Otto-Ernst Remer (August 18, 1912 - October 4, 1997) was a German Wehrmacht officer who played a decisive role in stopping the 1944 July 20 Plot against Hitler, co-founded the Sozialistische Reichspartei, and advanced Holocaust revisionism.
Biography
Remer volunteered for the German army at 18 years of age, serving as an officer on both the Eastern and Western fronts during the Second World War.
In 1944, Remer was chosen to command the Infantry Regiment Grossdeutschland in Berlin. During this time, Remer and his men successfully stopped an insurgent plot to kill Adolf Hitler and seize control of the German government. Upon being given orders to arrest Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels by coup leader General Paul von Hase , Remer was suspicious, and contacted Goebbels for direction. It was then arranged for Remer to speak by telephone with Hitler, who gave Remer orders to crush the plot with his troops.
1945 saw Remer's command of the Panzer Führer-Begleitbrigade at the Battle of the Bulge. He was eventually captured by American troops, and remained a Prisoner of War until 1947.
Remer's Socialist Reich Party, which he had co-founded in 1950, was banned in 1952 after it had gathered about 360,000 supporters in Lower Saxony, and won 16 seats in the state parliament. The Socialist Reich Party also won 8 seats in the Bremen state parliament.
Remer was sentenced to some months of prison time in October, 1992 for writing and publishing a number of articles that were said to have incited "racial hatred" through their denial of the Holocaust.
In February of 1994, Remer went into exile in Spain in an effort to avoid facing thought crime charges for his controversial public statements regarding the Holocaust. Remer was an avid supporter of the studies conducted by key individuals in the field of Holocaust revisionism, such as Fred Leuchter and Germar Rudolf .
The high court of Spain ruled against appeals made by the German government to extradite Remer, claiming that he had not committed any crime. Later living in Egypt and Syria, Remer remained a wanted man in Germany until his death in 1997, at 85 years of age.
Awards Received
- Iron Cross II Class
- German Cross in Gold
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
- Oak Leaves of the Iron Cross
- Golden Wound Badge
- Silver Close Combat Badge
- Winter War 1941-1942 Medal
- Wehrmacht Long Service Medal
Works
- Verschwörung und Verrat um Hitler (Conspiracy and Betrayal Around Hitler)
References
External Links
