Who married Lucia Maria Rommel?

Lucia Maria Rommel (née le 6 juin 1894 à Dantzig sous le nom de Lucia Maria Mollin et morte le 26 septembre 1971 à Stuttgart) est l'épouse du feld-maréchal Erwin Rommel. Elle était issue de la classe moyenne et sa famille était d'origine polonaise et allemande. Elle étudia les langues (latin, anglais, français et italien). Alors qu'elle avait 17 ans elle rencontra Rommel en 1911 à l’occasion d'un bal à l'école de guerre de Dantzig et ils se marièrent le 26 novembre 1916, au grand mécontentement de sa famille car Rommel était protestant. En 1928 naquit leur fils Manfred Rommel.

Après la chute du III^e Reich sa pension de veuvage cessa pendant quelques années de lui être payée et elle vécut un certain temps dans une pauvreté proche de la misère. Robert Heitz qui la rencontra en septembre 1948 au procès en dénazification de Karl Strölin, ancien maire de Stuttgart, fut son voisin de table à un déjeuner auquel elle avait été invitée ; il raconte que le plat principal servi lui avait semblé si peu ragoutant qu'il ne voulut pas y toucher, alors, dit-il, « voyant mon assiette quasi intacte la Maréchale me demanda sans façon si elle pouvait en disposer. Et elle la vida. »

Un de ses cousins Edmund Roszczynialski, prêtre catholique et chambellan pontifical, fut assassiné par les nazis.

En 1967, elle fut la marraine du destroyer Rommel. Après sa mort, elle fut enterrée aux côtés de son mari.

Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel (pronounced [ˈɛʁviːn ˈʁɔməl] ; 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944), popularly known as The Desert Fox (German: Wüstenfuchs, pronounced [ˈvyːstn̩ˌfʊks] ), was a German Generalfeldmarschall (field marshal) during World War II. He served in the Wehrmacht (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as in the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic, and the army of Imperial Germany.

Rommel was a highly decorated officer in World War I and was awarded the Pour le Mérite for his actions on the Italian Front. In 1937, he published his classic book on military tactics, Infantry Attacks, drawing on his experiences in that war. In World War II, he commanded the 7th Panzer Division during the 1940 invasion of France. His leadership of German and Italian forces in the North African campaign established his reputation as one of the ablest tank commanders of the war, and earned him the nickname der Wüstenfuchs, "the Desert Fox". Among his British adversaries he had a reputation for chivalry, and his phrase "war without hate" has been uncritically used to describe the North African campaign. Other historians have since rejected the phrase as a myth, citing exploitation of North African Jewish populations during the conflict. Other historians note that there is no clear evidence Rommel was involved in or aware of these crimes, with some pointing out that the war in the desert, as fought by Rommel and his opponents, still came as close to a clean fight as there was in World War II. He later commanded the German forces opposing the Allied cross-channel invasion of Normandy in June 1944.

After the Nazis gained power in Germany, Rommel gradually accepted the new regime. Historians have given different accounts of the specific period and his motivations. He was a supporter of Adolf Hitler, at least until near the end of the war, if not necessarily sympathetic to the party and the paramilitary forces associated with it. In 1944, Rommel was implicated in the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler. Because of Rommel's status as a national hero, Hitler wanted to eliminate him quietly instead of having him immediately executed, as many other plotters were. Rommel was given a choice between suicide, in return for assurances that his reputation would remain intact and that his family would not be persecuted following his death, or facing a trial that would result in his disgrace and execution; he chose the former and took a cyanide pill. Rommel was given a state funeral, and it was announced that he had succumbed to his injuries from the strafing of his staff car in Normandy.

Rommel became a larger-than-life figure in both Allied and Nazi propaganda, and in postwar popular culture. Numerous authors portray him as an apolitical, brilliant commander and a victim of Nazi Germany, although other authors have contested this assessment and called it the "Rommel myth". Rommel's reputation for conducting a clean war was used in the interest of the West German rearmament and reconciliation between the former enemies – the United Kingdom and the United States on one side and the new Federal Republic of Germany on the other. Several of Rommel's former subordinates, notably his chief of staff Hans Speidel, played key roles in German rearmament and integration into NATO in the postwar era. The German Army's largest military base, the Field Marshal Rommel Barracks, Augustdorf, and a third ship of the Lütjens-class destroyer of the German Navy are both named in his honour. His son Manfred Rommel was the longtime mayor of Stuttgart, Germany and namesake of Stuttgart Airport.