1955: Gerhard Benkowitz and Hans-Dietrich Kogel, of the KgU
June 29th, 2018 Headsman
Anti-Communist resistance fighters Gerhard Benkowitz and Hans-Dietrich Kogel were executed by East Germany on this date in 1955.
The two Weimar civil servants — respectively a teacher and a municipal statistics analyst — Benkowitz and Kogel both affiliated with the Kampfgruppe gegen Unmenschlichkeit (KgU) which you could translate as Combat Group Against Inhumanity, a western-backed spy/sabotage network harassing the Communist regime.
The KgU’s resistance ran more to the informational rather than the kinetic, but Benkowitz and Kogel both admitted to scouting a railroad bridge in Weimar for a potential bombing target. They were induced by the promise of sparing their lives to play the desired role of penitent auto-denunciator for their joint show trial; the promise, as will be inferred by their presence in these annals, was not honored.
Although the KgU’s West Berlin brain trust was safe from the vengeance of the Stasi, arrests and infiltration of its informer network in east put an end to this organization before the 1950s were out.
On this day..
- 1938: Shlomo Ben-Yosef, Mandatory Palestine Zionist protomartyr - 2020
- 1996: The Abu Salim prison massacre - 2017
- 1726: Joseph Quasson - 2016
- 1900: Benjamin Snell, electricity in his head - 2015
- 1612: Robert Crichton, Lord Sanquhar and mediocre swordsman - 2014
- 1944: A day in mass executions in Axis Europe - 2013
- 1799: Admiral Francesco Caracciolo, Neapolitan - 2012
- 1925: Sheikh Said Piran, Kurdish rebel - 2011
- 1541: Thomas Fiennes, 9th Baron Dacre - 2010
- Feast Day of Saint Peter and Saint Paul - 2009
- 2000: Two kidnappers, televised by Guatemala - 2008
Entry Filed under: 20th Century,Beheaded,Capital Punishment,Death Penalty,East Germany,Espionage,Execution,Germany,Guillotine,History,Spies,Terrorists,Treason
Tags: 1950s, 1955, anti-communism, cold war, gerhard benkowitz, hans-dietrich kogel, june 29, kgu
