Background
Kurt von Hammerstein was born on 26 September 1878 in Hinrichshagen.
Kurt von Hammerstein was born on 26 September 1878 in Hinrichshagen.
After his schooling Hammerstein Equord 1888 joined at the age of ten years Cadet Corps in Plön and came over the Prussian Cadet Corps Berlin-Lichterfelde (entry 1893) to 3rd Foot Guards (German Empire), where he was promoted on 15 March 1898 to lieutenant (Secondelieutenant) thus joining the German Army on 15 March 1898. From 1905 to 1907 Hammerstein served in Kassel. From 1907 to 1910 he attended the Prussian Military Academy and in 1911 he was used in the deployment section of the Great General Staff.
A close friend of Kurt von Schleicher, Hammerstein-Equord was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Reichswehr in 1930. He was extremely hostile to the Nazi Party and warned Paul von Hindenburg about the dangers of appointing Adolf Hitler as chancellor. After his warning was ignored, Hammerstein tried to use the army to block Hitler's rise to power, but was prevented from doing so by Hindenberg.
Chancellor von Bruening called Hammerstein-Equord "the only man who could remove Hitler - a man without nerves." He also earned the nickname, "The Red General," for fraternizing with the trade unions.
Hammerstein-Equord's opposition to Hitler was well-known and, in February 1934, he was dismissed from office. During the Second World War he was involved in several plots to overthrow Hitler. In 1939, he tried repeatedly to lure Hitler into visiting a fortified base under his command along the Siegfried Line of the western front. He confided to retired former army chief of staff and leading conspirator Colonel-General Ludwig Beck that "a fatal accident will occur" when the fuehrer visits his base. But Hitler never accepted Hammerstein-Equord's invitation.
Later, Hammerstein-Equord was relieved of command by Hitler for his "negative attitude towards national socialism."
He died of cancer in Berlin on April 25, 1943.
Being the Chief of the General Staff of the Reichswehr, von Hammerstein did not hesitate to express to Reich President von Hindenburg the doubts of the army command concerning Hitler’s suitability as Chancellor in 1933. His antipathy to Nazi political control led to his dismissal on 1 February 1934.
Physical Characteristics: Years before his death, Hammerstein developed a slow-growing mass below his left ear but declined to seek medical advice. In January 1943, however, when he was examined by Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Sauerbruch, an esteemed surgeon, he was informed that he had cancer, which had by then metastasized. Surgery, then the only potentially curative treatment, was thus futile, and Hammerstein was told that he was expected to survive for another six months. Although his medical team admitted that the cancer had advanced beyond any hope of recovery, Hammerstein underwent a course of radiation treatment, a process which had serious side-effects that caused him great discomfort. When his son, Kunrat, was informed that the process was merely palliative, he ordered that the therapy be discontinued.
In 1907 Hammerstein-Equord married Maria von Lüttwitz, the daughter of Walther von Lüttwitz. In this unit was at that time later Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher (1882–1934), and the two men were soon in a friendly connection.
He was a German general who fought in World War I. Lüttwitz is best known for being the driving force behind the Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch of 1920 which attempted to replace the democratic government of the Weimar Republic with a military dictatorship.
He was a German general during World War II. After World War II he joined the Bundeswehr on 1 June 1957 and retired on 31 December 1960.
