for genuine independence. After the Act of 5th November of 1916, Beseler stayed and still wielded real power as the General Governor of the Government General of Warsaw, the German-occupied part of the Kingdom of Poland, alongside the Austrian Governor General , who resided in Lublin. He was also the titular commander of the so-called Polnische Wehrmacht. After the Act of 5 November was declared, he organized a ceremony in Warsaw's Royal Castle with such gestures as the unfurling of a Polish flag and the Polish national anthem being played; the event backfired as the Polish crowds started shouting "Out with the Germans!". On 4 October 1916 Beseler issued a decree allowing forced labour of Polish men aged between 18 and 45. After Poland declared independence on 11 November 1918 and all German soldiers in Warsaw were disarmed, Beseler fled in disguise to Germany. A broken and disillusioned man, attacked by the German Conservatives and Nationalists as having been too liberal towards the Poles, but disliked in Poland for being too Prussian, Beseler died in 1921 in Neu-Babelsberg near Potsdam. He was buried at the Invalidenfriedhof in Berlin. Ranks 1870/71: Leutnant 1875-06-15: Oberleutnant 1882-04-18: Hauptmann 1888-09-19: Major 1893-10-17: Oberstleutnant 1897-03-22: Oberst 1900-01-27: Generalmajor 1903-04-18: Generalleutnant 1907-11-09: General der Infanterie 1918-01-27: Generaloberst Decorations Beseler, besides many minor decorations, received the Pour le Mérite with oak leaves and the Iron Cross (1st and 2nd Classes), and was a Commander with Star and Crown of the Prussian Order of the House of Hohenzollern. Bibliography Bogdan Graf von Hutten-Czapski, Sechzig Jahre Politik und Gesellschaft, Volunme 1 - 2, Berlin: Mittler 1936 References External links Kauffman, Jesse: Beseler, Hans von, in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War. Notes 1. 1850 births 1921 deaths People from Greifswald People from the Province of Pomerania Free Conservative Party politicians Members of the Prussian House of Lords Colonel generals of Prussia German untitled nobility German military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War German Army generals of World War I Burials at the Invalids' Cemetery Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class) Recipients of the Iron Cross (1870), 2nd class 19th-century Prussian military personnel Military personnel from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania