Article about: Fick bought the farm April 29, 1945. Supposedly outside a KZ in Murnau, where he was heading to deliever a letter from Himmler in regards to the execution of POVs. US forces were already in
That's the story I was told at the local museum in Murnau. However, there are some pieces missing and some questions to be raised.
A certain Hauptmann Pohl had assembled the guards as well as the prisoners at the gate, to await the arrival of the US troops. The Polish prisoners had been handed back their belongings the day before, including their daggers.
At one point, several cars (two?) arrived at the front gate. Confronted by Fick, Pohl refused to hand over the prisoners. In consequence, he was shot through his cheek, alledgedly with a rifle (?). At the same time, the US tanks appeared and opened fire at the car(s). Two SS officers were killed. According to some sorces, the tanks pursued the one or more fleeing cars.
This is the story that Pohl was supposed to have told. He also mentioned the "liquidation" order.
However, I find it unlikely for Fick to have such orders (issued by Himmler). By April 28, Himmler had already been sacked by Hitler. Also, there were no such orders for other camps holding Polish POW. Furthermore, two or three cars with a few passengers would not have sufficed to execute 5000 prisoners, especially with US troops so close. From what I heard, the POWs were supposed to be marched back to Murnau. I am working on this topic academically at the moment.
You raise some interesting points.
How ever, some sources mention more than a couple of vehicles.
The source in my first post says 40 vehicles. Who knows for sure, how many there were.
On one hand, the TR top echelon did settle more than a few accounts in the very last hour.
How ever, one could also suggest, that it would be doubtful for the regime to bother with a liquidation order for this type of prisoner at this point of time in the War.
Maybe a soldier fired at the Allied troops? Maybe the two were executed when found out to be members of the SS? The SS was not universially loved at that point by the Allies ...to put it diplomatically.
The facts might be lost in 'the fog of war.'
Look forward to hearing about how you perceive the incident, when and if you reach a conclusion.
Oh, I haven't come across a source with 40 vehicles yet. Could you tell me where you found that? The sources that I have encountered don't mention any numbers, but that the cars turned around and sped off. If you knew that road, you could see that a whole so many cares would hardly have had the chance to turn around. It is "old school" narrow. The camp, btw, used to be military barracks before 1939 and became barracks again when the Bundeswehr was founded. I recently had a meeting there and it's quite interesting.
Yes, i also thought that they may have been executed. In one of the pictures you can see a US soldier bending over the bodies with a rifle in his hands and blood running from the bodies. The bullet either entered or exited the back of the soldier lying left of the vehicle (in its forward direction). The one behind the vehicle seems to be bleeding from his head. In other pictures, the body behind the car seems to be in a slightly different position, possibly with his body upwards.
I don't think they would have opened fire themselves, as they were facing tanks. There is a youtube video which shows the scene right after it happened.
Last edited by Lohmax; 01-16-2013 at 08:37 PM.
Reason: Missing information
Oh, I haven't come across a source with 40 vehicles yet. Could you tell me where you found that?
As mentioned, vehicles and the source/link is stated in my OP.
The exact number of vehicles is of course totally unsubstantiated.
Who knows, how many there were - could be one, could be fifty.
I just quoted the source - I cant and wont be the judge of its trustworthyness.
I just thought the photo and the supposed circumstances food for thought.
Yes, the pic I posted in my OP is open to interpretation.
Who knows what happened.....
I stumbled over several other very interesting pics in regards to the subject of Fick et al.
Info and pics also of relevance as other vehicles/personnel are debated in the above.
The remainder of the pics looks like most were taken from inside a camp building.
Date: Sunday, 29 April 1945
Place: Murnau, Southern Bavaria, germany
Photographer: Unknown
On April 29, 1945, during the Murnau Oflag (Offizierslager) VII-A assembly, a plane with Polish insignia had appeared in the sky, circled above the assembly square, tried to signal something and went away. Soon on the road to the camp appeared American tanks. At the same time from the other side of Murnau, two German cars approached. They stopped upon noticing the tanks. Germans had been taken by surprise. SS officer in the first car opened fire from the machine gun, at the same time his companion jumped out of the vehicle. Both men were killed on a spot by the Americans (SS-Hauptsturmführer der Reserve Max Teichmann and SS-officer Widmann). The same fate met the passangers of the second car. Among the dead Germans was SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Ernst Fick (in the above picture lies at left, while at right is his driver with the rank SS-Untersturmführer) who rides in the second car. His briefcase contained the letter signed by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. It was an order to kill all 5,000 Polish POW officers encamped in Murnau! To execute this task Fick had had at his disposal an SS group in 40 armoured vehicles that started from Münich. Most likely the SS-man intended to assemble the POWs and killed them with the machine guns fire from guard's towers. After finishing off the Germans, one of the Americans' tank smashed the entrance gate and entered the assembly square. The representative of POWs welcomed American soldiers. He had addressed them in English. The commander of the tank shook his head and answered in Polish: " My name is Szewczyk, we came to liberate you". He was from Kalisz, Poland!
Just to clarify, the camp in question was not a KZ (Konzentrationslager / Concentration Camp) - I have edited the original post.
The site in question was Oflag VII-A Murnau, which was used as a POW camp for Polish officers. Initially, the camp held around 1,000 prisoners...later, this rose to 5,000 following the large transport from Oflag VIII-E (known as the "Generals' Camp") in the Sudetenland and later, the Warsaw Uprising. The camp held a number of notable prisoners including several Divisional Generals and Rear Admiral Jozef Unrug, who commanded a submarine flotilla in WWI before leaving Germany in 1919 when Poland had regained her independence. It was Unrug who created the evacuation plan for major Polish naval vessels shortly after the German invasion, with said vessels withdrawing to the UK during the Peking Plan.
This is just another documented example of the ruthlessness of the SS. The Reich was in shambles, defeat was certain and Himmler orders the death of 5000 POW's! The SS is not to be admired but recognized as the murderers they were.
BOB
LIFE'S LOSERS NEVER LEARN FROM THE ERROR OF THEIR WAYS.
I understand your point. However, in this case those SS officers had very different reasons for being there at that point. I know that because I have spent the last two years researching the camp and the events of 29 April 1945 in Murnau from scratch. The story of execution orders for the 5000 POW was a false rumor that spread weeks after liberation, because it sounded plausible enough at the time, especially after the full picture of Nazi atrocities started to unfold. In my opinion, we need to put historical facts before hearsay and rumors, and the facts are quite clear in this case. True, this doesn't make the SS as such any better.
Re: Late war KIA - Brigadeführer SS Ernst Fick.
by Lohmax
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