Eugen Müller (19 July 1891 – 24 April 1951) was a German general in 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 previo ...

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He is known for having drafted the criminal

Commissar order The Commissar Order (german: Kommissarbefehl) was an order issued by the German High Command ( OKW) on 6 June 1941 before Operation Barbarossa. Its official name was Guidelines for the Treatment of Political Commissars (''Richtlinien für die Be ...

in preparation for

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...

, the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union.

Career

Born in 1891, Müller enlisted in the army in 1912 and served during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. He was retained by the

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 ...

and then the

, reaching the rank of Colonel in 1935. On 1 April 1939, Müller was promoted to the rank of ''Generalmajor'' and took command of the War Academy. 1 September 1939, at the outbreak of

, Müller was assigned to the Headquarters Chief of Staff of the Army, under the command of

Franz Halder Franz Halder (30 June 1884 – 2 April 1972) was a German general and the chief of staff of the Army High Command (OKH) in Nazi Germany from 1938 until September 1942. During World War II, he directed the planning and implementation of Operati ...

. Müller was in charge of legal and criminal action relating to the occupied areas in Europe. He remained at the General Staff until the end of the war.

Commissar order

The first draft of the Commissar Order was issued by General Eugen Müller on May 6, 1941, and called for the shooting of all commissars in order to avoid letting any captured commissar reach a

POW camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. ...

in Germany.Jacobesn, Hans-Adolf "The ''Kommisssarbefehl'' and Mass Executions of Soviet Russian Prisoners of War" pages 505-536 from ''Anatomy of the SS State'', Walter and Company: New York, 1968 pages 516-517 The German historian Hans-Adolf Jacobsen wrote:

"There was never any doubt in the minds of German Army commanders that the order deliberately flouted international law; that is borne out by the unusually small number of written copies of the ''Kommissarbefehl'' which were distributed".

The paragraph in which General Müller called for Army commanders to prevent "excesses" was removed on the request of the OKW.Jacobesn, Hans-Adolf "The ''Kommisssarbefehl'' and Mass Executions of Soviet Russian Prisoners of War" pages 505-536 from ''Anatomy of the SS State'', Walter and Company: New York, 1968 page 519. Brauchitsch amended the order on May 24, 1941, by attaching Müller's paragraph and calling on the Army to maintain discipline in the enforcement of the order. The final draft of the order was issued by OKW on June 6, 1941, and was restricted only to the most senior commanders, who were instructed to inform their subordinates verbally. The enforcement of the Commissar Order led to thousands of executions.Förster, Jürgen "The Wehrmacht and the War of Extermination Against the Soviet Union" pages 494-520 from ''The Nazi Holocaust'' page 502 The German historian Jürgen Förster wrote in 1989 that it was simply not true, as most German Army commanders claimed in their memoirs and some German historians like Ernst Nolte were still claiming, that the Commissar Order was not enforced. On September 23, 1941, after several Wehrmacht commanders had asked for the order to be softened as a way of encouraging the Red Army to surrender, Hitler declined "any modification of the existing orders regarding the treatment of political commissars".Jacobesn, Hans-Adolf "The ''Kommisssarbefehl'' and Mass Executions of Soviet Russian Prisoners of War" pages 505-536 from ''Anatomy of the SS State'', Walter and Company: New York, 1968 page 522.

References

Sources

* Andreas Toppe: 'Militär und Kriegsvölkerrecht: Rechtsnorm, Fachdiskurs und Kriegspraxis in Deutschland 1899–1940'. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, München, 2008. * Christian Streit: 'Keine Kameraden: die Wehrmacht und die sowjetischen Kriegsgefangenen 1941–1945'. Dietz-Verlag, Bonn, 1997. {{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Eugen 1891 births 1951 deaths Military personnel from Metz People from Alsace-Lorraine German Army generals of World War II Generals of Artillery (Wehrmacht) Military personnel of Bavaria Reichswehr personnel Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class