Theodor Eicke - question regarding his demise

[thang]

This is my first post to this very informative site. I am a lay student of WW2 history from the Reich perspective, with particular interest in the Waffen SS. I collect relevant militaria and have some original photos etc and many, many post war books in Deutsche and English. One book I have been reading recently is the 1961 Pan Giant paperback "Commandant of Auschwitz" by Rudolf Hoess with foreword by Lord Russell. Appendix 8, pages 262-272 inclusive, is simply titled "Eicke" and is very informative, being as it was, written by Hoess who knew him.

Of particular interest to me is the last couple of paras, which state:

"In the spring of 1942 he wasw shot down during a reconnaisance flight near Charkov, while he was searching for a tank company, commanded by his son-in-law. All that was found of him was a piece of his uniform, with the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.

In this way he met the soldier's death, which he had sought, ever since the time, a short while before, when his only son had also fallen in battle."

My questions are these:

1. While a *very* few histories of Eicke or SS-T mention that he was looking for his son-in-law's tank company, does anyone know what tank company this was, the name of his son-in-law, whether his son-in-law survived the war, his son-in-law's battle and decoration history, his daughter's name and whether she survived the war, and any other information about his family?


2. Does anyone know the name of his only son, where he fell in battle, his rank, unit, decorations and so on?




3. It seems that Hoess is saying that Eicke was saddened by his son's death. This imparts a humanity to Eicke that I have never previously seen. Any comments on the human side of Eicke by anyone?

This comment to admin. I am having a massive problem typing in the subject box, it keeps moving up and down and I cannot see what I have typed because of this. Is there a setting in my browser I should be using to stop this behaviour? I am using Win 7, IE8.

thanks

[Jan-Hendrik]

2. In 1940, after degradtion, his son Eicke Hermann Theo serves as Scharführer in T.I.R.1

1. Laackmann, and Laackmann led the Pz.Rgt. at that time, that's why Eicke was looking for him



Jan-Hendrik

[thang]

Thank you for that. Using your information, I found this on http://www.nndb.com/people/021/000031925/

Theodore Eicke
Born: 17-Oct-1892
Birthplace: Solingen, Germany
Died: 26-Feb-1943
Location of death: Orella, Russia
Cause of death: War


Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Military

Nationality: Germany
Executive summary: Inspector of Concentration Camps

Military service: German Army

Executed Ernst Roehm during the Night of the Long Knives. As a reward for this, Eicke was appointed Inspector of Concentration Camps. His aircraft was shot down during Operation Barbarossa.

Wife: Bertha Schwebel (m. 26-Dec-1914)
Daughter: Irma Eicke (b. 5-Apr-1916)
Son: Hermann Eicke (b. 4-May-1920, d. 2-Dec-1941, KIA)


National Socialist German Workers Party member #114,901 1-Dec-1928
IG Farben 1923-32

This answers some of my questions. However, you use the word "degradtion" - do you mean his rank was degraded? As in, he was penalised for some military crime or something of the sort?

In any case, Eicke fascinates me of all the Waffen SS personnel, probably because of his unremitting harshness and his personal bravery. Some have called him a stain on German honour, I do not agree. There should be a book written on this man's story. If there is, I have never come across it.

thang

[thang]

Actually, the death notice for Theodor Eicke from The Black Corps apparently shows that Staf Karl Leiner was married to Irma Eicke. Laackman is Anton "Toni" Laackman, the former commander of SS-Panzerjäger Abteilung 3 Totenkopf and Karl Leiner is Theodor Eicke's son in law and the first commander of SS-Panzer Regiment 3 Totenkopf. I found a post in another Third Empire site which states that Leiner was over his head at this grade and he had significant influence up until Eicke was killed.

All this I found on the net, thanks to your reply (even though it might have been slightly wrong).

thang