Moritz Ferdinand Freiherr von Bissing
(30.01.1844 - 18.04.1917)
place of birth:  Ober Bellmansdorf, Oberschlesien  (Radzimow, Pol)
Königreich Preußen:  Generalgouverneur von 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.

	Generaloberst ....................	24.12.1914