Stumpff, Hans Jürgen.

Stumpff, Hans Jürgen, born 15-06-1889 in Kolberg, four months after Adolf Hitler,   the son of an officer, like his older brother, Panzer General Horst Hermann Julius Max Stumpff, entered the Brandenburgisches Grenadier Regiment Nr. 12 “Prinz Karl von Preußen“ as an ensign in 1907. Horst Stumpff survived the war too and died age 71 on 25-11-1958 in Hamburg.

Promoted to Leutnant in 1908, by the start of the First World War, Hans Jurgen Stumpff served in the General Staff.  At the end of the war Stumpff had reached the rank of captain. During the Weimar Republic, Stumpff served as a staff officer in the Reichswehrministerium. On 01-09-1933, Stumpff, with rank of lOberstleutnant became head of personnel in the (illegal) Luftwaffe. After the Luftwaffe became formally legal in Germany, Stumpff served as its Chief of Staff from 01-06-1937 until 01-01-1939. In 1938, Stumpff was promoted to the rank of General der Flieger. During the Second World War, Stumpff commanded various Luftflotten.    In 19-07-1940, Stumpff here with Finnish Marshal Mannerheim

was promoted to the rank of Generaloberst and awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross.   His son Hauptmann Klaus-Werner was killed in battle, age 25, on 11-07-1941, near Porchow during the Operation Barbarossa. His daughter Renate, born 15-03-1925), married the Iron Cross receiver Major Karl-Günther von Hase.

  Stumpf was married with Ilse, born Grapow  and the couple had five daughters Jutta, (born. 1950), Cornelia (born. 1952), Verena (born. 1954), Bettina (born. 1957), and Angelika (born 1961). Until the end of 1943 Stumpff commanded Luftflotte 5, with which he took part in the Battle of Britain (see Bomber Harris),  operating out of Norway against Scotland and Northern England. In January 1944, Stumpff was made commanded Luftflotte 5 forces in the Defense of the Reich campaign against the Allied bombing attacks. On 08-05-1945, Stumpff served as the Luftwaffe representative at the signing of the unconditional surrender of Germany in Berlin.

   Acquitted in the Trial before a British Military Court by the accusation that he did not protect Allied Airmen shot down over Germany from acts of violence by the civilian population.

Death and burial ground of Stumpff, Hans Jürgen.

    Stumpff was released from British captivity in 1947 and lived in Frankfurt am Main, where he at the age of 78 died, on 09-03-1968. Stumpff with his wife Ilse, born Grapow and fellow Generalmajor der Infanterie, Kommandeur POW Camp Dictrict XVII, Lothar Block, Generalmajor der Infanterie, General der Technische Truppen, Hans von Hanstein,  Generalmajor der Luftnachrichtentruppe,  Kommandeur Wehrmacht in Holland, Heinrich Claes, General der Flieger, Department Chief of the Air Ministry, Hans Georg Seidel.

  and the famous defender of Fortress Königsberg, General der Infanterie, Otto Lasch, are buried on the Zentral Cemetery of Bonn. On the tombstone is the name of his fallen son Klaus-Werner “To commemorate”.

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