Five Brothers and a War

(Kaiser) Wilhelm II in Holland

At the funeral of Wilhelm II, a relatively small group of Nazis paid minimal respects. Pictured here is Arthur Seyß-Inquart, August von Mackensen, fully dressed in his old imperial Life Hussars uniform and Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. Behind the right shoulder of von Mackensen is General Friederich Christianson. Canaris later became an agent of the Allies, and worked to both protect Jews and to destroy the Nazi regime. He was executed for treason shortly before the end of the war when Hitler was given his diary, showing the extent of his anti-Nazi sentiments and actions. Von Mackensen was a staunch monarchist, and a Field Marshall during World War I. He was known to wear his dress uniform from that war at ceremonial events. He too was suspected of being anti-Nazi, though nothing ever was proved. He died in November 1943. General Christianson was the Wehrmachtsbefehlshaber in den Nieder-landen (“Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht in the Netherland”) for almost the entire war In Holland. After the war, he was arrested and convicted of war crimes, but was only sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was the person who gave the order to attack the town of Putten, where one of his officers was attacked by the Dutch Resistance. He only served three years of his sentence, and upon his release, his hometown renamed a street after him. The street had borne his name until the occupying British stripped him of that privilege in 1945. Upon hearing the news in 1951 of the restored honor, the Dutch protested to the Germans. Christiansen died in 1972, and the street name was removed in 1980.

nazi germany

Five Brothers and a War

Page 354