Editing Karl Hanke (section)

==The fall of Breslau==

During the waning months of World War II, as the Soviet army advanced into Silesia and encircled Fortress (Festung) Breslau, Hanke was named by Hitler to be the city's "Battle Commander" (Kampfkommandant). Hanke oversaw, with brutal fanaticism, the futile and militarily useless defense of the city during the Battle of Breslau. Goebbels, dictating for his diary, repeatedly expressed his admiration of Hanke during the spring of 1945. On 6 May, the day before Germany's surrender, General Hermann Niehoff surrendered the besieged Breslau (the Soviet army already having reached Berlin). Hanke had flown out the previous day in a small Fieseler Storch plane kept in reserve for him. In his memoirs, German Minister of Armaments, Albert Speer, claimed that he heard from Anton Flettner, the designer, that Hanke actually escaped in one of the few existing prototype helicopters.[8]
Reichsführer-SS

Hanke's fanaticism and unconditional obedience to Hitler's orders also impressed Hitler, who in his final will appointed him to be the last Reichsführer-SS and Chief of the German Police, replacing [[Heinrich Himmler]] on 29 April 1945. Just eight days before, Hanke had been honored with Nazi Germany's highest decoration, the German Order, a reward for his defence of Breslau against the advancing Soviet army. Hanke's ascendancy to the rank of Reichsführer-SS was a result of Adolf Hitler proclaiming Himmler a traitor for his secret attempted negotiations with the Western Allies. Hitler stripped Himmler of all his offices and ranks and ordered his arrest.