Franz Liebisch
Franz Liebisch, born on 5 February 1921 at the village of Georgswalde, Sudetenland, joined the SS remarkably young at the age of 17. He served from January 1942 in the paramilitary “SS-Standarte Deutschland” before being transferred to the SS cavalry.
He was decorated at the turn of 1942/1943 as a troop leader in company 3 of the 1st SS cavalry regiment fighting round Medvedevo near Stalingrad. He was then moved to the regiment’s 4th company, commanded by Johannes Göhler, Hitler’s later adjutant. Liebisch by then was graded a modest, calm, reliable officer noted for diligence. On 3 August 1943 he was put up for the German Gold Cross, but it is unclear whether he received it. The nomination states he crossed a minefield near Mozsir, captured a partisan camp in close fighting and seized some mortars.
He married Gertrud Klazeket in 1943. His marriage provoked the resentment of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, as an SS officer he had to apply for special permission for a church wedding – the SS was fundamentally anti-church and he expected Himmler's most senior officers to leave the Church. Liebisch first wrote a free-spirited letter in which he claimed that this was a mere formality and necessary only in view of the family of his future wife, and when he was told to submit his request to Himmler, detailing his reasons, he rather dispensed with the church wedding.
.From mid-1944 to August he was with the officer training school (Junkerschule) at Tölz. During the siege of Budapest he served first as an officer in company 4 of the 16th cavalry regiment, but from January 1945 he headed a unit at battalion level.
Some time after Christmas 1944, he was put forward for a Knight Cross of the German Iron Cross, but the conditions of the nomination and award are unknown. A surviving draught says he fought in early February in the Hungarian 6/III battalion defending South Railway Station and the north of Vérmező park. He also commanded a unit of the 36th artillery measurement class
Liebisch received a leg wound in the Breakout. Comrades carried him with them until they met a natural barrier and had to leave him. This was all told in a post-war letter from Captain Joachim Boosfeld of the 8th SS cavalry battalion, requested by the German office dealing with those missing:
“He was wounded in the leg by a grenade splinter on a scouting manœvre (c. 12 or 13 February 1945). They then tried to take him and others on using temporary litters. However, the various groups were broken up by Soviet commandos. Liebisch’s subsequent fate is not known to me.”
Liebisch sorsára még két magyar személy is emlékezett. Kopácsi Imre csúcs-hegy melletti erdészházában megbúvó civilek szerint a menekülő németek idáig szánkón húzták a súlyosan sebesült Liebischt, akit visszahagytak az erdészházban. Két nappal később egy arra járó szovjet őrjárat kivégezte. Az ügy érdekessége, hogy három évvel később egy amerikai egyenruhát viselő személy és egy házaspár kereste fel az erdészházat – nyilván Liebisch családtagjai voltak. Miután a helyiektől megtudták az eltemetés helyét, a halottat exhumálták és elvitték. Mindez arra is utal, hogy a kitörés után a kétségbeesett szülők mindent megtettek, hogy híreket szerezzenek eltűnt fiúkról és Liebisch csoportjából legalább egy személynek sikerült elérnie a saját vonalakat, így hírt tudott adni parancsnokáról is. Ezek a történetek megrendítő példák arra az igyekezetre, amely erkölcsi kötelességnek tekintette a végtisztesség megadását a háború áldozatainak.
