View source for Otto Ernst Remer

{{short description|German Wehrmacht officer (1912–1997)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name              = Otto Ernst Remer
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1912|8|18|df=yes}}
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1997|10|4|1912|8|18|df=yes}}
| birth_place       = [[Neubrandenburg]], [[German Empire]]
| death_place       = [[Marbella]], [[Spain]]
| image             = Otto Ernst Remer portrait.JPG
| caption           = Remer in 1945
| trial             = 
| known_for         = Foiling [[20 July plot]]<br> Founding [[Socialist Reich Party]]<br>[[Holocaust denial]]
| conviction_penalty = 22 months imprisonment
| conviction_status = [[Deceased]]
| module            = {{Infobox military person |embed=yes|
|allegiance=[[Nazi Germany]]
|branch=[[German Army (1935-1945)|German Army]]
|serviceyears= 1933-1945
|rank=''[[Generalmajor#Germany|Generalmajor]]''
|commands=[[Führer Begleit Brigade]]<br/>[[Infantry Regiment Großdeutschland]]
|unit= 
|battles=[[World War II]]
|awards= [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves]]}}
| conviction        = [[Volksverhetzung|Incitement of racial hatred]]
}}
'''Otto Ernst Remer''' (18 August 1912 – 4 October 1997) was a German ''[[Wehrmacht]]'' [[German Army (1935-1945)|German Army]] officer in [[World War II]] who played a major role in stopping the [[20 July plot]] in 1944 against [[Adolf Hitler]]. He was a Captain and Major (1943-1944) and finally a Colonel and a General in 1945. In his later years, he became a politician and [[far-right]] activist.<ref name=E /> He co-founded the [[Socialist Reich Party]] in [[West Germany]] in the 1950s and is considered an influential figure in postwar [[Neo-fascism|neo-fascist]] politics in Germany.<ref name=E>Atkins 2004, pp. 273–274.</ref>

==Early life==
Otto Ernest Remer was born at [[Neubrandenburg]], [[Mecklenburg-Strelitz]], in the [[German Empire]] on 18 August 1912. He attended a military academy and was commissioned as an officer in the German Army 1932 at the age of 20, a few months before [[Adolf Hitler]] rose to power in Germany, initiating a [[Enabling Act of 1933|series of laws]] in the [[Weimar Republic]] which made him the sole leader in the country.<ref name=E />

==Military career==

Remer began his career in April 1933 as an ensign in the 4th Prussian Infantry Regiment. Remer took part in the [[Invasion of Poland]] in 1939 (upon which he was awarded the rank of [[Oberleutnant]] or Lieutenant), the [[Balkans Campaign (World War II)|Balkans Campaign]], and [[Operation Barbarossa]]. In April 1942, he was posted to [[Infantry Regiment Großdeutschland]].

In February 1943, he commanded an infantry battalion (with the rank of Army Hauptmann/Captain or Army Major<!-- Please this is important information for Wikipedia please don’t remove what I improved -->) in the [[Großdeutschland Division]] (GD), after Infantry Regiment GD was reformed into a division. His troops covered the withdrawal of a [[Waffen-SS]] tank corps during the [[Third Battle of Kharkov]]. He was awarded the [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross|Knight's Cross]] for his service as battalion commander and, in November 1943, he was awarded the Oak leaves to the Knight's Cross, which was presented personally by [[Adolf Hitler]].<ref>''[[The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich]]'', [[William L. Shirer]], p. 1063 ff. 1960.</ref>

===20 July Plot===
{{Main|20 July Plot}}
In March 1944, Remer was appointed as the commanding officer of Wachbataillon Großdeutschland. On 20 July 1944 [[Wehrmacht]] officers staged a [[coup d'etat]] and attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler by means of a bomb-attack at the "[[Wolf's Lair]]" in [[East Prussia]]. Remer, who was in [[Berlin]] at the time, first heard news of it from members of the Nazi Party, and waited for official word of Hitler's fate.

