Karl Litzmann (22 January 1850 – 28 May 1936) was a German

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 ...

general and later

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

member and state politician.

World War I

He is best known for his victory at the

Battle of Łódź (1914) The Battle of Łódź took place from 11 November to 6 December 1914, near the city of Łódź in Poland. It was fought between the German Ninth Army and the Russian First, Second, and Fifth Armies, in harsh winter conditions. The Germans red ...

; he earned the nickname "the Lion of Brzeziny" there. On 29 November 1914 he was awarded the "

Pour le Mérite The ' (; , ) is an order of merit (german: Verdienstorden) established in 1740 by Frederick the Great, King Frederick II of Prussia. The was awarded as both a military and civil honour and ranked, along with the Order of the Black Eagle, the Or ...

" for military bravery and Oak Leaves (signifying a second award) on 18 August 1915.

Interwar years

Litzmann became a member of Nazi Party in 1929 having previously become a member of SA; he was elected to the Reichstag in 1932 but declined to serve on grounds that he had responsibilities to the Prussian State Parliament, where he was its most senior member, also known as

Father of the House Father of the House is a title that has been traditionally bestowed, unofficially, on certain members of some legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the title refers to the longest continuously- ...

or Alterspräsident.

Legacy

After the 1939

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

invasion of Poland, the towns of

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...

and

Brzeziny Brzeziny (; yi, ברעזין, ''Brezin'') is a town in Poland, in Łódź Voivodeship, about 20 km east of Łódź. It is the capital of Brzeziny County and has a population of 12,326 as of December 2021. It once was a thriving Jewish sht ...

were renamed in honour of Karl Litzmann. On 11 April 1940

was officially retitled by the occupying German forces as ''Litzmannstadt'', while

later became ''Löwenstadt'' (lion city). After World War II the towns reverted to their original

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

names.

Passau Passau (; bar, label=Central Bavarian, Båssa) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany, also known as the Dreiflüssestadt ("City of Three Rivers") as the river Danube is joined by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's popu ...

named a street after him.

Anna Rosmus Anna Rosmus, also known as Anja Rosmus-Wenninger, is a German author and researcher born in 1960 in Passau, Bavaria. Early life and research As a 16-year-old, Rosmus started developing an interest in contemporary history, especially that of t ...

''Hitlers Nibelunge''n, Samples Grafenau 2015, pp. 249f Karl Litzmann was an Honorary Citizen of

Neuruppin Neuruppin (; North Brandenburgisch: ''Reppin'') is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, the administrative seat of Ostprignitz-Ruppin district. It is the birthplace of the novelist Theodor Fontane (1819–1898) and therefore also referred to as ''Fonta ...

. The honorary citizenship was withdrawn in 2007. He was the father of

Karl-Siegmund Litzmann Karl-Siegmund Litzmann (1 August 1893, in Minden, Province of Westphalia, Westphalia – August 1945, in Kappeln, Schleswig-Holstein) was the Nazi Germany, German General Commissioner for Generalbezirk Estland (Estonia) in the Reichskommissariat ...

(1893-1945) who was General Commissioner for Estonia in the Reich Commissioner Ostland during the German occupation 1941 - 1944. He was also grandfather to

Walter Lehweß-Litzmann __NOTOC__ Walter Lehweß-Litzmann (5 June 1907 – 16 September 1986) was a Major in the Luftwaffe during World War II, and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. After the war he served in the National People's Army of the Ger ...

(1907-1986).

References

External links

* * 1850 births 1936 deaths People from Oberhavel Recipients of the Iron Cross (1870) German Army generals of World War I Nazi Party politicians People from the Province of Brandenburg Generals of Infantry (Prussia) Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class) Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic Members of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany German military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War Military personnel from Brandenburg {{Germany-mil-bio-stub