Joachim Witthöft
Joachim Witthöft | |
---|---|
Born | Marienwerder, German Empire | 23 September 1887
Died | 7 July 1966 Dalheim-Rödgen, West Germany | (aged 78)
Allegiance | ![]() |
Service/ | Army (Wehrmacht) |
Years of service | 1906–45 |
Rank | General of the Infantry |
Commands | XXVII Army Corps Army Group South Rear Area (Army Group B) |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Awards | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross |
Joachim Witthöft (23 September 1887 – 7 July 1966) was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Witthöft commanded Army Group South Rear Area (as Army Group B) during the 1942 Wehrmacht's campaign.[1]
Like other Army Group Rear Areas, the territories under Witthöft's control were the sites of mass murder during the Holocaust and other crimes against humanity targeting the civilian population. Rear Area commanders operated in parallel, and in cooperation, with the Higher SS and Police Leaders appointed by the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, for each of the army group's rear areas.[2] In the words of historian Michael Parrish, these army commanders "presided over an empire of terror and brutality".[3]
Awards and decorations
[edit]- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 14 December 1941 as Generalleutnant and commander of the 86th Infantry Division[4]
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ Pohl 2008, p. 100.
- ^ Megargee 2007, p. 36.
- ^ Parrish 1996, p. 127.
- ^ Fellgiebel 2000, p. 364.
Bibliography
[edit]- Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 [The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945] (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.
- Megargee, Geoffrey P. (2007). War of Annihilation: Combat and Genocide on the Eastern Front, 1941. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7425-4482-6.
- Parrish, Michael (1996). The Lesser Terror: Soviet State Security, 1939–1953. Praeger Press. ISBN 978-0-275-95113-9.
- Pohl, Dieter (2008). Die Herrschaft der Wehrmacht: Deutsche Militärbesatzung und einheimische Bevölkerung in der Sowjetunion 1941–1944. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag. ISBN 978-3486580655.
- 1887 births
- 1966 deaths
- Generals of Infantry (Wehrmacht)
- Prussian Army personnel
- German Army personnel of World War I
- Recipients of the clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st class
- Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
- German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United Kingdom
- People from Kwidzyn
- Military personnel from West Prussia
- German police officers
- Nazi war criminals
- German Army generals of World War II