Benutzer:MYR67/Artikelwerkstatt Hans Werner Roepke

Hans Werner Roepke (geb. 14. Mai 1916 in Berlin-Charlottenburg, gest. ?), war ein deutscher SS-Hauptsturmführer. Im November 1943 wurde Hauptsturmführer Hans Roepke Leiter des Britischen Freikorps (British Free Corps).

Zettelkasten

• SS-Nr. 347 048 (Beitritt ca. 1939), SS-Obersturmführer ab November 1941, SS-Hauptsturmführer ab Januar 1944

• Hans Werner Roepke arbeitete im SS-Hauptamt unter Gottlob Berger.

• Das BFC wurde offiziell am 1. Januar 1944 in Berlin gegründet. Durch Roepke bezog es Anfang Februar 1944 sein erstes wirkliches Hauptquartier im „Haus Germanien“. Dieses befand sich seit September 1943 in den Räumlichkeiten der ehemaligen Nervenheilanstalt im St. Michaeliskloster in Hildesheim.

• Als Initiator des Britischen Freikorps ist allerdings nicht Roepke, sondern John Amery anzusehen, der älteste Sohn des britischen Indien-Ministers Lord Leopold Charles Amery.

• The first step was to appoint an officer. Because of the nature of the BFC, the candidate had to be trustworthy, have a good understanding of English, be a skilled leader and have excellent administrative skills. This job fell to SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Werner Roepke. A highly educated man, Roepke's grasp of English came from his time as an exchange student before the war. His military service included being a private in the Reichswehr, then as a law man with the Allgemeine-SS, before being called up to serve as a flak officer with the SS-"Wiking" division. He was made the commander of the BFC in November 1943. | Der erste Schritt war die Ernennung eines Offiziers. Aufgrund des Charakters des BFC musste der Kandidat vertrauenswürdig sein, die englische Sprache gut beherrschen, ein fähiger Anführer sein und über ausgezeichnete administrative Fähigkeiten verfügen. Diese Aufgabe fiel dem SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Werner Roepke zu. Roepke war ein hochgebildeter Mann, der seine Englischkenntnisse aus seiner Zeit als Austauschstudent vor dem Krieg bezog. Er diente als Gefreiter bei der Reichswehr, dann als Justizbeamter bei der Allgemeinen SS, bevor er als Flakoffizier zur SS-Division „Wiking“ einberufen wurde. Im November 1943 wurde er zum Kommandeur des BFC ernannt.

• Nachfolger von Roepke als Kommandant des „British Free Corps“ wurde ab November 1944 der SS-Obersturmführer Dr. Walter Kühlich (November 1944 – April 1945)

Rohstoffe und Quellen

Jelusić, »Das „British Free Corps“ in der SS-Schule „Haus Germanien“ in Hildesheim«

S. 3: Hans Werner Roepke,20 SS-Hauptsturmführer. »Am 1. Januar 194425 wurde das BFC offiziell in Berlin gegründet. Durch Roepke bezog es Anfang Februar26 sein erstes wirkliches Hauptquartier im „Haus Germanien“. Dieses befand sich seit September 1943 in den Räumlichkeiten der ehemaligen Nervenheilanstalt27 im St. Michaeliskloster in Hildesheim.«

Fn. 20 auf S. 8: Hans Werner Roepke (* 14. Mai 1916 in Berlin-Charlottenburg), arbeitete im SS-Hauptamt unter Gottlob Berger.

Quelle: Marko Jelusić, »Das „British Free Corps“ in der SS-Schule „Haus Germanien“ in Hildesheim«, in: Volkshochschule Hildesheim (Hrsg.), „St. Michaelis zu Hildesheim“, Hildesheim 2010, S. 197-206, https://silo.tips/queue/aus-volkshochschule-hildesheim-hrsg-st-michaelis-zu-hildesheim-hildesheim-2010-s

Wikipedia.de, „Britisches Freikorps“

Trotz dieser Misserfolge und der kleinen Mannschaftszahl verlor die SS allerdings nicht das Interesse am Aufbau einer britischen Freiwilligeneinheit. Im November 1943 wurde Hauptsturmführer Hans Roepke der Formation als Offizier zugeordnet, der die Aufstellung der Einheit einleiten sollte.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britisches_Freikorps

en.wikipedia.org, „British Free Corps“

The BFC did not have a "commander" per se as it was the intention of the SS to appoint a British commander when a suitable British officer came forward. However, three German Waffen-SS officers acted as the Verbindungsoffizier ("liaison officer") between the SS-Hauptamt Amtsgruppe D/3, which was responsible for the unit and the British volunteers, and in practice they acted as the unit commander for disciplinary purposes at least. These were:

• SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Werner Roepke: September 1943 – November 1944[14]
• SS-Obersturmführer Dr Walter Kühlich: November 1944 – April 1945[15]
• SS-Hauptsturmführer Dr Alexander Dolezalek: April 1945[16]

Weale, Adrian (1994). Renegades: Hitler's Englishmen. London, UK: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-7126-6764-4., p. 114, https://books.google.com/books?id=dy1nAAAAMAAJ

British Free Corps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Free_Corps

Jewish Virtual Library, „The British Free Corps“

In spite of the tiny size of the unit, the Waffen-SS continued to work on the BFC. The first step was to appoint an officer. Because of the nature of the BFC, the candidate had to be trustworthy, have a good understanding of English, be a skilled leader and have excellent administrative skills. This job fell to SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Werner Roepke. A highly educated man, Roepke's grasp of English came from his time as an exchange student before the war. His military service included being a private in the Reichswehr, then as a law man with the Allgemeine-SS, before being called up to serve as a flak officer with the SS-"Wiking" division. He was made the commander of the BFC in November 1943.

Roepke's first order of business was the name. "The Legion of St. George" was rejected as being too religious and the "British Legion" was also not acceptable since it was in use by a UK World War I veterans group. It was Alfred Minchin who suggested "British Free Corps" after reading about the "Freikorps Danmark" in the English version of Signal magazine. Thus, it was accepted that (though, in correspondence, the unit was sometimes called the "Britisches Freikorps"), officially the name was the "British Free Corps".

Roepke ordered the BFC to be moved to the St. Michaeli Kloster in Hildesheim and also put in an order for 800 sets of the special BFC insignia to the SS clothing department.

Officially, the BFC came into existence on January 1, 1944. By February 1944, the BFC made the move to Hildesheim and the Kloster, which was a converted monastery, now the SS Nordic Study Centre and also the barracks for foreign workers labouring for the SS.

In April 1944, the BFC was issued its distinctive insignia, the three lion passant collar tab, the Union Jack arm badge, and the cuff title bearing "British Free Corps" in Gothic script. On the morning of 20 April, Roepke said that the BFC was now fully-fledged (by being issued uniforms, weapons, and pay books), and recruiting could begin in earnest.

With the success of the D-Day landings, some of the BFC men saw the writing on the wall and began to look for ways out. An incident involving the arrest of a BFC man for the theft of a pistol blew up, culminating in eight men, including Pleasants, refusing to work setting up a football pitch; all of them were sent to SS punishment camps. Despite this, recruitment was stepped up, with the intent assemble as many volunteers as possible, get them trained for combat, and sent off to the front whether as a unit or as replacements for other units. It was here that Vivian Stranders, a SS-Sturmbannführer, sought to make a bid for power by making a move against Cooper and Roepke, intending to monopolize British recruiting, and perhaps assume command of the BFC. Stranders, originally a British subject, joined the Nazi party in 1932 and took German nationality. After the war began, he was posted to the Waffen-SS as an expert in British affairs.

This attempt to turn the BFC into an actual combat unit came to a stop with the news of Roepke's dismissal. Stranders had been successful in ousting Roepke, replacing him with SS-Obersturmführer Dr. Walther Kuhlich, who was wounded during his stint with SS-"Das Reich", and was unfit for active frontline duty.

„Great Britain & the Holocaust: The British Free Corps“, in: Jewish Virtual Library, a project of AICE, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-british-free-corps

Channel 5 Documentary „The Brits Who Fought For Hitler“ (2002)

Blackmail was another tactic: prostitutes were sent in to seduce the PoWs, who were then told they faced the death penalty for sleeping with German women if they didn’t collaborate. However, the response was still poor. The occasional bigot – such as Thomas Cooper and Francis MacLardy – joined up on ideological grounds, but most wanted an easy life, drinking beer in the local cafes, sleeping with the local German girls and avoiding the front if at all possible. Even the corps commander, Hans Werner Roepke, wasn’t looking forward to battle. The filmmakers tracked the former SS Captain down to a Frankfurt suburb. ‘The Brits Who Fought For Hitler’ includes an interview from one of the BFC men’s German girlfriends, now in her 70s. She much preferred the British SS men to the Germans, and still keeps a photo of her "real English Gentleman" boyfriend. It wasn’t until spring 1944 that there were enough recruits to form the corps. They began training in an old seminary, where they signed up under false names. Privileges included the right to be addressed in English and to be allowed to do English marching drill. But although recruits were told they were joining a large and prestigious outfit, the pitiful size of the BFC got Roepke the sack, and the unit’s importance was downgraded.

„The Brits Who Fought For Hitler (2002)“, Documentary Description, Channel 5, in: CosmoLearning, 2010, https://cosmolearning.org/documentaries/the-brits-who-fought-for-hitler-2002/1/

The Herald (Scotland), „The Brits Who Fought For Hitler“

IN THE Second World War, there were spies, and traitors in the trenches. You hear much about the first and little about the second. The makers of The Brits Who Fought For Hitler: Revealed would have you believe they were imparting a tale of a betrayal by men covered in mud and shame who were suppressed till their cameras clicked on. Not quite. Sometimes a story is untold because there isn't one.

The renegades were prisoners of war who joined the British Free Corps, a unit of the Waffen SS. The Germans tried to recruit them through war-time marketing techniques. First they sought to lure the PoWs by showing them the delights disloyalty might bring - a billet in a camp where beer and ladies in lederhosen were within reach. Little, though, did the Nazis allow for the British obsession with the neighbours. Camp-lite's neighbour was a barbaric repository for Russians. After peering next door, most of the British PoWs opted not to trust the Nazis and declined to join Free Corps.

Of the few who did, treachery seems to have been the last thing on their minds. They passed a peaceful war, quietly colluding with the German head of their unit who was just as intent on avoiding a skirmish. The corps commander, Hans Werner Roepke, was filmed covertly. We were trying to kill time, he admitted.

Artefacts, including a SS paybook which had belonged to a British-born corporal, were more fascinating. Inside there was a portrait of Hitler, alongside the corporal's details, which included his gasmask size. A uniform was also produced, showing a British flag alongside a swastika.

The unit was finally sent to the Eastern front, closer to the fray. The documentary reminded us that soldiers are people, and men who change sides do not change character. Idleness, not ideology, seemed to be their motivation for joining the unit.

A shortfall of adventure left the programme makers to boost their documentary into something more revelatory than it was. They tried more secret filming, this time of the last surviving member of the Free Corps, who now lives in Australia. Secret cameras are generally concealed within bags, and, so, an interviewee is shot from hip height. Robert Chipchase, the survivor, issued denials of his participation from his navel. Visually and narratively, no clear picture emerged of these traitors.

Unusually, Trinny and Susannah were advising a man What Not to Wear last night in a show which actually revealed that concerns about chubby rears are not gender specific. Poor Matthew, a man with a Jennifer Lopez bottom, sought tips on trousers which might be slimming. His transformation concluded this compellingly shallow series, where looks are all that matter.

Trinny and Susannah would have vetoed the wearing of the Free Corps uniform, based on its appearance rather than allegiance.

„Sniping on fashion's frontlines“, in: The Herald, 17th October 2002 The Brits Who Fought For Hitler: Revealed five, 9.00pm What Not to Wear BBC2, 8.30pm https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/11913925.sniping-on-fashions-frontlines/

memorabletv.com, „The Brits Who Fought For Hitler“

The Brits Who Fought For Hitler (2002)

