SS-Brigadeführer (Major General) der Waffen-SS Karl Fischer von Treuenfeld

SS-Brigadeführer (Major General) der Waffen-SS
Karl Fischer von Treuenfeld.

Karl Fischer von Treuenfeld was born along the Danish border in the northern German harbor city of Flensburg on 31 March 1885, as the son of Kapitän zur See (Captain at Sea) Felix v. Treuenfeld. After completing high school, he enrolled at the greater cadet institute in Plön on Easter in 1898. As a Fahnenjunker (officer candidate) with the 4th Guard Field Artillery Regiment, Treuenfeld was commissioned to Lieutenant on 18 August 1904 and transferred, two years later, to the 1st Leib-Hussars Regiment. From January until April 1910, Treuenfeld traveled to France to study and learn French, and from 1912 to 1914, he enrolled at the Academy of War. On 23 May 1912, Treuenfeld was decorated with the Knight's Cross 2nd Class to the Albrecht medal. In the middle of July 1914, he embarked on a special reconnaissance mission in northern France to Namur and Lüttich. After the breakout of war, Treuenfeld posted as the ordnance officer to the Leib-Hussars Brigade. On 14 November 1914, while traveling in a vehicle near Hollebeke in Flanders, he sustained severe head injuries to his forehead, nose, and left eye. Declared a service-connected injury, Treuenfeld was decorated one week later with the Iron Cross Second Class. Treuenfeld returned to duty four months later as the adjutant of the Leib-Hussars Brigade until his second multiple wounding, on 26 June 1915, on the Eastern Front near Gumboki. Shrapnel from Russian artillery fire penetrated his stomach and right underarm. Following his recovery, he transferred on 6 December 1915 to serve with the General Staff of OB Ost. After his promotion to Captain, Treuenfeld served in the operations section in the General Staff, OB Ost, and as the Chief of the General Staff of the Feldheeres (General Erich Ludendorff) from 30 March to 6 September 1916. On 31 March, Treuenfeld received the Iron Cross First Class. After the German capture of the Rumanian oil fields in December 1916, Ludendorff tasked the 31-year old Captain to oversee the immediate resumption of oil production. During the French offensive in the summer of 1916, Treuenfeld reported the daily military situation to the Kaiser. In the fall of 1917, he wrote a guidebook on the tactical employment of modern communications equipment. From 1917 to 1918, Karl Treuenfeld attended the Commanders and General Staff Officers course in Sedan. On 10 January 1918, Treuenfeld posted as the general staff officer of the 232nd Infantry Division that fought in the main offensive and defensive battles in the West. In May, Treuenfeld received the Knight's Cross of the Albert's Medal with Swords. In July, he received the Knight's Cross with Swords from the Hohenzollern and, on 2 November, recommended for the Pour le Merit. Four days later, Treuenfeld oversaw the organization of the border guard, to protect against Czechoslovakians along the Silesian border. When mutiny broke out in the homeland, he dispatched to defuse unrest in Hasselt, Belgium, and then returned to the 232nd Infantry Division for demobilization in East Prussia. After January 1919, he was active in East Prussia as a general staff officer with the special task of eliminating statewide nests of communist activity.[1]

Entering the public sector for economics that spanned a 19-year period in 1920, Treuenfeld never broke his ties to the military. Indeed, throughout the same period, Treuenfeld remained within the sphere of influence within the army by participating in training exercises and special missions (training of commanders of the higher command echelons) with the Heeres Gruppenkommando 1. Moreover, he commanded all the militia units throughout greater Hamburg. In 1922, General Erich Ludendorff arranged for a meeting between Treuenfeld and Hitler. By way of Treuenfeld's special posting as the confidant to General Ludendorff, a deep relationship developed between Treuenfeld and Ludendorff that took root during the war and lasted until Ludendorff's death on 20 Dec 1937. By the end of October in 1923, a combined force from the various militias of greater Hamburg was on alert to assist Hitler in Bavaria during his march to freedom. The successful uprising or putsch was to signal the militias to march from Hamburg through lower Saxony and onto Berlin. In 1925, Hitler requested that Treuenfeld maintain ties and nurture his relationship with General Ludendorff.

During General Ludendorff's energetic and full opposition to the international free masons, Treuenfeld worked in the same capacity, for Ludendorff, in northern Germany. In 1929, Treuenfeld lost his entire wealth when his import business failed after his credit was frozen. In his biography, written in May 1939 as part of his application to join the SS, Treuenfeld blamed the failure of his business on the banks that reacted to his paramilitary activities in northern Germany. "As a result, the hate of the Jews and free masons that caused the economic disaster... caused my business to collapse." Nevertheless, Treuenfeld considered his work done when, on 30 March 1937, Ludendorff and Hitler unified politically. Promoted to the rank of Major on 16 December 1938, he became the army confidant for the secret armaments programs in April 1939. During the same month, Heinrich Himmler summoned him for duty in the SS. The extent of Himmler's reach, to hand pick men from the army officer corps populated by combat experienced soldiers groomed and educated for war, is exemplified by Treuenfeld's call to the SS. Nevertheless, Treuenfeld did not join the Nazi party until 10 January 1945.[2]

Notes:

1. The term Fahnenjunker derives from an aged Prussian tradition of allowing young sons of the nobility to serve in the army as color bearers, thereby preserving a physical link of noble blood to the regimental standard.

2. See Karl v. Treuenfeld, service record dossier, NA, RG242, BDC, A3343, SSO-0189B, F839-41 and F908.