Georg-Hennig Hans von Heydebreck

Georg-Hennig Hans von Heydebreck was born on 27 Dec. 1903 in Potsdam, into a family of Pomeranian landowners. His father was an Oberst, his grandfather a general. He attended a school in Potsdam, then the humanistic Kaiserin Augusta Gymnasium in Berlin-Charlottenburg, and finally the Pedagogium in Putbus on the island of Rügen, from which he graduated in 1922. In line with the family tradition, he embarked on a military career, beginning his training that same year as an officer candidate in a cavalry regiment of the Reichswehr. As a cadet in the Central Infantry School in Munich, on 9 Nov. 1923, he participated with his comrades in the failed putsch of Adolf Hitler and Erich Ludendorff. For this action, in 1935 he received the so-called Blood Order, one of the Nazi Party’s highest awards, although he had never been a party member. Heydebreck was an equestrian and participated in many competitions. In 1931, he married the daughter of a high official from Lausitz. The family moved frequently until he became company commander in Panzer Regiment 8 in Böblingen near Stuttgart.

At the start of the Second World War, Heydebreck participated in the invasion of Poland. In the spring of 1940, he led a battalion of Panzer Regiment 201 of the 17^th Panzer Division, participating in campaigns in France and, starting in the summer of 1941, in the east. There he fought in the Battle of Kharkov and in both Southern Russia and the Caucasus. In June 1942 he was injured by shrapnel. In Oct. and Nov. of the same year, he taught tactics at the school for armoured command in Paris. After recovering from his wounds, he returned to Russia and took over command of Panzer Regiment 201 in the southern sector of the front near Rostov-on-Don.

Meanwhile promoted to Oberst, Heydebreck was assigned to the "Hermann Göring" Panzer Division, stationed in Italy. Starting on 20 July 1943, he led the Panzer Regiment and would be deployed in Italy for a year. The regiment fought in Sicily and Southern Italy, and in early 1944 near Anzio and Nettuno. In the spring of 1944, while the "Hermann Göring" Division was stationed in Tuscany for recuperation, he led two anti-partisan operations in the area of Florence and Arezzo. In the course of these operations, atrocities and massacres were perpetrated against the civilian population, especially in the mountain village of Vallucciole. In June 1944, he was wounded during heavy fighting by the "Hermann Göring" Division south of Rome, and then spent the last months of the war in military hospitals, first at Lake Garda, later in Bavaria. There he was taken prisoner by American troops at the end of the war; he was released in Sept. 1945.

After returning to his family in Böblingen, Heydebreck would remain unemployed until 1948, on account of aftereffects of his wounding. His wife, who had owned an estate in the Soviet-occupied part of Germany, had been dispossessed through the land reforms instituted in autumn 1945. In 1947, Heydebreck underwent denazification proceedings. He had to furnish information about the Hitler putsch of 9 Nov. 1923 and his receipt of the so-called Blood Order. On the required form, he simply gave the name of the regiment he had served in in 1940, remaining silent about his time in the "Hermann Göring" Division. He indicated that he had had no knowledge either of the general situation or the illegality of what was taking place during the 1923 Hitler putsch – and that he had received the Blood Order without applying for it. Proceedings against Heydebreck were then terminated. 

In 1948, he opened a brake-vulcanizing facility in Böblingen, then finding a more suitable position with auto-manufacturer Daimler Benz in Sindelfingen. Later, he was accepted into the Bundeswehr as a reserve Oberst and participated in various exercises. 

In 1956, Heydebreck joined the CDU. He moved with his family to Ahrensburg in Holstein in 1962, where he served as secretary for the CDU’s Stormarn district association. Heydebreck died in 1976. He was never brought to justice for his role in the crimes perpetrated by the "Hermann Göring" Division in Italy. 

Georg-Hennig von Heydebreck’s younger brother was the jurist and notary Claus-Joachim von Heydebreck (1906-1985), an important CDU politician in Schleswig-Holstein. He served as president of the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament between 1959 and 1964, was the culture-minister between 1964 and 1969, and justice minister in 1969. In 1944-45, he was an officer in the Ic-battalion of the LI Mountain Corps in Cassino and the Apennines. He was taken prisoner in Italy and was likewise released in Sept. 1945. In Sept. and Oct. 1951, he defended Walter Reder in Reder’s trial before the Bologna military court.