Ernst August Köstring, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Ernst August Köstring

German diplomat

Date of Birth: 20-Jun-1876

Place of Birth: Moscow, Russia

Date of Death: 20-Nov-1953

Profession: diplomat

Nationality: Germany

Zodiac Sign: Gemini


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About Ernst August Köstring

  • Ernst-August Köstring (20 June 1876 – 20 November 1953) was a German diplomat and officer who served in World War II. Born in Imperial Russia in 1876, Ernst August Köstring grew up in St Petersburg and was fluent in Russian.
  • He took part in World War I, serving under Major General Hans von Seeckt in the Austro-Hungarian Seventh Army.
  • After the war, he was retained in the Reichsheer.
  • From 1919, he was back in the Prussian War Ministry and then detached to the Ministry of the Reichswehr in 1919 when that ministry was established.
  • On 1 August 1935, he was returned to active service as a military attaché to Russia and Lithuania and sent back to Moscow.
  • On 8 August 1940, Köstring was warned by General Franz Halder that "he would have to answer a lot of questions soon", making him one of a few people who knew what would happen with Russia despite the non-aggression pact.
  • With the planned Operation Barbarossa his position in Moscow was untenable; he was repatriated under diplomatic immunity and assigned to the Führerreserve.
  • He visited, together with Friedrich Werner von Schulenburg, prisoner of war camps recruiting Soviet POWs for the German war effort. On 1 September 1942 when he was appointed "General Officer attached to Army Group A for Caucasian Questions" under General Eduard Wagner.
  • In this role he worked on creating national legions among the indigenous people of the Caucasus, among them the Muslim Karachai.
  • He arranged for Armenians, Georgians and other Caucasian populations to fight at the front after training in Poland.
  • Most of the Armenians deserted.
  • The Karachai had formed an anti-Soviet committee under Qadi Bayramukov (ru) before the Germans arrived.
  • Köstring invited them to the Bairam feast on 11 October.
  • He was exceptionally well received and was carried shoulder high in celebration as was the custom.
  • In the spring of 1943 Köstring put into the Führer reserve.
  • In mid-June 1943, he was appointed Inspector of the German commanded Turkic associations, on 1 January 1944 appointed the General of the "volunteer" organizations in the Army High Command.
  • Throughout this period he spent most of his time helping with the creation of Andrey Vlasov's Russian Liberation Army.
  • He surrendered on 4 May 1945 to the U.S.
  • Army; he was released in 1947.
  • He co-authored the 1946 book The Peoples of the Soviet Union which was later used by the U.S.
  • Army.

Read more at Wikipedia

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