Joachim Meichssner (4 April 1906 – 29 September 1944) was a

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 ...

officer and member of the Resistance against the Nazi régime.

Biography

Meichssner was born in Deutsch Eylau,

West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (german: Provinz Westpreußen; csb, Zôpadné Prësë; pl, Prusy Zachodnie) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and 1878 to 1920. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 177 ...

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

(modern Iława, Poland). Since 1912 his father Maximilian worked as a teacher and ecclesiastical supervisor at

Schulpforta Pforta, or Schulpforta, is a school located in Pforta monastery, a former Cistercians, Cistercian monastery (1137–1540), near Naumburg on the Saale River in the Germany, German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The site has been a school since the 16th ...

, where Meichssner also attended school. He volunteered 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 reshaped ...

in 1924 as an officer cadet. Starting in 1935 he was trained for staff duties at the War Academy of Berlin. In September 1937 he was shifted to 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 1940 he became the 1st general staff officer and group chief in the General Army Office (Allgemeines Heeresamt) under General

Friedrich Olbricht Friedrich Olbricht (4 October 1888 – 21 July 1944) was a German general during World War II and one of the plotters involved in the 20 July Plot, an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944. He was a senior staff officer, with the rank of ...

. Here he became involved in the military conspiracy against Hitler.Biography
at

Memorial to the German Resistance The German Resistance Memorial Center (german: Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand) is a memorial and museum in Berlin, capital of Germany. History It was opened in 1980 in part of the Bendlerblock, a complex of offices in Stauffenbergstrasse (fo ...

After a deployment at the eastern front, Meichssner became Chief of the Organization Department of the Armed Forces Command in 1943 and as such had direct, though sporadic, access to Hitler. In September 1943 Colonel

Helmuth Stieff Hellmuth Stieff (6 June 1901 – 8 August 1944) was a German general and a member of the OKH (German Army Headquarters) during World War II. He took part in attempts by the German resistance to assassinate Adolf Hitler on 7 and 20 July 1944. C ...

informed Meichssner about the plans to kill Hitler in a suicide attack and tried to convince him to carry out such an attempt; however, Meichssner finally refused after his father had discouraged him for religious reasons and because he “could not bear the stress of waiting”. The plotters around

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 ...

now chose Axel von dem Bussche to kill Hitler in a suicide attack during a demonstration of new winter uniforms, a plan that failed after the uniforms had been destroyed in an Allied air raid. Meichssner was deployed at

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 of B ...

during the

20 July plot On 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia, now Kętrzyn, in present-day Poland. The ...

; initially his involvement in the coup remained undetected but his father, a member of the

Confessional Church Confessionalism, in a religious (and particularly Christian) sense, is a belief in the importance of full and unambiguous assent to the whole of a religious teaching. Confessionalists believe that differing interpretations or understandings, espe ...

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...

, was arrested by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

on 21 July 1944. A week later Joachim Meichssner was also arrested. He was sentenced to death by the Volksgerichtshof on 29 September 1944 and immediately executed at Plötzensee Prison alongside

Joachim Sadrozinski Joachim Sadrozinski (9 September 1907 – 29 September 1944) was a German Army officer who took part in the 20 July plot.Fritz von der Lancken Fritz originated as a German nickname for Friedrich, or Frederick (''Der Alte Fritz'', and ''Stary Fryc'' were common nicknames for King Frederick II of Prussia and Frederick III, German Emperor) as well as for similar names including Fridolin an ...

, Wilhelm-Friedrich zu Lynar and

Otto Herfurth Otto Herfurth (22 January 1893 – 29 September 1944) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Herfurth was a conspirator in the 20 July Plot. Herfurth was th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meichssner, Joachim 1906 births 1944 deaths People from Iława People from West Prussia German Army officers of World War II Executed members of the 20 July plot Executed military personnel People executed by hanging at Plötzensee Prison