I wonder if anyone one has a copy of Shirer's 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich', and can confirm something for me. My understanding of the life of Benita von Falkenhayn, who was found guilty of espionage in 1935 and beheaded in Plotzensee, is that her one-time husband Richard von Falkenhayn was a distant relative of the Great War Chief of Staff Erich von Falkenhayn. This is what Wikipedia tells us. My memory, after many years, is that Shirer described Richard as the SON of Erich. If anyone can have a quick look and check that this is what Shirer wrote, I'd be very grateful. Thanks.
Uncle George, Falkenhayn doesn't show up in my ebook version of Shirer's book. The index shows the following: Falkenhausen, Gen. Alexander von, 906, 1031, 1047, 1074 Falkenhorst, Gen. Nikolaus von, 680–82, 696, 706fn., 709fn. Falkenstein, Maj. Frh, von, 879 Nothing for "Benita" either. Regards ...
Hi, According to this thread Erich von Falkenhayn had two children, Fritz and Erika: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=127110 Digging around I see Erika married Lieutenant-Colonel Henning von Tresckow (An Honourable Defeat). The book The Shadow War has a photo of Benita sitting with Juri von Sosnowski at a Berlin restaurant. Regards ...
The same people are named in the index to my paperback edition, although the page numbers are different.
Thank you Cee and Gibbo. A couple of us on another Forum are trying to get to the bottom of news reports from 1915 which mention the death of the son of Erich von Falkenhayn. Erich's private life is almost impossible to access - he was a notoriously withdrawn and private man. Even his memoirs are written in the third person. It is known that his son Fritz survived WW1. So, who on earth did the news reports concern? It may be that a mistake/misidentification was made; but it may be (because so little about Erich is known) that he had a second son, or indeed many other children. Thanks Cee for posting the Axis History Forum link, which mentions a son of Erich called Robert: but Robert soon disappears from the thread, and I can find no other mention of him anywhere. The confusion deepens. I have found online mention of a book by Steve Wicks called 'The Long Night - William Shirer and the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich', which quotes Shirer saying that Benita married Richard von Falkenhayn, the "son of Erich von Falkenhayn, a fabled general from the Great War". But this doesn't take us very far: whether he was Erich's son or not, Richard would appear to have survived WW1.
It might be Shirer's 'Berlin Diary' rather than his 'Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' that you need. I don't have it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Diary
Thanks for your suggestion. However, I think Richard is a blind alley: it seems that he survived the war.
