Ernst Kaltenbrunner
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Ernst Kaltenbrunner (October 4, 1903 – October 16, 1946) was a senior Nazi official during World War II.
Early life
Born in Ried im Innkreis, Austria, he was the son of a lawyer. Educated at the State Realgymnasium in Linz and Graz University. He obtained a law degree in 1926. He worked as a lawyer briefly in Linz and Salzburg and from 1928 in Linz. He was a huge man, standing just over 6'6 tall.Kaltenbrunner joined the Nazi Party and the SS in Austria in 1932. He was the Gauredner (district speaker) and Rechtsberater (legal consultant) of the SS division VIII. In January 1934 Kaltenbrunner was briefly jailed by the Engelbert Dollfuss government with other National Socialists at the Kaisersteinbruch concentration camp. In 1934 he was jailed again on suspicion of High Treason in the assassination of Dollfuss. This accusation was dropped, but he was sentenced to six months for conspiracy.
Kaltenbrunner rises to a major Nazi figure
From mid-1935 Kaltenbrunner was the leader of the Austrian SS. He assisted in the Anschluss and Hitler promoted him to SS Brigadeführer on the day the Anschluss was completed. On September 11 1938 he was promoted to the rank of SS Gruppenführer (see [Video of Kaltenbrunner in Vienna January 1939]). He was also a member of the Reichstag from 1938. In April 1941 was promoted to Major General of the Police.On January 30 1943 Kaltenbrunner was appointed Chief of the RSHA, comprising both the Security Police (Sicherheitspolizei, or Sipo) and the SD, replacing Reinhard Heydrich, who had been assassinated in June 1942. Kaltenbrunner held this position until the end of the war.
Toward the end of the war, Kaltenbrunner's power increased greatly, especially after the attack on Hitler of July 20 1944. He gained direct access to Hitler. It was said that even Heinrich Himmler feared him, and rumoured that he was responsible for Adolf Eichmann's failure to attain the rank of SS-Colonel.
On December 9 1944 he was awarded the Knight's Cross. By then his full title was SS Obergruppenführer and General of the Police Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Chief of the Security Police and the SD. In addition he held the Golden Insignia of Honor and the Blutorden.
Nuremberg Trials
At the Nuremberg Trials he was charged with conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, war-crimes and crimes against humanity. The most notable witness in this trial was Rudolf Hoess, the camp commander of the Auschwitz concentration camp.His close control over the RSHA meant that direct knowledge of and responsibility for the following crimes was ascribed to him:
- Mass murders of civilians of occupied countries by Einsatzgruppen.
- Screening of prisoner of war camps and executing racial and political undesirables.
- The taking of recaptured prisoners of war to concentration camps, where in some cases they were executed.
- Establishing concentration camps and committing racial and political undesirables to concentration and annihilation camps for slave labor and mass murder.
- Deportation of citizens of occupied countries for forced labor and disciplining of forced labor.
- The execution of captured commandos and paratroopers and protection of civilians who lynched Allied fliers.
- The taking of civilians of occupied countries to Germany for secret trial and punishment.
- Punishment of citizens of occupied territories under special criminal procedure and by summary methods.
- The execution and confinement of people in concentration camps for crimes allegedly committed by their relatives.
- Seizure and spoliation of public and private property.
- Murder of prisoners in SIPO and SD prisons.
- Persecution of Jews.
- Persecution of the churches.
Miscellaneous
- In the twelve episode Russian television series, Seventeen Moments of Spring, Ernst Kaltenbrunner plays an important role and he is portrayed by Mikhail Zharkovsky.
- In the book Colonization: Down to Earth Harry Turtledove creates an alternative history where Kaltenbrunner is the successor of Himmler as the third Fuhrer and Reichs Chancellor of the Greater German Reich and triggers a war between Nazi Germany and aliens, a war that results in the destruction of the Reich.
- A character in the movie The Return of the Living Dead is named "Ernie Kaltenbrunner".
External links
- [Video of a Parade with Kaltenbrunner in January 1939]
- [Testimony of Rudolf Hoess in the Nuremberg Trial]
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