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Hans KammlerObergruppenführer and SS General
Date of Birth: 26.08.1901
Country:  Germany |
Content:
Biography of Hans Kammler
Hans Kammler was an Obergruppenführer and SS general who was responsible for the Third Reich's rocket program. He was born in 1901 in Stettin. In 1919, he volunteered for the army and served in the Freikorps Rossbach. From 1919 to 1923, he studied construction in Munich and Danzig. He joined the NSDAP on March 1, 1932, and held various administrative positions, including being the head of the construction department at the Imperial Ministry of Aviation. On May 20, 1933, Kammler joined the SS (No. 113,619). From June 1, 1941, until the end of the war, he led construction projects for the SS (from February 1, 1942, he was the head of the management group S (construction) of the Main Economic Office of the SS). He was responsible for the five-year program to organize concentration camps in the occupied territories of the USSR and Norway. Kammler was also involved in the design of the Auschwitz death camp.
On September 1, 1943, Kammler was appointed the Reichsführer SS special representative for the "A-4" program (the "vengeance weapon"); he was in charge of construction work and labor supply from concentration camps. In March 1944, Kammler became a representative of Himmler in the "aviation staff," which consisted of senior officials from the Luftwaffe and the Ministry of Armaments. Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, the head of the Luftwaffe and Hitler's nominal successor, tasked him with moving all strategic aviation facilities underground. From March 1, 1944, Kammler supervised the construction of underground factories for the production of fighter aircraft.
After three months, Himmler reported to Hitler that ten underground aviation factories with a total area of tens of thousands of square meters had been built in eight weeks. On August 29, 1945, General McDonald sent a list of six underground factories that had been penetrated to the U.S. Air Force headquarters in Europe. Each of these factories continued to produce aviation engines and other specialized equipment for the Luftwaffe until the last day of the war. These factories occupied five to twenty-six kilometers in length. Tunnel sizes ranged from four to twenty meters in width and five to fifteen meters in height; workshop sizes ranged from 13,000 to 25,000 square meters.
However, by mid-October, a report sent to the U.S. Air Force stated that a large number of underground factories had been discovered, more than previously thought. These underground facilities were found not only in Germany and Austria but also in France, Italy, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. The report stated that the Germans had managed to launch about 143 such factories by the end of the war. Another 107 factories were discovered, built or laid down at the end of the war, in addition to 600 caves and mines, many of which were turned into conveyor belts and weapon production laboratories. It can only be speculated what would have happened if the Germans had gone underground before the war began, concludes the report, clearly impressed by the scale of German underground construction. On August 8, 1944, following Himmler's appointment as head of the Ministry of Armaments, Kammler became the chief executive of the "V-2" project ("A-4"). He managed the entire process, from production and placement to conducting military operations against England and the Netherlands. He personally directed the rocket attacks. This position, thanks to his attention to detail, allowed Kammler to study the entire process of managing the strategic weapons program, an opportunity that had not been available to anyone else in the Third Reich.
From January 31, 1945, Kammler became the Führer's authorized representative for the development of jet engines and the leader of all rocket programs, both defensive and offensive. On February 6, 1945, Hitler permanently transferred all responsibility for air armaments (fighters, rockets, bombers) to him. In early April 1945, when the Soviet army was already approaching Berlin, Hitler and Himmler handed over to Kammler all the secret weapons systems of the Third Reich, which had no equivalents among the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. It is curious, if not astonishing, the confidence of the Reich's leadership that Kammler would work miracles. On April 3, 1945, Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diary: "The Führer had long negotiations with Obergruppenführer Kammler, who is responsible for the reform of the Luftwaffe. Kammler is doing his duties superbly, and great hopes are placed on him."
In the Third Reich, all promising discoveries and developments in advanced technologies were under the control of the SS, represented by Obergruppenführer SS General Hans Kammler. It is even more surprising that his name is hardly mentioned in standard references to the Luftwaffe or its major programs. However, despite this, Kammler was at the head of a top-secret research center (the "brain center of the SS"), which aimed to incorporate technologies for the creation of "second-generation" secret weapons.
If the fourth type of new weapon mentioned by Hitler in a conversation with Marshal Antonescu on August 5, 1944, and briefly mentioned by Bérard, actually existed, it must have been under the command of SS General Hans Kammler and his Sonderstab.
It is known that Kammler organized the SS Special Staff in the section of the "Skoda" company located in the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. In March 1942, Himmler officially transferred the management of the "Skoda" plant to the SS, a giant industrial complex located in Pilsen and Brno. Speer knew nothing about this operation until Hitler informed him about it as an accomplished fact.
Wilhelm Foss, the general director of "Skoda," became Kammler's right-hand man. They received approval from Hitler and Himmler to lead a special project that was so secretive and beyond official control that it seemed not to exist. It is significant that neither Hermann Göring, the head of the Luftwaffe, nor Albert Speer, the Minister of Armaments, knew about the existence of the project.
The financing of the programs went through Foss, who reported directly to Himmler. Promising scientists were selected from all over Germany, regardless of their political loyalty to the regime. Special SS intelligence officers provided three layers of security around their work. These security measures were created around the "Skoda" plants in Pilsen and Brno and the administrative center in Prague.
