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Moritz Ferdinand Freiherr
von Bissing
(30.01.1844 - 18.04.1917)
place of birth: Ober Bellmansdorf,
Oberschlesien (Radzimow, Pol)
Königreich
Preußen: Stellv
KG, Gen-Gouv Belgien, Generaloberst
Generaloberst Moritz Freiherr von Bissing
was a Prussian cavalry officer who returned to active duty as Imperial
Germany mobilized for the Great War. He initially
served as Acting Commander of VII. Army Corps at its headquarters in
Münster. From November 1914 to April 1917, Freiherr von Bissing
functioned as the Empire's Governor-General in the occupied Brussels,
Belgium. A chronic lung ailment forced him to give up his position in
mid-April 1917, however, and he succumbed to his illness the following
week.
Moritz von Bissing was born into the home of
wealthy landowner, also named Moritz, and Dorothea Freiin von Gall. He
married his Swiss wife, Myrrha Wesendonck, in 1872. This baron from
Silesia was also known to be of a mean temperament, unafraid to give
even the Kaiser a piece of his mind. Their eldest son Friedrich was a
noted Egyptologist. After taking part in both the Austro-Prussian War of
1866 and the Franco-Prussian War of
1870-71, young cavalry lieutenant von Bissing worked his way through
the ranks and as a Major was assigned duty in 1887 as Crown Prince
Wilhelm's personal adjutant. When Wilhelm II assumed the throne in
1888, Bissing continued service within the Kaiser's entourage as his
aide-de-camp. He later commanded VII. Army Corps in Münster
and retired from active duty in 1907, living in the Rettkau area (Kreis
Glogau). As a civilian, he was a member of the Prussian House of Lords
(Herrenhaus) in Berlin.
Reactivated when Germany mobilized in the
summer of 1914, General der Kavallerie von Bissing was sent to his
former VII. Army Corps headquarters in Münster to maintain affairs on
the home front for Commanding General Karl von Einem-Rothmaler.
Freiherr von Bissing was transferred in November 1914 to head the
Empire's General Governorate in Belgium. Promoted to Generaloberst in
December, he then set about to involve himself in the internal politics
of that country through the pursuit of Flamenpolitik.
This was Germany's Flemish Policy which sought the dissolution of
Belgium into the separate states of Wallonia and Flanders. During this
time, von Bissing also gained notoriety for signing the death warrant
for British nurse Edith Cavell. Generaloberst von
Bissing died on 18 April 1917 in Trois Fontaines at the age of 73.
Bissing was interred at the Invaliden-Friedhof in
Berlin.
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Generaloberst |
24.12.1914 |
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Erinnerungs-Kreuz |
Deutscher Krieg 1866 |
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Eisernes
Kreuz II |
Deutsch-Französischer
Krieg 1870–1871 |
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Schwarzer Adler-Orden |
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