Paul von Hase


Karl Paul Immanuel von Hase was a German career soldier and figured among the members of the resistance against Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime.

Life

Von Hase was born in Hanover. He was the fifth an last child of Oberstabsarzt Dr. med. Paul Erwin von Hase and his wife Maria Elise Friederike "Frieda" née Sperber. His three brothers were also officers, but of the reserves. Brother Dr. jur. Karl Benidikt von Hase was killed in action as 2nd Lieutenant of the Reserves with the Füsilier-Regiment „Königin“ Nr. 86 on 5 October 1914 near Saint-Mard.
On 12 December 1921, von Hase married Margarethe Baronesse von Funck in Neustrelitz. They had four children: Ina, Maria-Gisela, Alexander and Friedrich-Wilhelm.

Biography

After graduating from Joachimsthalschen Gymnasium in Berlin in 1904, he began studying law at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin. In 1905, von Hase joined the Kaiser Alexander Guard Grenadier Regiment No. 1 of the Prussian Army as a one-year volunteer, decided to become an active officer and completed officer training, which was followed by promotion to 2nd Lieutenant on 27 January 1907. During the First World War, von Hase completed several commands as a platoon leader and in the general staff. At the end of the war he was a Hauptmann. He then served with the Freikorps under Alfred Georg Friedrich Kuno Karl von Randow and with the Grenzschutz Ost. He was taken over by the Reichswehr in 1920.
He held the following posts in the Reichswehr/Wehrmacht during the time of the Third Reich:
From 1938, Brigadier-General von Hase was privy to the conspiracy plans plotted by such men as Wilhelm Canaris, Hans Oster, Generals Erwin von Witzleben, Franz Halder and Erich Hoepner. He was an uncle of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the famous Lutheran pastor who also took part in the conspiracy.
On 20 July 1944, after the failed assassination of Hitler at the Wolf's Lair in East Prussia, Hase ordered Major Otto Ernst Remer of the Guard Battalion (Wach-Bataillon) Großdeutschland to seal off the government quarter in Berlin during the subsequent coup d'état attempt. Remer later removed the cordon and Hase was arrested by the Gestapo that evening whilst he was dining with Joseph Goebbels.
In the trial against him and a number of other members of the plot at the Volksgerichtshof on 8 August 1944, he was sentenced to death and hanged later the same day at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin.

Awards and decorations (excerpt)

Literature

  • Roland Kopp, Paul von Hase. Von der Alexander-Kaserne nach Plötzensee. Eine deutsche Soldatenbiographie 1885–1944; Münster – Hamburg – London 2001
  • Heinrich Bücheler, Paul von Hase. Der Wehrmachtkommandant von Groß-Berlin 1940–1944; in: Damals 7, 611 ff.