Wilhelm Mohnke

Schutzstaffel (SS) Fascism and National Socialism Counter-revolution 1911–2001 ○ Natural causes

Waffen-SS commander who defended the Reich Chancellery and the Führerbunker

Ordered by Hitler to court-martial Hermann Fegelein, Mohnke found the defendant too drunk to stand trial, closed the proceedings and handed him to Rattenhuber's security squad. "I never saw the man again," he said years later.

Born in Lübeck, the son of a cabinetmaker, Mohnke joined the Nazi Party and the SS in 1931 and in 1933 was one of the first members of the SS-Stabswache Berlin, Hitler's guard unit. With the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler he fought in Poland, France and the Balkans, and he was accused of responsibility for the killing of British prisoners of war near Wormhoudt in May 1940. He led a regiment of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend in Normandy and the Leibstandarte division in the Ardennes offensive. In April 1945 Hitler made him commander of the government district of Berlin, including the Reich Chancellery and the Führerbunker. After a failed breakout he surrendered to the Red Army in May and was held in the Soviet Union until October 1955. He was investigated for the killing of prisoners in 1940 and 1944 but never charged, and died in 2001.