A nation reviles treachery, perhaps now more than ever. But the chronicles of recent history have ignored the most shameful episode of World War Two. The Britisches Freikorps unit of the Waffen SS served alongside the Nazis on the Eastern Front. Its members wore the death’s head insignia and took German rank. They helped defend Berlin even as Hitler retreated to his bunker. But each and every member was recruited from British, Canadian, Australian and South African soldiers who volunteered to betray their country. Recognising the potential propaganda value of the unit, the Nazis ordered 800 SS uniforms with Union Jack arm badges. Most Allied prisoners of war ignored or resisted recruitment tactics ranging from leaflet bombardment to bribery and torture. But some 200 Allied prisoners answered the Nazi call. Some were motivated by greed, or by sympathies with the fascist cause. Others were simply described by intelligence files of the time as of ‘weak character’, and found the opportunities offered by the Germans to drink and womanise too tempting. The British Free Corps was itself betrayed by one of its number who joined only to feed MI5 with information. John Brown, the quartermaster of a camp at Genshagen. As Germany collapsed, Brown’s information allowed the Allies to round up the traitors who often posed as fleeing PoWs. They were prosecuted and sentenced at court martial and treason trials. The intelligence files were quietly closed and access to the devastating information within was restricted. There was no cover-up, rather a conspiracy of indifference. For the first time on British Television, the British SS soldiers speak of their treachery, and their part in a failed German propaganda coup.

This week Channel Five present an intriguing documentary about a group of upper class Brits who sided with Hitler during world war II. Channel Five Tuesday 8 May 2003 - 8.00pm.

As the Russian army moved towards Berlin in the last months of the Third Reich, the crumbling Nazi forces were joined by some unlikely reinforcements – a British SS unit. This documentary, based on formerly classified information, tells the story of these treacherous men. The pro-Nazi soldiers were the brainchild of the upper-class, Harrow-educated John Amery, a conman and sexual psychopath whose father served in Churchill’s war cabinet. Although he was a quarter Jewish (his father was half Jewish) , Amery was an anti-Semite renowned for making speeches welcoming the German invaders in France. He then offered his services to Nazi propaganda minister Goebbels, and began working with notorious broadcaster Lord Haw Haw.

For the first time on British television, men of the British Free Corps of the Waffen SS speak of their treachery, and their part in a German propaganda coup that failed dismally when faced with stout British resistance. Of around 150,000 British PoWs, only 27 joined the ineffective British Free Corps (BFC). Historian Adrian Weale explains how Amery’s idea of a corps of British traitors delighted Hitler. But his initial attempts at recruiting from German PoW camps were a dismal failure: few British prisoners were prepared to join the army that had made their lives hell. The SS put British turncoat John Brown in charge instead, but little did they know that former fascist Brown was an MI5 informer who was passing all their plans to British intelligence. Their plans were doomed from the start.

The ‘carrot’ approach was tried first. Recruiters told prisoners they would be fighting communism, and wouldn’t have to bear arms against their fellow countrymen. Some British prisoners were transferred to a ‘holiday camp’ with healthy meals, beer, a theatre, a cafe and a football pitch. However, this attempt to show the Nazis as reasonable types was undermined by the presence of a work camp next door, where tens of thousands of Russian prisoners were worked to death in full view of the PoWs.

Still, very few took up the German offer to wear the special BFC uniforms, with the swastika sitting alongside the three lions and Union Jack. The Nazis then used the ‘stick’ approach, attempting to break the men by cutting their rations, depriving them of clothing and subjecting them to psychological torture.

Blackmail was another tactic: prostitutes were sent in to seduce the PoWs, who were then told they faced the death penalty for sleeping with German women if they didn’t collaborate. However, the response was still poor. The occasional bigot – such as Thomas Cooper and Francis MacLardy – joined up on ideological grounds, but most wanted an easy life, drinking beer in the local cafes, sleeping with the local German girls and avoiding the front if at all possible. Even the corps commander, Hans Werner Roepke, wasn’t looking forward to battle. The filmmakers tracked the former SS Captain down to a Frankfurt suburb. ‘The Brits Who Fought For Hitler’ includes an interview from one of the BFC men’s German girlfriends, now in her 70s. She much preferred the British SS men to the Germans, and still keeps a photo of her "real English Gentleman" boyfriend. It wasn’t until spring 1944 that there were enough recruits to form the corps. They began training in an old seminary, where they signed up under false names. Privileges included the right to be addressed in English and to be allowed to do English marching drill. But although recruits were told they were joining a large and prestigious outfit, the pitiful size of the BFC got Roepke the sack, and the unit’s importance was downgraded.

