Alexander von Falkenhausen

Alexander Ernst Alfred Hermann Freiherr von Falkenhausen (October 29, 1878 – July 31, 1966) was a German general. He was an important figure during the Sino-German cooperation to reform the Chinese Army. During World War II Germany ended its support for China and Falkenhausen was forced to withdraw from China. Back in Europe he later became the head of the military government of Belgium from 1940–44 during its occupation by Germany.

He married twice, firstly to Paula von Wedderkop (8 October 1879 - 3 March 1950) and secondly, in 1960, to Cecile Vent (16 September 1906 - 1977), both without issue. He is related to Ludwig von Falkenhausen, who was the governor-general of Belgium during the German occupation, from 1917 until 1918, during the First World War, and a direct male line descendant of Karl Wilhelm Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, by his mistress Elisabeth Wünsch.

Early life and military career
Alexander von Falkenhausen was born at Blumenthal, near Neisse (now Nysa, Poland) in the Prussian province of Silesia, one of seven children of Baron Alexander von Falkenhausen (1844–1909) and his wife, Elisabeth. He attended Gymnasium in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) and then the cadet school at Wahlstatt (now Legnickie Pole).

In his youth, Falkenhausen showed an interest in Eastern Asia and its culture. He traveled and studied in Japan, northern China, Korea and Indochina from 1909 to 1911.

In 1897 he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Imperial German Army and served as a military attaché in Japan prior to the First World War. He was awarded the prestigious Pour le Mérite while serving with the Ottoman Army in Palestine. After the war, he remained in the much-reduced Germany Army, and headed the Dresden Infantry School in 1927.

Adviser to Chiang Kai-shek
In 1930, von Falkenhausen retired from the service and went to China to serve as Chiang Kai-Shek's military advisor in 1934. In 1937 Nazi Germany officially allied themselves with the Empire of Japan, who by then had launched a war against the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War as part of the Sino-German cooperation to reform the Chinese Army. As a goodwill gesture to Japan, Germany recognized the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo and withdrew German support to China, including forcing Falkenhausen to resign his advisor post by threatening to have his family back in Germany punished for disloyalty. After a goodbye dinner party with Chiang Kai-Shek's family, Falkenhausen promised he would never reveal any battle plans he had taught him to the Japanese.

According to some sources (especially from Communist Chinese in late 1930s), Falkenhausen kept contact with Chiang Kai-Shek after his return to Germany and would occasionally send him European luxury items and food to the Chiang household and his officers.

On his 72nd birthday in 1950, Falkenhausen received a million U.S. dollar cheque from Chiang Kai-shek as his birthday gift and a personal note declaring him a "Friend of China".

Military governor for Belgium
Recalled to active duty in 1938, Falkenhausen served as an infantry general on the Western Front until he was appointed military governor of Belgium in May 1940. During his time as military governor, the Nazi administration published 17 decrees against the Jewish population of Belgium as preparatory measures leading in June 1942 to the deportation of 28,900 Jews.

His deputy for economic affairs, Eggert Reeder was in charge of the destruction of "Jewish influence" in the Belgian economy, leading to mass unemployment of Jewish workers, especially in the diamond business. Some 2250 of these unemployed were thus sent to forced labour camps in Northern France to build the Atlantic Wall for the Organisation Todt. Some 43,000 non-Jewish Belgians were also deported to Nazi concentration camps, where about 13,000 died. Hundreds of captured resistance fighters were shot during the occupation.

Involvement in the conspiracy against Hitler
Von Falkenhausen was a close friend of two anti-Hitler conspirators, Carl Friedrich Goerdeler and Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben, and soon came to detest Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. He offered his support to von Witzleben for a planned coup d'état. After the failure of the July 20 Plot to kill Hitler in 1944, von Falkenhausen spent the rest of the war being transferred from one concentration camp to another. In late April 1945 he was transferred to Tyrol with about 140 other prominent inmates of the Dachau concentration camp. The SS fled, leaving the prisoners behind. He was captured by the Fifth U.S. Army on May 5, 1945.

Trial and acquittal
Falkenhausen and Reeder were both sent to Belgium for trial in 1948, where they were held in prison for 3 years.

They were tried in Brussels from 9 March 1951, defended by lawyer Ernst Achenbach, for their role in the deportation of Jews from Belgium, but not for their deaths in Auschwitz. Von Falkenhausen was vouched for by a Chinese woman named Qian Xiuling who was living in Belgium; together with a number of Belgian Jews, she provided copious evidence that both men had tried to save Belgian and Jewish lives. Nevertheless, they were found guilty on 9 July, and were sentenced to 12 years hard labour in Germany. On their return to West Germany, having served one third of their sentence as required by Belgian law, on they were pardoned by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.

Falkenhausen died in Nassau, Rhineland-Palatinate.

Dates of rank

 * Sekondeleutnant - March 1897
 * Leutnant - January 1899
 * Hauptmann - March 1910
 * Major - March 1915
 * Lieutenant Colonel, Ottoman Army - June 1916
 * Oberstleutnant, Imperial German Army - December 1920
 * Oberst - April 1924
 * Generalmajor - April 1928
 * Generalleutnant - October 1929
 * General der Infanterie - September 1940

Decorations and awards

 * Order of the Crown, 4th class with Swords (Prussia)
 * Knight's Cross of the Friedrich Order, 2nd class with Swords (Württemberg)
 * Iron Cross of 1914, 1st and 2nd class
 * Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords [7]
 * Knight of Honour of the Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg)
 * Service Award (Prussia)
 * Military Merit Order, 3rd class with Swords (Bavaria)
 * Knight's Cross of the Order of the Crown with Swords (Württemberg)
 * Honorary Knight's Cross, First Class of the House and Merit Order of Peter Frederick Louis with swords and laurel (Oldenburg)
 * Friedrich August Cross, 1st and 2nd class (Oldenburg)
 * Bravery Medal (Hesse)
 * Hanseatic Cross (Hamburg)
 * Order of the Iron Crown, 3rd class with War Decoration (Austria)
 * Military Merit Cross, 3rd class with War Decoration (Austria-Hungary)
 * Order of Osmanieh, 3rd class with sabre (Ottoman Empire)
 * Order of the Medjidie, 2nd class with swords (Ottoman Empire)
 * Imtiyaz Medal in Silver with Sabres (Ottoman Empire)
 * Liakat Medal in Gold with sabre (Ottoman Empire)
 * Gallipoli Star ("Iron Crescent", Ottoman Empire)
 * Wehrmacht Long Service Award
 * War Merit Cross, 1st and 2nd class with Swords (1939)
 * German Cross in Silver (20 April 1943)