Fegelein, Waldemar “Axel”.

Fegelein, Waldemar “Axel”, born 09-01-1912 in Ansbach to Hans Fegelein. His brother Hermann, the later adjutant of Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, both had a love for horses as their father operated a horse riding school in Munich. However, this school was forced to close in the mid-1920’s due to the worldwide economic depression, but later reopened. Waldemar was a master equestrian and participated in numerous riding competitions, winning a great many. In July 1937 the riding school of the Fegelein parents was appointed to the head SS riding school and classed under Heinrich Himmler.

  Waldemar and his brother  Hermann Fegelein joined the SS Calvary and would compete for the German team in the 1936 Olympics held in Munich. Fegelein joined the Nazi party on 28-04-1933 nr. 2.942.829 and then the SS, as an enlisted man on 01-09-1935, serial number 229780. He volunteered to join the SS-Support Units and during World War II was regarded as a highly competent and brave officer. He was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross (similar to the United States’ Medal of Honor) for actions on the Eastern Front in December 1943, as a Sturmbannführer in command of the 2^nd SS Cavalry Regiment, 8^th SS Cavalry Division “Florian Geyer” . Florian Geyer  a Franconian nobleman, diplomat, died age 35 on 10-06-1525. This prestigious award was personally presented to Fegelein by Heinrich Himmler. Fegelein, like his brother Hermann, went on to command an SS Division, the 37^th SS Volunteer Cavalry Division Lützow . Ludwig von Lutzow   was a Prussian Generalleutnant who died age 52 on 06-12-1834. Waldemar commanded this division only briefly from 26-02-1945 until sometime in May, 1945. He was present when a German group with Reichsmarshall, Hermann Göring,  his wife Emma  and daughter Edda ,  Franz Ritter von Epp   and Oberst Bernd von Brauchitsch, son of the Marshall Walther von Brauchitsch,

  surrendered to the American 36^th Infantry Division, nicknamed “Arrowhead”  under Brigadier General Robert Ignatius Stack. General John Ernest Dahlquist   accepted the surrender in the “Grand Hotel” in Kitzbuhel

 

and had one daughter called Eva

  after her aunt. Eva Fegelein committed suicide on 25-04-1971 after her boyfriend was killed in an auto accident. Gretl Braun-Fegelein moved to Munich and remarried in 1954. She died in 1987, aged 72. After Himmler tried to negotiate a surrender to the western Allies via Count Folke Bernadotte  in April 1945, Fegelein  left the Reich Chancellery bunker complex and was caught by SS-Obersturmbannführer Peter Högl  in his Berlin apartment on 27 April, wearing civilian clothes and preparing to flee to Sweden or Switzerland. He was carrying cash—German and foreign—and jewellery, some of which belonged to Eva Braun  (see Braun parents).  Högl also uncovered a briefcase containing documents with evidence of Himmler’s attempted peace negotiations with the western Allies. According to most accounts he was intoxicated when arrested and brought back to the Führerbunker. After midnight on 02-05-1945, Högl was wounded in the head while crossing the Weidendammer Bridge and died of his injuries. Högl was 47 years old. Fegelein’s wife Gretl was heavily pregnant when he was arrested (the baby Eva was born in early May). Hitler considered releasing him without punishment or assigning him to Wilhelm Mohnke‘s  troops. Hitler’s secretary, Traudl Junge    an eye-witness to bunker events—stated that Braun pleaded with Hitler to spare her brother-in-law and tried to justify Fegelein’s behaviour. However, he was taken to the garden of the Reich Chancellery on 28 April, and was “shot like a dog”, age 38. Waldemar Fegelein was implicated in the killing of Russian Partisans/Jews during the war and in one incident specifically he reportedly ordered his men to murder 21 Jewish men in the town of Starobin on 21-08-1941, at the end of an anti partisan sweep called “Operation Turov”. His brother Hermann reported that over 13.000 Jews/Partisans had been terminated during this operation. Waldemar Fegelein was promoted to Standartenführer on 12-21-1944. Among his many decorations, Fegelein received the following: Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross, German Cross in Gold, Iron Cross 1^st Class, Iron Cross 2^nd Class, the Wound Badge, the German Sports Badge in Gold, SS Honor Ring and SS Honor Sword. Fegelein survived the war and was released from the prisoner camp in Darmstadt on 25-11-1946 and changed his name to Axel Fegelein, though he would sign autograph requests with his birth name. He led his own riding school near Bad Wörishofen and never had to jusify himself for his war crimes.

Death and burial ground of Fegelein, Waldemar “Axel”.

Waldemar Fegelein above with Eva Braun’s mother Franzisca, died 20-11-2000, age 88 in Obermeitingen. Fegelein is actually buried with his wife Anneliese, who died age 66 in 1990, on the Waldfriedhof of Ansbach. The body of his brother Hermann who was shot in the garden of the of the Reichskanzlei and thrown into a shellhole and hastily buried, is never found and probably destroyed.

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