a number of Central and Northern European countries. Austria Belgium Denmark is the second lowest general officer rank in the Royal Danish Army and Royal Danish Air Force. As a two-star ...

, who served as Chief of the Department for Technical Troops in

OKH The (; abbreviated OKH) was the high command of the Army of Nazi Germany. It was founded in 1935 as part of Adolf Hitler's rearmament of Germany. OKH was ''de facto'' the most important unit within the German war planning until the defeat at ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Previously he was Vice Chief of the

Technische Nothilfe ''Technische Nothilfe'' (abbreviated as TN, T.N, T.H, Tech Nh, TeNo, TENO; ) was a German organisation. It began as a strikebreaker organisation after the First World War, but developed into a volunteer emergency response unit. During the Nazi ...

as well as an editor and the author of the official history of German civil defense during the Second World War. During the postwar years, he served as the first president of the Federal Agency for Civil Defense (''Bundesanstalt für zivilen Luftschutz''). Born in 1889, Hampe entered army service within the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

on in 1908 as an officer candidate. In 1912, when he was discharged to the Army Reserve. Hampe began subsequently work as Chief Editor of the "Die Post" newspaper, which closely cooperated with

Free Conservative Party The Free Conservative Party (german: Freikonservative Partei, FKP) was a liberal-conservative political party in Prussia and the German Empire which emerged from the Prussian Conservative Party in the Prussian Landtag in 1866. In the federal ele ...

. With the outbreak of the World War I, Hampe was called up in August 1914 and assigned to a machine gun-detachment; he was posted to the

Guard Corps The Guards Corps/GK (german: Gardekorps) was a corps level command of the Prussian and then the Imperial German Armies from the 19th century to World War I. The Corps was headquartered in Berlin, with its units garrisoned in the city and nea ...

and ordered to the Western front. He participated in the

First Battle of Ypres The First Battle of Ypres (french: Première Bataille des Flandres; german: Erste Flandernschlacht – was a battle of the First World War, fought on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front around Ypres, in West Flanders, Belgium. Th ...

, the

First Battle of Champagne The First Battle of Champagne (french: 1ère Bataille de Champagne) was fought from 1915 in World War I in the Champagne region of France and was the second offensive by the Allies against the German Empire since mobile warfare had ended after t ...

, the

Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive The Gorlice–Tarnów offensive during World War I was initially conceived as a minor German offensive to relieve Russian pressure on the Austro-Hungarians to their south on the Eastern Front, but resulted in the Central Powers' chief offensiv ...

, and the

Battle of Verdun The Battle of Verdun (french: Bataille de Verdun ; german: Schlacht um Verdun ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front in France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north ...

. His military service ended on November 30, 1919, when he retired from the Army. During his service in the Army, Hampe was awarded with both classes of

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia est ...

and Hesse Medal for Bravery. In the beginning of 1920 in the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...

, he worked as Vice Chief of the

(TN). In 1941 he was transferred the

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 previous ...

and served as

inspector general An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general". Australia The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) (IGIS) is an independent statutory off ...

of the Technical Troops (that originated in TN units transferred to the army). In the public service of

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

in 1950, he started with the reconstruction of the

Technisches Hilfswerk The (THW, English: ''Federal Agency for Technical Relief'') is the federal civil protection organisation of Germany. It is controlled by the German federal government. 99% of its 79,543 members (2019) are volunteers. Tasks The tasks of t ...

, continued as head of division in the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and finally as first President of the Federal Agency for Civil Defense (Bundesanstalt für zivilen Luftschutz). Hampe died in 1978 in Hangelar near

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

References and bibliography

* Bundesarchiv Koblenz Pers 101/60606-60608
Gasschutz und Luftschutz
. – Berlin : Ebeling. - 1 (1931) - 15 (1945) * Die Räder : Zeitschrift der Technischen Nothilfe. - Berlin : Räder-Verl. - 1 (1920) - 26 (1945) * utobiography... als alles in Scherben fiel : Erinnerungen des Generalmajors a.D., ehemaligen Generals der Technischen Truppen und Präsident der Bundesanstalt für zivilen Luftschutz / Erich Hampe. - Osnabrück : Biblio-Verl., 1979. - 185 S. - (Soldatenschicksale des 20. Jahrhunderts als Geschichtsquellen ; 1) * ''Der zivile Luftschutz im Zweiten Weltkrieg: Dokumentation und Erfahrungsberichte über Aufbau und Einsatz''. Bernard und Graefe 1963. Downloa
here (www.bbk.bund.de)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hampe, Erich 1889 births 1978 deaths People from Gera People from the Principality of Reuss-Gera Major generals of the German Army (Wehrmacht) Prussian Army personnel Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class 20th-century Freikorps personnel