Hermann Willibald Fischer (6 February 1896 in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
– 17 July 1922 in
Saaleck Castle
Saaleck Castle (german: Burg Saaleck) is a hill castle near Bad Kösen, now a part of Naumburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
In 1922, two of the men who had killed Walther Rathenau, the foreign minister of Germany, hid at Saaleck Castle but were tra ...
) was a German mechanical engineer. He was a member of an extreme right-wing terror group
Organisation Consul
Organisation Consul (O.C.) was an ultra-nationalist and anti-Semitic terrorist organization that operated in the Weimar Republic from 1920 to 1922. It was formed by members of the disbanded Freikorps group Marine Brigade Ehrhardt and was respons ...
(OC) and was one of the assassins of the German minister of foreign affairs,
Walther Rathenau
Walther Rathenau (29 September 1867 – 24 June 1922) was a German industrialist, writer and liberal politician.
During the First World War of 1914–1918 he was involved in the organization of the German war economy. After the war, Rathenau s ...
, on 24 June 1922.
Life
Fischer was the son of a painter and professor in Dresden. He was a volunteer in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and at the end of the war was a company commander with the rank of lieutenant. After the war he studied mechanical engineering in
Chemnitz
Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...
, successfully completing his studies in March 1922. Periodically he interrupted his studies to join various
Freikorps
(, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, regar ...
, initially during the Chemnitz food riots in August 1919. As a member of the
Marine-Brigade Ehrhardt he participated in the
Kapp-Putsch
The Kapp Putsch (), also known as the Kapp–Lüttwitz Putsch (), was an attempted coup against the German national government in Berlin on 13 March 1920. Named after its leaders Wolfgang Kapp and Walther von Lüttwitz, its goal was to undo the ...
and fought in early summer 1921 with the
Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located ...
n Self-Protection Organisation. He was a member of various extreme right-wing organisations, among them the
Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund
The ''Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund'' (English: German Nationalist Protection and Defiance Federation) was the largest, and most active anti-semitic federation in Germany after the First World War,Beurteilung des Reichskommissars für ...
.
It is not exactly known when Fischer joined the OC. According to
Ernst von Salomon
Ernst von Salomon (25 September 1902 – 9 August 1972) was a German novelist and screenwriter. He was a Weimar-era national-revolutionary activist and right-wing Freikorps member.
Family and education
He was born in Kiel, in the Prussian prov ...
Fischer was the commander of the actions of Organisation Consul in
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
. He smuggled weapons to the
Sudeten Germans
German Bohemians (german: Deutschböhmen und Deutschmährer, i.e. German Bohemians and German Moravians), later known as Sudeten Germans, were ethnic Germans living in the Czech lands of the Bohemian Crown, which later became an integral part ...
in
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
. During the escape of the convicted war criminal Ludwig Dithmar from prison in
Naumburg
Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNES ...
/
Saale
The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale (german: Sächsische Saale) and Thuringian Saale (german: Thüringische Saale), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Fränkische Saale, ...
he met his later co-assassin
Erwin Kern. Kern, Salomon and Fischer formed a terror cell of Organisation Consul for sabotage and murder, under the leadership of
Karl Tillessen. According to statements from men from the OC in Hamburg, this group was also responsible for the still unsolved murder of a Jewish merchant Sina Aronsfrau in
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...
, who was found shot in May 1922.
During the assassination of Rathenau, Fischer sat in the back of the car that was driven by
Ernst Werner Techow
Ernst Werner Techow (12 October 1901 – 9 May 1945) was a German right-wing assassin. In 1922, he took part in the assassination of the Foreign Minister of Germany Walther Rathenau. After his release from prison Techow initially joined the Nazi p ...
. As the assassins overtook the foreign minister’s car in
Berlin-Grunewald
Grunewald () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') within the Berlin borough (''Bezirk'') of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Famous for the homonymous forest, until 2001 administrative reform it was part of the former district of Wilmersdorf.
Next to Licht ...
, Kern fired with a machine pistol and Fischer threw a hand-grenade into the open car.
[http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/saaleck-hat-npd-gedenkstein-fuer-rathenau-moerder-aufgestellt-a-846108.html (retrieved=1 October 2016)]
After the attack, Kern and Fischer succeeded in fleeing and ultimately reached
Saaleck Castle
Saaleck Castle (german: Burg Saaleck) is a hill castle near Bad Kösen, now a part of Naumburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
In 1922, two of the men who had killed Walther Rathenau, the foreign minister of Germany, hid at Saaleck Castle but were tra ...
. The owner of the car, OC-member Hans Wilhelm Stein, went to
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
, to prepare their onward flight. Two travellers staying nearby on 16 July 1922 saw a light on in Saaleck Castle, although the owner had legally registered his absence because of his journey. (This relates to the requirement in Germany to register/deregister one’s presence with the local authority.) Two police officers found Fischer and Kern on the morning of the following day. When Fischer took aim at the one of them, they opened fire immediately, fatally hitting Kern. Fischer carried him to a bed, then shot himself.
During the period of Nazi rule (1933–45), the Rathenau murderers were revered as heroes. On 17 July 1933 ''
Der Stahlhelm
' (German, 'The Steel Helmet, League of Front-Line Soldiers'), commonly known as ''Der Stahlhelm'' ('The Steel Helmet'), was a German First World War veteran's organisation existing from 1918 to 1935. It was part of the "Black Reichswehr" and ...
'' ('The Steel Helmet, League of Front-Line Soldiers'),
Hermann Ehrhardt
Hermann Ehrhardt (29 November 1881 – 27 September 1971) was a German naval officer in World War I who became an anti-republican and anti-Semitic German nationalist Freikorps leader during the Weimar Republic. As head of the Marinebrigade E ...
, and members of the
SA and
SS unveiled a memorial plaque in the castle. On 29 October 1933 a memorial stone was erected at the cemetery of
Saaleck in the presence of
Ernst Werner Techow
Ernst Werner Techow (12 October 1901 – 9 May 1945) was a German right-wing assassin. In 1922, he took part in the assassination of the Foreign Minister of Germany Walther Rathenau. After his release from prison Techow initially joined the Nazi p ...
,
Heinrich Tillessen
Heinrich Tillessen (27 November 1894 – 12 November 1984) was one of the murderers of Matthias Erzberger, former German minister of finance of the Centre Party. One of his brothers was Karl Tillessen, deputy of Hermann Ehrhardt in the . The oth ...
, Hanns Hustert and Ludwig Dithmar. The stone was removed and destroyed in 2000.
Literature
* Martin Sabrow: ''Der Rathenaumord. Rekonstruktion einer Verschwörung gegen die Republik von Weimar''. Oldenbourg, München 1994, .
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fischer, Hermann Willibald
1896 births
1922 suicides
Kapp Putsch participants
20th-century Freikorps personnel
German nationalist assassins
Organisation Consul members
Walther Rathenau
Suicides by firearm
Suicides in the Weimar Republic