Posthumous honor for Karl Luber, the savior of Wolfratshausen

Created: 11/20/2022, 8:00 p.m

By: Carl Christian Eick

City archivist Simon Kalleder was commissioned to document the events of April 30, 1945 in Wolfratshausen and the vita of the then combat commander Dr.

Karl Luber to be examined again in detail.

The result: Mayor Klaus Heilinglechner summarizes that there is nothing to be said against the posthumous honoring of Luber.

© Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss

A memorial plaque on the Andreasbrücke is dedicated to Wehrmacht officer Dr.

Remember Karl Luber.

Extensive research was necessary beforehand.

Wolfratshausen

- The "savior of Wolfratshausen", combat commander Dr.

Karl Luber, will definitely be honored posthumously.

Mayor Klaus Heilinglechner confirms this when asked by our newspaper.

The tribute to the man who died in 1977, who saved two people from being murdered by "SS" henchmen in the rafters' town in the last days of the Second World War and prevented the Andreas Bridge from being blown up, prompted the two contemporary witnesses Christian Steeb and Hans Reiser in autumn 2020 .

The first reaction of the head of town hall to the application of the two Wolfratshausen residents, each over 80 years old, sounded promising: "As the mayor, I can fully support a worthy souvenir in the form of a commemorative plaque." "As the mayor, I can fully support a worthy souvenir in the form of a memorial plaque. That was also the tenor of the City Council’s Culture Committee in March 2021.

However, the committee instructed the administration to meticulously research the events of the last days of the war, but above all Luber's vita.

One open question was: Is it even possible to honor the Wehrmacht officer Luber?

City archivist praises: Steeb "did very good research"

City archivist Simon Kalleder went in search of clues.

He researched in the Federal Archives, in the military archives in Freiburg and in the personal archives in Berlin in order to dispel all doubts.

Conclusion: What hobby historian Steeb had learned about the Luber case in many interviews with contemporary witnesses was correct.

He had "researched very well" and his statements had been "confirmed".

As reported, Steeb has in his extensive documentation “The first and the last day of the III.

Reiches in Wolfratshausen” meticulously traces the dramatic events of April 30, 1945.

While the Americans were advancing from Icking to what was then the market town (Wolfratshausen was only elevated to the status of a town in 1961), the local "SS" was fanatically determined to prevent Wolfratshausen from being handed over to the Allies.

that this succeeded

thanks to Luber, who was responsible for the defense of the region as combat commander at the time.

He was unwilling to obey the senseless orders.

Instead, risking his own life, he rescued Vice-Sacristan Ignaz Leeb and Mesner's widow Karoline Engelhardt from being murdered by the "SS".

dr

In the last days of the Second World War, Karl Luber was the town commander of the Landesschützen battalion in Wolfratshausen – and on April 30, 1945 he prevented the Andreas Bridge, then called the Lower Bridge, from being blown up by the “SS”.

© Archive

Leeb reported to hobby historian Steeb many years later: Mayor Hans Winibald, who had been deposed by the Nazis, misjudged the situation and instructed him, the deputy sacristan, and Engelhardt to hoist a white flag on the steeple of St. Andrew's Church, the sign of surrender , to hoist.

Too early: "Heavily armed SS men immediately blocked the exits of the church and searched for the authors," Steeb said in his documentation.

Leeb and Engelhardt were discovered in the sacristy.

They should be hanged immediately.

Major Karl Luber anticipated this by putting the two men in “protective custody” in what was then the boys’ school (later the Isar department store).

On the same topic: He saved many lives at the end of the World War

The Wehrmacht officer and his adjutant, Ludwig Killmeier, came under suspicion of collaborating with the enemy.

When an "SS" man asked Luber if he was the person he was looking for, according to Steeb's research, he replied with presence of mind: "What a mess you have at the station.

The four are dead, I'm already the new commander."

On the same day, Luber thwarted the attempt by the "SS" to blow up the Andreas Bridge, then known as the Lower Loisach Bridge.

On his orders, the commando entrusted with the destruction was surprised at gun point.

The "SS" left the bridge in a hurry, courageous citizens threw the boxes filled with explosives into the Loisach.

As a child, he played just a few hundred meters away from the reinforced concrete bridge, says Christian Steeb.

"I certainly wouldn't have survived the explosion."

Luber advanced to meet US tanks

In the evening hours of April 30, 1945, Luber finally went to meet the approaching US tanks and called out to the crews: “There will be no fighting here.

I hereby hand over the Wolfratshausen market to you.”

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Mayor Heilinglechner had always trusted Steeb's information - and still thinks it is "right and important" for the city archivist Kalleder to take a close look at everything again.

Because there is little reliable documentation and almost all contemporary witnesses have since died, it cannot be categorically ruled out that there would be a dark spot on Luber's waistcoat.

But this is "extremely unlikely", Heilinglechner sums up after consultation with Kalleder.

There is “nothing against an honor”.

The commemorative plaque is to be placed near the Andreas Bridge.

Where exactly is decided by the city council's culture committee.

He also has the last word on the text that will be read on the plaque about the "Saviour of Wolfratshausen".

Heilinglechner has already informed the initiators of the posthumous award, Steeb and Reiser, of the decision.

cce

You can read all the news from Wolfratshausen here.

Acquitted during denazification

Karl Luber was born on April 8, 1896 in Munich, the son of a brewer.

On January 28, 1915, he enlisted in the army as a war volunteer.

He spent almost four years on the Western Front during World War I.

Initially on the far right politically, he moved closer to social democracy.

In 1923 he married a daughter of Erhard Auer, SPD chairman in Bavaria from 1918 to 1933.

On the day of the "Hitler putsch" on November 8, 1923, he was in the Munich Bürgerbräukeller.

Because the Nazis could not get hold of Auers, Luber was arrested as a hostage, but was released soon afterwards.

When the National Socialists took power in 1933, Erhard Auer was completely expropriated.

Now Luber, a pharmacist by trade, was forced to support his father-in-law's large family on his own.

This also included some Jews who were threatened with being banned from their profession.

Luber did not join the NSDAP.

In November 1933 he joined the "Stahlhelm", an association of ex-front-line soldiers.

In 1934 the "Stahlhelm" was transferred to the reserve of the "Sturmabteilung" (SA) and in 1937 to the party.

Thus Luber was automatically a member of the NSDAP since 1937.

How Luber came to Loisachstadt in 1943 as commander of the state rifle battalion is not entirely clear.

Eyewitnesses report that he made no secret of his aversion to the Nazis, not even to the higher ranks, whom he often smirked at and said: "Don't tell any fairy tales!" He also refused the salute "Heil Hitler" and said instead consequently "Grüß Gott".

After the war, all the witnesses gave Luber good marks.

He was acquitted during denazification.

According to research by amateur historian Christian Steeb, Luber worked as a senior government councilor for the Bavarian medical supply.

He received the Federal Cross of Merit for his services in establishing medical care in Bavaria.

dr

Karl Luber died on February 7, 1977.