The BFC were sent for battle training at Dresden, and ironically helped clean up operations after the famous firestorm raid by the RAF in February 1945. Locals were not amused to find British people in what was left of their city, and arrested them as spies. They were released from gaol and sent to the Eastern Front to help with the last ditch defence of the Fatherland. The BFC spent a month on the front line watching the Russians on the other side of the river and coming under shellfire. Fortunately for them, they were pulled back just before the Russian breakthrough and, realising the game was up, they headed West towards the British forces pushing into Germany. The BFC members changed sides again and attempted to merge with freed PoWs, wearing their old British uniforms. But MI5 officers found, questioned and imprisoned many of them. The most serious punishment, execution for treason, was saved for John Amery. Few mourned his death. BFC members were sent to prison for treason and aiding the enemy, and even today, the shame of their actions still affects families. The film talks to the son of one member who says: "I hope to God he wasn’t involved in atrocities."

Executive Producer: Simon Schofield

Producer/Director: James Cutler

A Real Life Media Production

Source: www.memorabletv.com

Quelle: CosmoLearning, 2010, https://cosmolearning.org/documentaries/the-brits-who-fought-for-hitler-2002/1/

Feldgrau.net, Topic 11858

Hauptsturmführer, artillery battery commander, SS-Wiking, short time with the British Free Korps.

Hans Werner Roepke Born 14 May 1916 SS-Nr. 347 048 Joined ca. 1939

SS-Ostuf 11-41 SS-Hstuf 1-44

11.41 – 6.44: SS-Art.Rgt/SS-Wiking 1.44 – 6.44: Chef, 13./SS-Art.Rgt 5/SS-Wiking 6.44 – 12.44: Kdr, Britisches Freikorps 12.44 – 5.45: SS-Jagdverbände

www.feldgrau.net forum viewtopic.php?t=11858

Forum Axis History, Topic 70954

Roepke, Hans Werner SS-Hauptsturmführer der Waffen-SS

Born: 14.05.1916.

SS-Nr.: 347 048

Promotions: [00.11.1941] SS-Obersturmführer der Waffen-SS [00.01.1944] SS-Hauptsturmführer der Waffen-SS

Career: [as of 00.11.1941] Assigned to SS-Artillerie-Regiment / SS-Division “Wiking”. [as of 00.01.1944] Chef of 13.Batterie / SS-Artillerie-Regiment 5 / 5.SS-Panzer-Division “Wiking”. [as of 00.06.1944] Kdr. Britisches Freikorps. Succeeded by SS-Hauptsturmführer Walter Kühlich. [as of 00.12.1944] Assigned to SS-Jagdverbände.

forum.axishistory.com viewtopic.php?t=70954

forum.balsi.de, Topic 3602.0

Hauptsturmführer Hans Werner Roepke

geb.: 14.5.1916 SS-Nr. 347048

Beförderungen: 11.1941: Obersturmführer 01.1944: Hauptsturmführer

11.1941: SS-AR Wiking 01.1944: Chef der 13.Batterie des SS-AR Wiking 06.1944: Britisches Freikorps 12.1944: SS-Jagdverbände

Hauptsturmführer der Reserve. Als Beförderungsdatum zum H habe ich den 21.06.1943

Roepke's debriefing by US CIC is now held in the US National Archives and contains details on his time in the SS-Jagdverbaende.

forum.balsi.de index.php?topic=3602.0

Agte, „Engländer in der Waffen-SS - das »Britische Freikorps«“, in: „Der Freiwillige“

Als Initiator des Britischen Freikorps ist John Amery anzusehen. Der älteste Sohn des britischen Indienministers Lord Leopold Charles Amery befand sich 1940, zur Zeit des Krieges in Frankreich, in Spanien.

Im Januar 1944 wurde die Gruppe, die zu der Zeit aus 60 Mann bestand, nach Hildesheim verlegt und betrieb Ausbildung. Das „Britische Freikorps“ stellte seit dieser Zeit eine offizielle Einheit der Waffen-SS dar. Kommandeur wurde der SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Werner Roepke, der von der Division „Wiking“ kam. Er hatte vor dem Krieg einige Jahre in den USA gelebt und beherrschte die englische Sprache perfekt.

[...] Roepke wurde abgelöst und SS-Obersturmführer Kühlich übernahm das Britische Freikorps.

• Patrik Agte, „Engländer in der Waffen-SS - das »Britische Freikorps«“, in: Der Freiwillige 2/1995, S. 29-31, Stiftelsen norsk Okkupasjonshistorie, 2014, nanopdf.com_englnder-in-der-waffen-ss-das-britische-freikorps.pdf