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Ulrich Wegener

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Ulrich Wegener
Born(1929-08-22)22 August 1929
Jüterbog, Weimar Republic
Died28 December 2017(2017-12-28) (aged 88)
Windhagen, Germany
Allegiance West Germany
Service/branchLuftwaffe (Air Force)
Bereitschaftspolizei (Riot Police)
Bundesgrenzschutz (Federal Border Guard)
Years of service1944 (Luftwaffe)
1952–1979 (State Police, Federal Border Guard)
RankBrigadier General
Commands heldBundesgrenzschutz
Grenzschutzgruppe 9 (GSG 9)
Grenzschutzgruppe 2 (15th Company/GSG 2)
Battles/warsBattle of Berlin
Operation Entebbe
Lufthansa Flight 181 (Operation Magic Fire)[1]
AwardsCommander's Cross of the Federal Cross of Merit

Ulrich Klaus "Ricky" Wegener (22 August 1929 – 28 December 2017) was a German police officer of the Federal Border Guard (Brigadier General, official title: Commander of the Federal Border Guard, Border Guard Command West) and commander and founding member of the federal counter-terrorism force GSG 9 (Grenzschutzgruppe 9).

Early life

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Wegener was born in Jüterbog, Brandenburg, Weimar Germany. In 1944, at the age of 15, he was conscripted into the Luftwaffe and participated in the Battle of Berlin, the last major battle of the Second World War in Europe. After the war, he was briefly held in an American POW camp.[2] In 1949, Wegener's home state of Brandenburg fell within the borders of communist East Germany (German Democratic Republic). In the early 1950s, he distributed dissident leaflets against the GDR government in the Soviet occupied sector of East Berlin. He was subsequently arrested and released from the GDR State Security (Stasi) prison after more than a year.[3] In 1952, Wegener fled to West Berlin before taking entrance exams in West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany) for both an officer's career in the West German Riot Police (Bereitschaftspolizei) and the newly formed Federal Defence Forces (Bundeswehr).

Career

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Wegener's police career began in 1952 with the Riot Police (Bereitschaftspolizei) of the state of Baden-Württemberg, where he served as a police sergeant major (Polizeiwachtmeister) on probation. Due to a lack of opportunities for advancement, Wegener applied for a career as an officer in the Bundeswehr and the Federal Border Guard (BGS, Bundesgrenzschutz). After passing the entrance exams, he decided to join the BGS in 1958. Following his attendance at officer school in Lübeck, he was promoted to lieutenant (Leutnant) in the BGS in 1959. He later became a company commander of the 15th/GSG 2 (15th company of the Border Guard Group 2) in Coburg, Bavaria. Subsequently, he served with NATO and later as a liaison officer for the BGS at the Federal Ministry of the Interior.

Creation of GSG 9 following the Munich Massacre

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Wegener was the Federal Border Guard (BGS, Bundesgrenzschutz) liaison officer at the Federal Ministry of the Interior during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Wegener witnessed the failure of regular Bavarian State Police in the face of an unprecedented threat previously unknown in Germany from Arab terrorists during the hostage-taking of the Israeli Olympic team. Even the presence of several hundred Federal Border Guard (BGS) officers could not change the catastrophic outcome of the kidnappings. After the disaster, on 26 September 1972, Wegener was entrusted by the then Federal Minister of Interior, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, with the rapid formation of the counter-terrorism unit Border Guard Group 9 (GSG 9, Grenzschutzgruppe 9) as its commander.

The name GSG 9 is derived from the structure of the Federal Border Guard (BGS, Bundesgrenzschutz), which, at the time of the unit's founding, consisted of four border guard commands with a total of eight border guard groups (GSG 1 to 7 and Sea). Since the GSG 9 was not integrated into any of the existing structures, it was designated Border Guard Group 9 (Grenzschutzgruppe 9, GSG 9).