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H25087, Otto-Ernst Remer bei Rundfunkinterview.jpg|thumb|Remer gives an interview to the [[Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft|Reich Broadcasting Corporation]] in the aftermath of the [[20 July Plot]]. ]]
In the evening of 20 July 1944, [[Claus von Stauffenberg]], the officer who had carried out the attack upon Hitler arrived back in Berlin, and, believing that he had succeeded in killing him, issued orders to Remer to arrest several senior Nazi Government officials, claiming that they were part of a coup. Upon being ordered by General [[Paul von Hase]] to arrest Minister of Propaganda [[Joseph Goebbels]], Remer went to Goebbels' office to do so. However, on arrival, Remer was met by Goebbels' protestations that Hitler was still alive and had issued counter-orders to those Remer was enforcing. When Remer asked for proof, Goebbels picked up the phone and asked to be put through to Hitler at the "Wolf's Lair", then handed him the telephone receiver, upon which Remer heard Hitler's voice, ordering him to crush the plot in Berlin with the troops under his command. Remer with this realised that he had been taking orders from the mutineers and returning with his troops to the Berlin Military Headquarters, ''[[Bendlerblock]]'', he arrested the plotters, including Stauffenberg.{{fact|date=December 2024}}

[[Generaloberst|Colonel general]] [[Friedrich Fromm]] had the plotters immediately summarily executed by firing squad, despite Remer's protestations that he had been told to keep the plotters alive if possible pending further orders from Hitler, who was returning to Berlin (General Fromm himself would subsequently be executed by firing squad). That same night Remer was promoted two ranks to [[Oberst]] (Colonel), then to [[General]] in early 1945.{{fact|date=December 2024}}

For the rest of the war, Remer commanded the ''[[Führerbegleitbrigade]]'' (FBB), a field unit formed from a Grossdeutschland cadre, in [[East Prussia]], and during the [[Battle of the Bulge|Ardennes Offensive]]. He was captured by the [[United States Army]] towards the end of the war and remained a [[Disarmed Enemy Forces|prisoner of war]] until 1947.{{fact|date=December 2024}}

== Postwar life ==

===  Political activities ===

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-15845-0010, Sozialistische Reichspartei, Dorls, Remer, Westarp.jpg|thumb|left|Remer (center) with [[Socialist Reich Party]] leaders, August 1952]]
After his release from allied captivity, he became involved in [[West Germany|West German]] post-war politics. He set up a political organisation, the [[Socialist Reich Party]], in 1950, which was promptly banned in 1952 for making inflammatory political statements, but not before it had gathered 360,000 supporters in [[Lower Saxony]] and [[Schleswig-Holstein]], and won 16 seats in the [[Landtag#German Legislatures|state parliament]]. The Socialist Reich Party also won eight seats in the Parliament of the [[Free Hanseatic City of Bremen]]. The party had received some financing from the [[Soviet Union]],<ref name=E /> and worked with the [[Communist Party of Germany]], whose aim was the destabilisation of the West German state. Among the campaigning themes of the Socialist Reich Party was that the [[Holocaust]] had been an allied propaganda invention (it accused the United States of building fake gas chambers and producing bogus newsreel footage about concentration camps),<ref>Goodrick-Clarke 1998, p. 170.</ref> that the politics of the newly-formed West German state which had been created by the Allied powers were merely a front for American domination,<ref name=TB /> and that [[West Germany]]'s purported status as a puppet of the United States should be opposed.<ref name=E />

=== Exile ===

With the party banned, Remer faced criminal charges from the West German government for being actively engaged in an attempt to re-establish a [[neo-Nazi]] political movement. After an arrest warrant was issued against him on these charges, he went into hiding at a chalet belonging to Countess [[Counts of Castell|Faber-Castell]], an early supporter of the Socialist Reich Party, before subsequently fleeing to [[Egypt]].<ref name=TB>Lee 2000, pp. 73, 134, 151.</ref> There, he served as an advisor to [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]], and worked with other expatriate Germans assisting Arab states with the development of their armed forces.<ref name=E /> He was a frequent acquaintance of [[Johann von Leers]].<ref name=TB /> In 1956, Remer was reported to be in [[Damascus]], engaging in the arms trade; the [[Algeria]]n [[National Liberation Front (Algeria)|National Liberation Front]] was one of his customers.<ref name=E /> 

