Jungclaus, Richard, born 17-03-1905 in Freiburg (Elbe), Germany
the son of a merchant. After primary and secondary school, he trained as a textile merchant and took over his father’s business. In 1930 he became a member of the SA
and the NSDAP
Nr 30566 ion 01-09-1930 and in 1931 he switched from the SA to the SS.
Nr 7368 on 15-04-1931. From 1934 he worked mainly for the SS in various positions, including from 01-10-1937 to 14-11-1938 as commander of the 12. SS-Standarte
in Lower Saxony and subsequently until April 1942 as commander of the SS-Abschnitte IV.
,
From August 1940 to April 1942 he worked as an advisor to the Dutch SS, then from 01-04-1942 to 31-07-1944 as leader of the “Dienststelle Jungclaus” in Brussels, and as Heinrich Himmler‘s
plenipotentiary for Volkstumsfragen und zur Betreuung der flämischen SS. Jungclaus had to bring about the transfer of the administration of Belgium and Northern France from the Wehrmacht to the SS, but he encountered stubborn resistance from General Alexander Ernst Alfred Hermann von Falkenhausen
and from the leader of the military administration Eggert Reeder.
Reeder survived the war and died 22-11-1959, age 65, in Wuppertal, Regierungsbezirk Düsseldorf,
Jungclaus therefore had to limit himself to interventions for which the SS had authority. This included contacts with the VNV and with the DeVlag, the leadership of military and paramilitary units, such as the SS, the Algemene SS-Vlaanderen, the SS-Wallonie and the Gestapo
.
Jungclaus married Friederike Renninghoff (born 14-10-1910 in Hamm/Westphalia) on 10-07-1934, the couple had one son (19-05-1937-27-12-1944?) and three daughters (14-02-1936, 13-01-1940 and 10-10-1943.
From 18-07-1944, the date on which the ‘Militärverwaltung’ in Belgium was abolished and replaced by a ‘Zivilverwaltung’, headed by Reichskommissar Josef Grohé
Jungclaus was the second highest authority as HSSPF (Higher SS and Police Leader) Belgium and Northern France until 16-09-1944, and from 14-08-1944 also as Wehrmachtbefehlshaber
for Belgium-Northern France. When the Allied troops approached Brussels after the Normandy landings,
Jungclaus ordered that 5,000 political prisoners were to be deported to Germany as hostages. On 3 September, however, he stopped the deportation that had already begun and ordered that the prisoners were to be handed over to the Red Cross.
This was the result of an intervention by surgeon Werner Wachsmuth,
who pleaded for the limited transport facilities to be reserved for the evacuation of German wounded. After Wachsmuth’s request was granted, Jungclaus was accused of having poorly organised the evacuation of the German troops. He withdrew on his own initiative to Hasselt in early September, where Heinrich Himmler
personally lectured him on 16-09-1944 and demoted him to SS-Hauptsturmführer
in the Waffen-SS.
Death and burial ground of Jungclaus, Richard.
Jungclaus was incorporated into a combat unit and sent to Yugoslavia. On 14-04-1945, he 40 years old, was killed in action with the 7. SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division Prinz Eugen
in Yugoslavia. Richard Jungclaus was buried at the old cemetery Zavidovići, Bosnië en Herzegovina, Zavidovići, Yugoslavia (present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina).















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