Counter-terrorism units were still a relatively unheard-of form of combating terrorism, with the only truly established groups at the time being Britain's Special Air Service (SAS) and Israel's Sayeret Matkal. To this end, Wegener trained with both groups, assimilating many of their methods into the doctrine he would establish for the GSG 9.[4] Wegener's time with the British SAS is well documented, but his training with the Israeli Sayeret Matkal (and alleged participation in the rescue of the Israeli hostages during Operation Entebbe in Uganda in 1976) is less publicized.[1][5] In an interview in November 2000, he said: "There are some things I am not allowed to say yet because they have not been released. I can only say this much: I was in Entebbe in the interests of the Germans and Israelis, but also before the Israeli attack was carried out. We tried to gather information about the enemy, the terrorists, as well as about the possible supporters who were present in Uganda. We were very successful and were able to gather a great deal of information."

Storming of hijacked Lufthansa Flight 181 in Mogadishu

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Main article: Lufthansa Flight 181

Wegener was the GSG 9 commander during the liberation of the hostages taken by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on the Boeing 737 Landshut, operated by Lufthansa as flight 181, in Mogadishu, Somalia, on the night from 17 to 18 October 1977. Wegener, leading one group, blew open the front door of the aircraft as the German GSG 9 commandos stormed the plane. Two terrorists were killed, one was fatally wounded, and the fourth was captured alive. Having both planned and led the successful operation to liberate the hostages of the Lufthansa 181 hijacking, Wegener was awarded the German Commander's Cross of the Federal Cross of Merit (Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz).[6]

Commander of the Federal Border Guard

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In 1979, Wegener relinquished command of the GSG 9 unit he had formed and was appointed Brigadier General, Commander of the Federal Border Guard's Border Guard Command West.

Later life

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Wegener was considered one of the world's leading experts on counterterrorism and was an advisor on the establishment of numerous special units in other countries, including Saudi Arabia.[2] From the 1980s onwards, he lived in Windhagen in the Westerwald, gave lectures, and became a member of the political party Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU). Wegener was also a member of the Security Committee of the Kötter Unternehmensgruppe (Kötter Group) until he retired in 1988.[7]

Wegener was widowed to Magda and is survived by his daughters, Simone and Susanne. His daughter, Simone Stewens, is a television journalist and was the director of the International Film School Cologne.[2] Aged 88, Wegener died on 28 December 2017.[8][9]

Publications

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  • "Esprit de Corps!". Die Grenzschutzgruppe 9 (GSG 9) ("Esprit de Corps!" The Border Guard Group 9 (GSG 9)), in German. In: Reinhard Günzel Et al.: Geheime Krieger: Drei deutsche Kommandoverbände im Bild: KSK, Brandenburger, GSG 9 (Secret Warriors: Three German commando units in pictures: KSK, Brandenburgers, GSG 9), in German. Publisher: Pour le Mérite Verlag, Selent, 2006, ISBN 9783932381294, p. 87–125.
  • GSG 9 – Stärker als der Terror (GSG 9 – Stronger than terror), in German. Edited by: Ulrike Zander, Harald Biermann, Publisher: Lit Verlag, Münster, 2017, ISBN 9783643137623.

Honours

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References

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  1. ^ a b Lanning, Michael Lee (2002). Blood Warriors: American Military Elites. New York: Random House. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-553-75647-0.
  2. ^ a b c Chan, Sewell; Eddy, Melissa (3 January 2018). "Ulrich Wegener, German Commando Who Ended 1977 Hijacking, Is Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  3. ^ Interview with Wegener in Neue Presse, Hanover, on 26 November 2008
  4. ^ Sünkler, Sören (2006). "Die heimlichen Helden vom Rhein" (PDF). Caliber (in German). No. 7–8. pp. 16–22. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 March 2007.
  5. ^ "Ulrich Wegener: the hero of Mogadishu hijacking dies". Sydney Morning Herald. 7 January 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  6. ^ "BAD KLEINEN: "Terrorist starb, na und?" - FOCUS Online". Focus.de (in German). Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  7. ^ "Die professionelle Symbiose aus Erfahrung und Know-how". Kötter Services (in German). Archived from the original on 26 November 2006. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  8. ^ Tiede, Peter (3 January 2018). "Der Held der 'Operation Feuerzauber'". Bild (in German). Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  9. ^ "GSG-9-Legende Ulrich Wegener ist tot". Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). dpa. 3 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  10. ^ "Ulrich Wegner (left) is awarded the Federal Cross of Merit at the Chancellory in Bonn, West Germany, Oct. 20, 1977, by Hans-Juergen Wischnewski, minister of state in the chancellory". Chicago Sun Times.
  11. ^ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
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