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meinkampfortzone · 3 years

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Who Was Hans-Joachim Marseille’s Fiancee? (Part 2)

Caption: This picture of HJM and his fiancee is from a silent video of an interview with Hans-Rudolf Marseille, HJM’s paternal half-brother, during which he displayed pictures from the Marseille family album. Based on the order in which the photos were shown, and the awards that HJM is wearing, it can be inferred that this picture was taken in 1942 in Rome, when HJM and his fiancee went to an awards ceremony where Benito Mussolini personally gave HJM the Megdalia d’Oro in Gold, which was Italy’s highest award.

HJM’s Fiancee During His Lifetime

In starting to talk about the topic of Hans-Joachim Marseille’s fiancee, I think it’s important to start with an event in HJM’s life that changed him forever: the death of his sister, Ingeborg “Inge” Marseille. Inge Marseille’s death in itself is something really interesting, and while I was researching her death and the circumstances behind it, a lot of inconsistencies came up. The same can be said for the research I conducted on her life, which is a story in itself, and a story for another day. I plan on writing another post on Inge Marseille in the future.

For now, we’ll use Colin Heaton’s depiction of Inge’s death. Heaton states that, “During the war, his...sister Inge, with whom he was very close and protective of, was murdered under mysterious circumstances. This loss left Jochen with deep emotional scars.” In a later part of the book, he goes on to say: “From what could be pieced together, his sister Ingeborg had been living in Vienna and dating a man when the relationship went sour. The prime suspect in her murder was her former abusive boyfriend who stalked her and in a jealous rage murdered her violently.”

At the time, HJM was in Greece recuperating from a myriad of illnesses he had contracted in the desert: malaria, jaundice, and dysentery, to name a few. He received this news in the form of a telegram, which, according to Colin Heaton, stated “Your sister is dead. Please come to Berlin.”

An article was published in a 1954 Revue Zeitschrift newspaper which retells the above events:

In front of the room stood an unknown Major. Marseille introduced himself, and suddenly saw, as he said his name, the other's eyes fixate on him questioningly.

“Marseille? Are you the son of Oberst (Siegfried) Marseille from Bremen?”

“Yes.”

“I have come recently from Germany. I give you the tragic news of the death of your sister, along with my sincerest condolences.”

Marseille grasped the Telegram with his left hand. He stood so still, it was as if he had been frozen to ice.

Inge? Dead?

After Marseille returned to Berlin, he was allowed to convalescence at home while going to frequent doctor appointments at the military hospital near his house. It was somewhere around this time that he received the Megdalia d’Oro in silver. It was also around this time that he met his fiancee, Hanne-Lies Kupper. I wasn’t able to find out when they met exactly, or when Marseille asked her to marry him, but given the fact that he left Germany shortly afterward, they hadn’t known each other for long, or had even been dating for a long time. There are no surviving letters between the two of them--in fact, the only correspondence between them is a photo that was published in a newspaper of the time, titled “Schaumbad in Mittelmeer” (Foam Bath in the Mediterranean), which Marseille wrote on the back of a photograph he sent to HanneLies.

Regardless, the next time HJM and his fiancee would see each other would be after HJM was called back to Berlin to personally receive the Oak Leaves to his Knight’s Cross from Adolf Hitler. During this time, Marseille and his fiancee were together at his parents’ house as well as on vacation in Bad Saarow, a spa town in Germany.

