On the 16th January 1947, in an execution chamber in Moscow a German General was coldly
hanged after being convicted of war crimes during the Second World War. Helmuth von Pannwitz
was an experienced military officer who would fight during 2 world wars, and he rose to
the top of the German military and rubbed shoulders with Hitler. He was accused of leading
many different soldiers to commit atrocities and slaughter against the civilians population,
and some of the war crimes that were reported involving Pannwitz’s soldiers were harrowing.
But what is the story of his execution? Join us today as we look at the execution of the
German General Shot By The Soviets, as always to support our channel please make sure to
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Helmuth von Pannwitz was born into a family of Prussian nobles in what today is considered
Poland. As a young man he was part of the Prussian cadet school, and it was clear that
he would then undertake a career in the military. Before the First World War broke out, the
was interested in the Cossack units which were set up in towns nearby. But as a cadet
officer, Pannwitz when the First World War broke out joined the Imperial German Army
as a volunteer and he was at the age of 16 promoted to the rank of second leftenant.
He was seen as a talented future leader in the German Army, and he would at a very young
age also be decorated with the Iron Cross second class for brevet.
But following the war he was part of the Freikorps, and they fought against Polish separatists
and he was involved in the Kapp Putsch. Helmuth von Pannwitz was then accused of being a suspect
in the murder of a political opponent, but then he fled to Poland where he was involved
in other politically motivated murders. He became a leader in other groups, but then
in 1931 he was granted amnesty for his crimes and he then returned to Germany following
this. He then became a Stabsfuhrer of the SA in Silesia, and he took control of a cavalry
squadron of brownshirts.
Von Pannwitz also worked alongside the Gestapo during the Night of the Long Knives, and he
was then invited to join the Nazi Party and he rejoined the German army in 1935. In 1938
after the Anschluss he was sent to Austria to become a detachment commander of cavalry
regiments. However as the first world war broke out, he commanded a recon detachment
who saw action in the invasions of Poland and France. But he continued to be decorated,
and received the Knights Cross and the oak leaves a year later for his military leadership
when he was drafted to the Eastern Front where he led soldiers covering the southern flank
during the Battle of Stalingrad.
But he then created a Cossack group of soldiers, the Cossack cavalry brigade in April 1943
who took part in anti partisan activities in Belarus and Ukraine. These soldiers fought
Partisans, and they were seen as a useful tool for the Germans, who were constantly
annoyed and hit by the partisans. Pannwitz’s brigade carried out operations in Serbia and
Croatia and they would conduct horrific slaughter of the civilians and they would carry out
assault and execution. They would round up innocent people and shoot them quickly, but
Pannwitz would issue orders regarding these as he was concerned that this sort of behaviour
would lead to mutiny.
He would stand up for himself against Hitler and would state that the Nazi policies who
led to the mass executions of the slavs was wrong and inhumane. But there were upgrades
to his Cossack divisions, and Pannwitz was then made a general. He would allow his soldiers
to attend Russian orthodox services, and he was a popular leader but by the end of the
war the SS seized control of all the foreign units of the German army. Himmler came to
an agreement with von Pannwitz, and he said that his division was to become part of the
SS in terms of supplies and replacements, but the Cossacks were allowed to keep their
uniforms and their ranks. Pannwitz refused to become an SS member and he said ‘“I
have been in the army since I was fifteen. To leave it now would seem to me like desertion,’
but Himmler wanted Helmuth von Pannwitz to take control of all Cossack forces. But the
general joined the SS switching from the German military.
Pannwitz surrendered on the 11th May 1945 to the British in Austria, and he wanted to
make sure that his soldiers were imprisoned by the Western Allies, but they were then
transferred to the Soviet Union and they would be treated much worse. Pannwitz was a German
national and was not to be repatriated to the Soviet Union, but he was then placed on
a transport of cossacks and he would be arrested by the Soviets. One British report regarding
his transfer to the Soviet Union said, ‘hat von Pannwitz clearly wanted 'to dissociate
his German officers and ultimately himself from the Cossacks who were traitors to their
country.' Even when General von Pannwitz stepped out of the vehicle which had conveyed him
across the Russian border, he was obviously surprised to see the Russians, throwing up
his arms in the air and exclaiming, "Mein Gott!"'
But he was imprisoned for some time but the circumstances regarding his execution remain
rather sketchy. It’s known that inside of Moscow and specifically inside of Lefortovo
Prison von Pannwitz was executed. It became a place which was notorious as a site of NKVD
execution during the Great Purge, and it’s believed that he was hanged inside of the
prison. He had been found guilty of war crimes against the Soviet people during the Second
World War.
There were attempts to rehabilitate Pannwitz’ reputation after the war, but this was turned
down eventually after it was considered that he was a nazi war criminal.
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