Hermann Reinecke

Karl Rudolf Ernst Auguste Hermann Reinecke (14 February 1888 – 10 October 1973) generally known as Hermann Reinecke was a German general and war criminal during the Nazi era. As head of the General Office of the Armed Forces in the OKW (Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht) during World War II, he was a major contributor to the prisoner-of-war policy that resulted in the deaths of approx. 3.3 million Soviet prisoners. Reinecke was tried, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment at the High Command Trial.

Military career

Reinecke joined the German Imperial Army as a cadet in March 1905. He served throughout World War I during which he was awarded the Iron Cross first class and he was promoted to captain in 1916. He then continued his military service in the Reichswehr with the Army Office of Administration, an infantry regiment and the Reich Defence Ministry in Berlin. He served in the Wehrmacht, providing political training on behalf of the Nazi leadership.

In January 1939, Reinecke was promoted to major general as head of an office in the OKW and appointed head of the General Office of the Armed Forces at OKW (Allgemeines Wehrmachtamt, AWA) in August 1940. Reinecke was also head of the office for the Nationalsozialistische Führungsoffiziere (NSFO), which consisted of Nazi officers charged with political propaganda in the Wehrmacht. Major Karl August Meinel was shifted into the Führerreserve on 1 August 1942, because on 13 January 1942 he wrote a critical report to Hermann Reinecke on the segregation and execution of Soviet prisoners of war in prison camp Stalag VII A by the Gestapo and the Sicherheitsdienst SD (security service) of the Reichsführer SS (Heinrich Himmler). In 1942 Reinecke was promoted to .