Wiedemann, Fritz

Born in the family of a provincial doctor. Having received a certificate of maturity , Fritz Wiedemann in 1910 with the rank of fan cadet joined the Bavarian army and was enrolled in the 3rd Infantry Regiment named after Prince Karl of Bavaria. In 1912 he graduated from a military school in Munich and received the rank of lieutenant . In World War I, he only came to serve on the Western Front in October 1915 due to an accident that happened to him and received the post of adjutant at the regimental headquarters of the 16th reserve infantry regiment, becoming the commander of Adolf Hitler who served in the same liaison ^[2] .

After the war, Wiedemann and Hitler initially lost sight of each other: the monarchist Wiedemann, dissatisfied with the Weimar Republic, refused to continue military service, was discharged with the rank of captain and worked in agriculture in the Allgäu , then he engaged in dairy farming in Pfarrkirchen . In 1921, Hitler and Wiedemann met at a meeting of fellow soldiers, and Hitler invited Wiedemann to command an assault detachment . Wiedemann refused, but in 1933, when his dairy industry went bankrupt, he asked Hitler for help through Max Amann . On February 1, 1934, Wiedemann took the place of adjutant Rudolf Hess, and a few days later, despite the current ban on admission to the party, he was admitted to the NSDAP . After working for ten months with Deputy Fuhrer Hess, Wiedemann was appointed Adjutant of Hitler and Brigadefuhrer of the NSCK from January 1, 1935. In 1938, Wiedemann became a member of the Reichstag . In his new position, Wiedemann carried out various foreign assignments, in particular, participated in the preparation of the Anschluss of Austria and acted as a liaison with Lord Halifax in London .

Wiedemann's foreign trips led to some distance in his relations with the Fuhrer. Hitler always called Wiedemann an “ultra-pessimist,” and when he realized that his adjutant was critical of his politics, he was removed from his post on January 19, 1939 and sent off by the German Consul General in San Francisco . In the United States, Wiedemann finally became an adversary of Hitler and National Socialism . He made contact with the British intelligence services and urged the British and Americans to abandon contacts with Hitler, whose success turned his head. Wiedemann handed over information to the British about German plans for an attack on Britain and recommended that they strike Germany first as soon as possible ^[3] .

In June 1941, all German consulates in the United States closed, and Wiedemann returned to Germany on July 16. On August 7, 1941, he was appointed Consul General of Germany in Tianjin and took office on December 17. In September 1945, he was arrested by the Allies and transported to Germany. On October 7, 1945, he was a witness at the Nuremberg Trials . May 5, 1948 was released from prison. The last two decades of his life, Wiedemann spent away from politics, working in agriculture. He was married, father of three children.

• Der Mann, der Feldherr werden wollte. Erlebnisse und Erfahrungen des Vorgesetzten Hitlers im 1. Weltkrieg und seines späteren persönlichen Adjutanten. blick + bild Verlag für politische Bildung, Velbert / Kettwig 1964 (Wiedemanns Memoiren).
• Der zweite Kriegswinter bei Fromelles. In: Fridolin Solleder (Hrsg.): Vier Jahre Westfront. Geschichte des Regiments List RIR [= Reserve Infanterie Regiment]. 16, Max Schick Verlag, München 1932
• Das Gefecht bei Fromelles am 19. und 20. Juli 1916. In: Solleder: Vier Jahre Westfront. 1932, Kapitel 8
• Die Sommeschlacht. In: Solleder: Vier Jahre Westfront. 1932, Kapitel 9
• Auf den Vimyhöhen. Stellungskrieg Oktober 1916 bis Februar 1917. In: Solleder: Vier Jahre Westfront. 1932, Kapitel 10

• Johannes Hürter (Red.): Biographisches Handbuch des deutschen Auswärtigen Dienstes 1871-1945. 5. T - Z, Nachträge. Herausgegeben vom Auswärtigen Amt, Historischer Dienst. Band 5: Bernd Isphording, Gerhard Keiper, Martin Kröger: Schöningh, Paderborn ua 2014, ISBN 978-3-506-71844-0 , S. 272 ​​f.
• Edmund Glaise von Horstenau, Peter Broucek (Hrsg.): Ein General im Zwielicht. Die Erinnerungen Edmund Glaises von Horstenau. Band 2: Minister im Ständestaat und General im OKW (= Reihe “Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Neuere Geschichte Österreichs”, Bd. 70). Böhlau, Wien 1983, ISBN 978-3-205-08743-4 . S. 316 [1] .
• Robert Wistrich: Wer war wer im Dritten Reich? Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1987, ISBN 3-596-24373-4 .
• Thomas Weber: Hitlers Erster Krieg: Der Gefreite Hitler im Ersten Weltkrieg - Mythos und Wahrheit. Propyläen Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-549-07405-3 .
• Erich Stockhorst: 5000 Köpfe. Wer war was im Dritten Reich. Arndt, Kiel 2000, ISBN 3-88741-116-1 .
• Joachim Lilla, Martin Döring, Andreas Schulz: Statisten in Uniform: Die Mitglieder des Reichstags 1933-1945. Ein biographisches Handbuch. Unter Einbeziehung der völkischen und nationalsozialistischen Reichstagsabgeordneten ab Mai 1924. Droste, Düsseldorf 2004, ISBN 3-7700-5254-4 .

• Fritz Wiedemann in the database of deputies of the Reichstag
• Florian Diekmann: Dokumentenfund: Hitlers Front-Vorgesetzter konspirierte mit Briten.
• LIFE, June 26, 1939: Captain Fritz