Soldbuch officer (Major) in The Abwehr, later Dulag 121 - Committing War Crimes?

[mtdr]

Hello all,

I was going through my Soldbücher and I found this one. Maybe it's interesting to show with a small and quick research!

Herbert Malende had an interesting career in the Army. His Soldbuch was opened on 25.01.1940 when he already was an Oberleutnant. On that moment he was part of the famous Abwehr under command of Wilhelm Canaris. Herbert was at:

Gruppe III N: Auslandsbriefprüfstelle und -telegrammprüfstelle in Wehrkreis III, Berlin.

Abteilung III hatte als Aufgaben die Spionageabwehr, die Bekämpfung des Landesverrats, der Sabotage und der Wehrmittelbeschädigung sowie der Korruption und der Wehrkraftzersetzung. Geleitet wurde sie bis zum Frühjahr 1939 von Oberstleutnant Rudolf Bamler, sein Nachfolger wurde Oberstleutnant, später Generalleutnant, Franz Eccard von Bentivegni.
Gruppe III A (Chefgruppe): Allgemeine Angelegenheiten
Führungsgruppe III H: Spionageabwehr im Heer, Befragung von Kriegsgefangenen
Gruppe III M: Spionageabwehr in der Marine
Gruppe III L: Abwehr in der Luftwaffe
Gruppe III Wi: Abwehr in der Wirtschaft
Gruppe III C: Abwehr bei Behörden im Inland
Gruppe III F: Abwehr im Ausland
Gruppe III D: Diversion, Feindtäuschung
Gruppe III S: Bekämpfung von Sabotage
Gruppe III G: Gutachten und Sachverständige
Gruppe III N: Auslandsbriefprüfstelle und -telegrammprüfstelle
Gruppe III K: Funkabwehr
Gruppe III Kgf: Abwehr in Kriegsgefangenenlagern
Gruppe III U: Interne Auswertung

At the same time he was also officer in the 3./ Landesschutzen-ersatz-Bataillon 3, also in Berlin.

On 27.02.1943 he left Berlin and was send to Dulag 121(Durchgangslager / Kriegsgefangenenlager) in Gomel, Soviet-Union. On that moment he was already promoted to Hauptmann. In this camp thousands of Russian POW's died by starvation or illness. I am sure that Malende, as an officer, knew exactly what happened in the camp.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durchg...efangenenlager)

In Oktober 1943 Malende was transferred to Feldkommandantur 1030, probably the camp was evacuated because of the Russian advance. Feldkommandantur 1030 was stationed in the Balkan(Albania). In the last months of the war Herbert was promoted to Major and was send back to Berlin, again in the Lds. ers. Btl. 3. He also received the KVK II.

I have no idea what happened with Herbert after the war. Some other officers who served in Dulag camps were sentenced to death in the Soviet-Union because of war crimes.

Best Regards,

Aram

[mtdr]

KVK entry

[mtdr]

A sad picture of Dulag 121.

[mr.dogtag]

My dad was in Dulag 121 as a 1 month old baby as my grandma found herself there after Warsaw Uprising in September/October 1944.
She bribed an eastern volunteer guard with some golden jewellery and get out of there rather quickly but she said it was a horrific experience.

[mr.dogtag]

http://dulag121.pl/

[Sprachfuehrer]

interessant!
kannst Du velleicht die Seite zeigen, wo seine russische Sprachkenntnisse bewertet sind?
gruss
andrej

[crfraser]

The two identical signatures on the right side on posting #2 are from the CO of Abwehr III N, a major July 20, 1944 plotter, Ulrich Freiherr von Sell. Like many other members of the resistance movement, Ulrich Freiherr von Sell was born into an aristocratic family with a long tradition of military service. His early service included a pre-World War I assignment as adjutant to Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg. He served as a general staff officer during the war years. After Kaiser Wilhelm's abdication, Sell accompanied the former Emperor on his exile in Holland. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Sell recommended that the Kaiser not have any significant dealings with him.

Sell was married to Augusta von Brauchitsch with whom he had a daughter and a son. In 1937, Sell acted as a character witness for Martin Niemoeller at his trial. Niemoeller was the pastor of the von Sell family's Lutheran church. His public attacks on the Nazi regime gave him such international stature that Hitler was reluctant to have him executed. Instead he was arrested and interned in KZs Sachsenhausen and Dachau during the war.

Sell's family was anti-Nazi. Refusing to join the Hitler Youth, Sell's daughter Sibylle was not allowed to complete high school. After the war, she renewed Martin Niemoeller's acquaintance in the U.S. and subsequently married him. The Sell family was actively engaged in both hiding Jews and passing them on via Berlin's "underground railroad." Sibylle was cousin to Hans Bernd and Werner von Haeften, both of whom were executed for complicity in the July plot. Werner von Haeften was Stauffenberg's aide de camp who on 20 July carried the briefcase with the bombs that were to have killed Hitler.

In the Second World War, Ulrich von Sell was mobilized with a rank of Oberstleutnant and he served in Canaris' Abwehr through the war. He took part in various discussions in the Bendlerstrasse. For the July plot, Claus von Stauffenberg designated Sell as liaison officer in military district IX (Kassel).

On July 23rd, Sell was arrested by the Gestapo after lists of the various liaison officers to the Wehrkreis headquarters were found in the Bendlerstrasse teleprinter room. He was interrogated throughout 1944 and 1945. On March 30th, 1945, von Sell was released from the Lehrterstrasse prison, luckily avoiding the last minute massacres that were carried out there by the SS.

On May 7, 1945, Sell's luck ran out when was ironically arrested after he intervened to defend a former colleague wrongly suspected of National Socialist activities. The Soviet secret service (NKVD) deported him to Jamlitz Internment Camp, where he died of malnutrition on November 12, 1945. The Soviets, fearing that the Western Allies might discover the camp, ploughed it under and Sell simply vanished - much as would happen with Raoul Wallenberg.

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of hearing Sell's daugther Sybille, widow of Niemoeller, cousin to the von Haeften brothers, speak of over an hour on what it was like to grow up in a house that resisted Hitler. Magnificent lady!

[mtdr]

Thanks for this interesting information!