Helmut Beck-Broichsitter (30 August 1914 – 25 September 2000) was a German Wehrmacht officer during World War II. Following the war, Beck-Broichsitter was involved in several neo-Nazi movements.
Career Beck-Broichsitter became a member of the Nazi Party in 1931, of the Sturmabteilung in 1932 and of the police in 1939. He joined the army and became an officer in the Grossdeutchland Regiment and was awarded the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross for his service as a company commander in the French campaignBreitman and Goda 2010, p. 54.
After the war Beck-Broichsitter founded the "Bruderschaft" (Fraternity) in 1949 of former officers of the WehrmachtBrunner 2004, p. 155. and his emphasis was on opposing Bolshevism.Searle 2003, p. 157. Accused of spying for the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, he resigned from the leadership.Breitman and Goda 2010, p. 59. In 1951, Beck-Broichsitter helped found the Freikorps Deutschland, a Neo-Nazi paramilitary. The organization managed to train roughly 2,000 men, but was unable to obtain weapons to overthrow the government. On 10 February 1953, the West German government banned the Freikorps Deutschland and had four of its leaders, including Beck-Broichsitter, arrested for plotting against the government. Beck-Broichsitter was released from custody the following month, and the charges against him were later dropped. He went on to join the openly Nazi-orientated Socialist Reich Party.Brunner 2004, p. 155.
Awards Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 4 September 1940 as Oberleutnant and Chef of 14.(Panzer-Jäger)/Infanterie-Regiment "Großdeutschland"Fellgiebel 2000, p. 107.
References
Breitman, Richard and Goda, Norman J. W. (2010). Hitler's shadow: Nazi war criminals, U.S. intelligence, and the Cold War. DIANE Publishing, . Brunner, Bernhard (2004). Der Frankreich-Komplex: die nationalsozialistischen Verbrechen in Frankreich und die Justiz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. (in German). Wallstein. .
External links Beate Baldow, Episode oder Gefahr? Die Naumann-Affäre. Diss. phil. FU Berlin 2012, passim about Beck-Broichsitter and his "brotherhood" of old Nazis (Deutsche Bruderschaft) in post-war times (in German)