"I know Mr. [[Yasser Arafat|Arafat]] quite well, naturally," he asserted. "I saw him many times. He invited me to eat at his headquarters. I knew all his people. They wanted many things from us." For Remer, anyone who was an enemy of [[Israel]] was his friend, particularly when a profit could be turned. He claimed to have brokered several business deals between West German companies and the PLO, but Remer denied that he also arranged arms shipments for the PLO. "I couldn't have done so," he maintained. "Arafat gets all he wants from Russia. A German arms dealer can't get into business there."<ref>Lee, Martin A. ''The Beast Reawakens''. p. 182.</ref>

=== Criminal prosecution ===

He returned to West Germany in the 1980s, once more involving himself in politics with the setting up of an organization entitled the "German Freedom Movement" (G.F.M.), which advocated the reunification of [[East Germany|East]] and [[West Germany]] and the removal of [[NATO]] military forces from West German soil. The G.F.M. was an umbrella organisation for multiple underground neo-Nazi splinter groups of varying descriptions, and Remer used it to influence a younger generation of post-war Germans.<ref name=E />

From 1991 to 1994, Remer published a political newsletter entitled ''Remer-Depesche'', conveying his political philosophy. Its content led to a court case where he was sentenced to 22 months' imprisonment in October 1992 for [[Volksverhetzung|incitement of racial hatred]] by writing and publishing a series of articles stating that the [[Holocaust]] was a myth. (The political impact of the case upon the Government is discussed in Searle's ''Wehrmacht Generals''.) Remer filed numerous appeals against his conviction, however his complaints of unfairness of trial and violations of freedom of speech were unanimously rejected, ultimately by the [[European Commission on Human Rights]], to which he had taken his case.<ref>[http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=html&documentId=666456&portal=hbkm&source=externalbydocnumber&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649 ECmHR admissibility decision on the application 25096/94]</ref> In February 1994, having exhausted all means of appeal in the newly united [[Germany|Federal German Republic]], he fled to Spain to avoid the prison sentence. From there he supported the activities internationally of people publicly [[Holocaust denial|questioning]] the historical veracity of the Holocaust, such as [[Fred Leuchter]] and [[Germar Rudolf]]. The High Court of Spain ruled against requests made by the [[German Government]] for his [[extradition]] back to Germany, stating that he had not committed any crimes under Spanish law.{{fact|date=December 2024}}

=== Legacy and death ===

[[Helmut Friebe]], a leader of the Alliance of German Soldiers and former ''[[Generalleutnant]]'' of the Wehrmacht, had the following to say about Remer: "No judgment will be made here as to whether his decision on 20 July was right or wrong. But the consequences of his decision were so terrible,... that we old soldiers had expected that a man to whom destiny gave such a burden to carry until the end of his life would recognize this, and would thereafter live quietly and in reclusion. We, his former comrades, lack any sympathy for the fact that Herr Remer fails to summon up this attitude of self-effacement".<ref>Baigent, Michael and Leigh, Richard. 1994. Secret Germany. London, New York: The Penguin Group.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Petrović |first1=Vladimir |title=The Emergence of Historical Forensic Expertise: Clio Takes the Stand |date=2016 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781134996476 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NzIlDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA100 |access-date=24 July 2019}}</ref>

Remer died at [[Marbella]] in southern Spain on 5 October 1997, at the age of 85 from [[natural causes]].[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-otto-ernst-remer-1234799.html] His ashes were buried in an undisclosed location in Germany.{{fact|date=December 2021}}

==In popular culture==
[[Oberst]] Remer was portrayed by German actor [[Thomas Kretschmann]] in the 2008 movie ''[[Valkyrie (film)|Valkyrie]]''.