Shortly before Marseille’s leave was up, he received an official summons to present himself before Benito Mussolini in Rome, to receive the Megdalia d’Oro in Gold, which was Italy’s highest award. As Marseille got ready to leave, he asked Hanne-Lies to come with him to Rome. Hans-Rudolf Marseille recounts what happened afterward, in a sound clip taken from the 1999 German documentary about Hans-Joachim Marseille. I found this documentary on youtube, but it was dubbed over in Russian, so I asked an acquantaince of mine who is fluent in Russian to translate Hans-Rudolf Marseille’s story to English for me:

At the conclusion of this vacation, HanneLies left for Berlin, and Marseille was to wait for the next transport back to Libya. According to Colin Heaton, “When the JU-52 landed without Marseille, Neumann (his commanding officer) inquired where in the hell he was. The German military authority in Rome sent out a missing persons report on Marseille, which landed on the desk of the local Gestapo chief in Rome, Obersturmbannführer Herbert Kappler.23 Within hours a manhunt was underway, news of which even reached Berlin. The first place they began looking were the brothels, following a tip from an “unknown source.” Marseille was finally located in a village hotel in the Ardeatine area, and he was somehow convinced to return to his unit. Remarkably nothing was ever said about it in the formal reports. He never discussed his absence with even his closest friends, and other than the rumors that were spread among his comrades, the actual details are not known. The most prevalent rumor was that he ran off with an Italian girl.”

Colin Heaton goes on to infer on the source of the above rumor: ” ...from July 1941 until he returned in August 1942 from leave he was known to have kept an apartment in Benghazi for his off time. This was a sort of rest area away from the unit, only a short drive away from most of their landing fields. Although no one from his unit ever saw the place rumor had it that this was his private bachelor pad, where women from many places and social strata enjoyed his company. This collection of women was rumored to have included at least one German general’s wife (if not more), a Moroccan belly dancer, a British spy, an Albanian missionary, a niece of Mussolini’s, a Hungarian countess, Italian singer Nilla Pizzi, several German and Austrian singers and actresses (including Zarah Stina Hedberg Leander, and Olga Knipper), and another woman supposedly related to Count Chiani, hence some of the inquests into his whereabouts. How much of the rumor was true is impossible to say, although Emil Clade saw some corroborating evidence: “Once Marseille had a few days off, he went to Benghazi, and when he returned he always had good schnapps, wine, or brandy. These were hard to get so you had to be well connected. He once began to open his bag and bring out all sorts of wonderful things, until he pulled out a woman’s brassiere. I asked him, ‘Who does that belong to? I hope she is not in the bottom of that bag!’ He said: ‘I have no idea which one this belongs to.’ Stahlschmidt spoke up and said, ‘Healthy woman from the size.’ So I guess the rumors were true.”

Although ‘how much of the rumor was true is impossible to say’, Heaton does confirm that Marseille did indeed have an affair with Italian singer Adionilla “Nilla” Pizzi, who at the time was Marseille’s age (22 years old) and whose songs were censored from the Italian radio stations because her voice was deemed “too sensual and erotic for the fascist regime.” He says: Marseille received many letters from Nilla Pizzi, the most famous Italian singer, musician, and actress of her day, and there is no doubt that they had an affair. She sent him love letters and gifts, including expensive champagne and wines, as well as very provocative photographs of herself. Marseille even once mentioned that Pizzi “was devilish.” Perhaps the one giveaway to the affair, besides letters, was the record he brought back, the “Rumba Azul” which was his favorite song. It was signed by Pizzi, with “Dearest Lover” written on back, apparently a gift from her to Marseille.

All this, of course, was going on while Marseille was in fact engaged.

On his last leave, Hanne-Lies had given Marseille a scarf, which he kept wrapped around his neck as a good luck talisman. The scarf makes many appearances in the photos taken of Marseille after his last leave. After his death, the scarf was given to Hans-Rudolf Marseille, along with HJM’s medals and his luftwaffe uniform.

According to Franz Kurowski’s book “ German Fighter Ace Hans-Joachim Marseille: The Life Story of the Star of Africa”, Marseille had allegedly received a phone call from Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, saying that he was to get the Diamonds to his Knight’s Cross, and that they would be flying back to Germany on the same transport. Marseille refused, saying that he wanted to save his leave for December, citing among other reasons that he wanted to get married to his fiancee at around Christmastime.

However, he died before that could ever happen.

#hans joachim marseille #jochenmarseille #wwii #wwii history #thirdreichhistory #nazigermany #amateurhistorian #history tumblr

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