Gawantka, Georg, born 18-08-1891 in Berlin, joined the Army Service, age 18, as a Fahnenjunker in the 3rd Badische Dragoner Regiment “Prinz Karl” Nr 22, on 28-10-1910. Promoted to Fähnrich on 19-10-1910 and as Leutnant on 18-11-1911 after finishing the War School. He was on the battlefield of the first war with this regiment and ended the war as a Rittmeister. He was not only wounded 
during the war but received both the Iron Crosses 
and other decorations. He was allowed in the new Reichswehr with the 18th Cavalry Regiment. On 01-04-1935 he was promoted to Oberst and transferred to the Reichs War Ministry RKM in Berlin, Gauleiter there was Josef Goebbels 
(did you know). In the new Wehrmacht he, on 15-10-1935, was appointed to commander of the 2nd Rifle Regiment in Meiningen. After the coalition with Austria in 1938 he lost his command and became commander of the 3rd Rifle Brigade in Eberswalde on 01-02-1938. Gawantka was promoted to Generalmajor on 01-05-1939. He lost this command on 01-08-1938 and took the command over from Oberst Edwin Graf von Rothkirch und Trach 
who died age 91 on 29-07-1980, as Kommandeur der 2nd Schützen-Brigade, in Vienna. He lost this command again and now became commander of the 10th Panzer Division 
in Prague, in the General Government Protekterat Böhmen and Mähren 
. Several Wehrmacht officers who had served in the 10th Panzer Division were active in the German Resistance against Adolf Hitler and were imprisoned or executed after their unsuccessful attempt to assassinate him in the July 20 Plot of 1944: General der Panzertruppe, Ferdinand Schaal 
, active in the resistance and imprisoned until the end of the war. Schaal avoided execution and survived the war. He died age 73, on 09-10-1962, in Baden Baden. Syndikus Albrecht von Hagen 
, active in the resistance and executed after the failure of the July 20 Plot. On 08-08-1944, the Volksgericht, Court, under jurist Roland Freisler sentenced him to death in a show trial, and Hagen was hanged later the same day at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin
during the war but received both the Iron Crosses and other decorations. He was allowed in the new Reichswehr with the 18th Cavalry Regiment. On 01-04-1935 he was promoted to Oberst and transferred to the Reichs War Ministry RKM in Berlin, Gauleiter there was Josef Goebbels (did you know). In the new Wehrmacht he, on 15-10-1935, was appointed to commander of the 2nd Rifle Regiment in Meiningen. After the coalition with Austria in 1938 he lost his command and became commander of the 3rd Rifle Brigade in Eberswalde on 01-02-1938. Gawantka was promoted to Generalmajor on 01-05-1939. He lost this command on 01-08-1938 and took the command over from Oberst Edwin Graf von Rothkirch und Trach who died age 91 on 29-07-1980, as Kommandeur der 2nd Schützen-Brigade, in Vienna. He lost this command again and now became commander of the 10th Panzer Division in Prague, in the General Government Protekterat Böhmen and Mähren . Several Wehrmacht officers who had served in the 10th Panzer Division were active in the German Resistance against Adolf Hitler and were imprisoned or executed after their unsuccessful attempt to assassinate him in the July 20 Plot of 1944: General der Panzertruppe, Ferdinand Schaal , active in the resistance and imprisoned until the end of the war. Schaal avoided execution and survived the war. He died age 73, on 09-10-1962, in Baden Baden. Syndikus Albrecht von Hagen , active in the resistance and executed after the failure of the July 20 Plot. On 08-08-1944, the Volksgericht, Court, under jurist Roland Freisler sentenced him to death in a show trial, and Hagen was hanged later the same day at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin
Oberst der Kavallerie, Graf Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, 
who placed the bomb that was intended to kill Hitler at the Wolfschanze. He was executed age 36 on 20-07-1944. The 20 July threaten at the Bendlerblock in Berlin was saved by Major Otto Ernst Remer 
commander of the Infantry Regiment Grossdeutschland 
who refused to arrest Joseph Goebbels after talking to Hitler in the Wolfschanze by phone.Death and burial ground of Gawantka, Georg.
Before World War II broke out Gawantka suddenly died at the age of 47, on 14-07-1939 in Prague. He is buried with his wife Franziska, born Mutzbauer, who died old age 90 on 09-06-1980, on the Waldfriedhof Cemetery, Berlin Dahlem. Only steps away the graves of the General der Infanterie, Kommandeur Gruppe I Berlin, Walter Bergmann and the jurist Roland Freisler, famous from several hysterical death penalties, (see Hans and Sophie Scholl).
Freisler is buried in the family grave of his wife Marion, born Russegger, but no name on the gravestone.