==Awards==
* [[Iron Cross]] (1939) 2nd Class (20 May 1940) & 1st Class (12 June 1940)<ref name="Thomas p195">Thomas 1998, p. 195.</ref>
* [[German Cross]] in Gold on 29 August 1942 as ''[[Hauptmann]]'' in IV./Infanterie-Regiment "Großdeutschland"<ref>Patzwall & Scherzer 2001, p. 373.</ref>
* [[Close Combat Clasp]] in Silver
* [[Wound Badge]] in Silver
* [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves]]
** Knight's Cross on 18 May 1943 as ''[[Major (Germany)|Major]]'' and commander of I./Grenadier-Regiment "Großdeutschland"<ref>Fellgiebel 2000, p. 355.</ref>
** 325th Oak Leaves on 12 November 1943 as ''Major'' and commander of the I.(gepanzert)/Grenadier-Regiment (motorized) "Großdeutschland"<ref>Fellgiebel 2000, p. 74.</ref>

==References==

===Citations===
{{Reflist|25em}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite book
  |last=Atkins
  |first=Stephen E.
  |author-link=Stephen E. Atkins
  |year=2004
  |title=Encyclopedia of modern worldwide extremists and extremist groups
  |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmo0000atki
  |url-access=registration
  |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group
  |isbn=978-0-313-32485-7
}}
* {{Cite book
  |last=Fellgiebel
  |first=Walther-Peer
  |year=2000
  |orig-year=1986
  |title=Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945  |trans-title=The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 
  |language=de
  |location=Friedberg, Germany
  |publisher=Podzun-Pallas
  |isbn=978-3-7909-0284-6
}}
* {{Cite book
  |last=Goodrick-Clarke
  |first=Nicholas
  |year=1998
  |title=Hitler's Priestess: Savitri Devi, the Hindu-Aryan Myth, and Neo-Nazism
  |publisher=NYU Press
  |isbn=978-0-8147-3111-6
}}
* {{Cite book
  |last=Lee
  |first=Martin A.
  |author-link=Martin A. Lee
  |year=2000
  |title=[[The Beast Reawakens]]
  |publisher=Taylor & Francis
 |isbn=978-0-415-92546-4
}}
* {{Cite book
  |last1=Patzwall
  |first1=Klaus D.
  |last2=Scherzer
  |first2=Veit
  |year=2001
  |title=Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II
  |trans-title=The German Cross 1941 – 1945 History and Recipients Volume 2
  |language=de
  |location=Norderstedt, Germany
  |publisher=Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall
  |isbn=978-3-931533-45-8
}}
* {{Cite book
  |last=Rees
  |first=Philip
  |author-link=Philip Rees
  |year=1990
  |title=[[Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890]]
  |location=New York
  |publisher=Simon & Schuster
  |isbn=0-13-089301-3
}}
* {{Cite book
  |last=Searle
  |first=Alaric
  |year=2003
  |title=Wehrmacht Generals, West German Society, and the Debate on Rearmament, 1949–1959
  |location=Westport, CT
  |publisher=[[Praeger Publishers]]
  |isbn=978-0-275-97968-3
}}
* {{Cite book
  |last=Thomas
  |first=Franz
  |year=1998
  |title=Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 2: L–Z
  |trans-title=The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 2: L–Z
  |language=de
  |location=Osnabrück, Germany
  |publisher=Biblio-Verlag
  |isbn=978-3-7648-2300-9
}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
* [https://archive.org/details/GermanysNewNazis ''Germany's New Nazis'' 1951 pamphlet about Otto Ernst Remer and other neo--nazis]
* {{PM20|FID=pe/014419}}

{{Neo-Nazism}}
{{German far right}}
{{Historical revisionism}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Subject bar
| portal1=Biography
| commons=y
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Remer, Otto Ernst}}
[[Category:1912 births]]
[[Category:1997 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Neubrandenburg]]
[[Category:People from Mecklenburg-Strelitz]]
[[Category:Deutsche Rechtspartei politicians]]
[[Category:Socialist Reich Party politicians]]
[[Category:Major generals of the German Army (Wehrmacht)]]
[[Category:German neo-Nazi propagandists]]
[[Category:20th-century German criminals]]
[[Category:German people convicted of Holocaust denial]]
[[Category:German politicians convicted of crimes]]
[[Category:Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights]]
[[Category:Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights]]
[[Category:European Court of Human Rights cases involving Germany]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Gold German Cross]]
[[Category:Holocaust denial in Spain]]
[[Category:German expatriates in Egypt]]
[[Category:German expatriates in Spain]]
[[Category:German expatriates in Syria]]
[[Category:Nazis who fled to Spain]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania]]
[[Category:German Army officers of World War II]]
[[Category:German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States]]
[[Category:People convicted of racial hatred offences]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Germany]]