After the war, during interviews with journalist Tom Agoston, a graduate of Cambridge, Foss described the work of the scientists in Kammler's headquarters as unparalleled among other late-war technologies, even the "V-1" and "V-2" projects seemed ordinary in comparison. The list of special projects included nuclear installations for rockets and aircraft, advanced guided projectiles, and anti-aircraft lasers.
An important point is that the testing was not carried out at "Skoda" itself but in field conditions. Thus, Kammler's Special Staff functioned as a coordinating research center.
After the meeting with Hitler on April 3, 1945, Kammler moved his headquarters (not to be confused with the Special Staff) from Berlin to Munich. Before leaving Berlin, he made a farewell visit to Speer, during which he hinted that Speer should also move to Munich and that the SS was attempting to eliminate the Führer.
Kammler then informed Speer that he planned to contact the Americans and offer them everything in exchange for his freedom - "jet planes, as well as A-4 rockets and other important developments." He also revealed that he was gathering all qualified experts in Upper Bavaria to hand them over to the U.S. Army.
"He offered me to participate in his operation," wrote Speer, "which undoubtedly would work in my favor."
Speer declined Kammler's offer.
The last sighting of Kammler was in Oberammergau at the Hotel Lang. Werner von Braun accidentally overheard a conversation between Kammler and his chief of staff, SS Obersturmbannführer Stark. According to von Braun, they planned to burn their uniforms and take refuge in the 14th-century monastery in Ettal, a few kilometers from Oberammergau.
Soon after the end of the war, the American counterintelligence obtained Wilhelm Foss, Kammler's right-hand man. During interrogation, he revealed the existence of Kammler's Special Staff at the "Skoda" plant. However, the agents seemed indifferent to the information about a special group with extraordinary military secrets, as if they already knew everything.
Foss suggested focusing all efforts on finding Kammler "before the Russians caught him," but again the agents showed no interest in his words. These people represented the strategic interests of a country that carried out the biggest looting operation of that time, involving the army, navy, and air force, as well as civilians.
In connection with Kammler's story, there is an instant leap to the east of the 16th Armored Division of Patton's Third Army. Ignoring agreements signed between the Czech government in exile and the Soviet Union, the 16th Armored Division crossed the Czech border on May 6, 1945, and entered Pilsen, located in the heart of the Soviet occupation zone. American troops captured the "Skoda" plant for six days until May 12, 1945, when Soviet troops arrived. After protests from the Soviet Union, the Third Army was forced to withdraw. Agreeably, six days is a significant amount of time.
Another link in the chain of strange circumstances surrounding General Kammler is the almost complete oblivion of his name and role in the history of the Third Reich. It is also surprising how easily his name was forgotten immediately after the end of the war. Yet, as we remember, this extraordinary man was considered one of the most powerful and influential government officials of the Third Reich.
In the process of searching for information about Kammler, Tom Agoston, previously mentioned, discovered that his name was not even mentioned in the Nuremberg Trials - an incredible fact considering his significant role among Hitler's inner circle. Furthermore, there is no indication that he was even sought after like other war criminals.
There are four conflicting versions of Kammler's death. According to the first, he committed suicide on May 9, 1945, in a forest between Prague and Pilsen. According to the second version, he was killed on the same day under shelling while escaping from the basement of a bombed house. According to the third version, he shot himself in a forest near Karlsbad on the same day. The fourth version is based on two documents held by German and Austrian Red Cross societies immediately after the war. The first document, written by a relative, referred to Kammler as "missing." According to this document, the last information about Kammler came from Ebensee in Styria (Austria). The second document, based on testimony from unknown "comrades," stated that Kammler was dead, but the burial site was not specified.
The first three versions share one common detail - Kammler was in Prague or its vicinity until the surrender. One of the witnesses, mentioned by Agoston, a civil servant from the Prague Regional Construction Department of the Main Economic Office of the SS, recalled, "Kammler arrived in Prague in early May. He was not expected. He did not inform anyone in advance of his arrival. No one knew why he came when the Red Army was approaching."
Kammler had the only compelling reason to make this journey - the documentation of the special projects group, located at "Skoda" and its administrative offices in Prague.
Kammler was also well-known in Ebensee. It was here, in the mountains on the shore of Lake Traunsee, that in 1943, under his command, work began on the construction of a giant underground complex for the construction of the "A-9"/"A-10" ICBM, codenamed "Zement."
The fog begins to clear partially thanks to information provided by Polish scientist Igor Witkowski, who conducted his own research in this area. According to his sources, during questioning of Rudolf Schuster, a high-ranking official from the Ministry of Security of the Third Reich, attended by General Jakub Pravin, the head of the Polish military mission in Berlin, and Colonel Władysław Żymański, information about the existence of the so-called "General Plan - 1945" was obtained. It was revealed that the "special evacuation team" was operating within the framework of this plan, and Schuster joined it on June 4, 1944. This information caused great concern, as Pravin and Żymański discovered that the "General Plan - 1945" was behind Martin Bormann.
