Karl Brunner (SS general)

Karl Brunner
Born	(1900-07-26)26 July 1900 Passau,German Empire
Died	7 December 1980(1980-12-07)(aged 80) Munich,West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Bavarian Army Schutzstaffel
Years of service	1917–19 (Bavaria) 1934–1945 (SS)
Rank	Brigadeführer
Service number	NSDAP#1,903,386 SS#107,161
Unit	Einsatzgruppe I
Commands held	Einsatzkommando 4/I

Karl Brunner(26 July 1900 – 7 December 1980) was a German lawyer, SS-BrigadeführerandGeneralmajorof the police and theSS and police leaderinSalzburgandBolzano.Brunner served as head of theEinsatzkommando 4/Iduring theinvasion of Polandand the early stages of the German occupation in 1939, tasked with the killing of Polish civilians. During his time in Northern Italy he was also responsible for the arrest, and ultimately, the deportation of the Jews in his area of jurisdiction, as well as reprisals against Italian civilians.

After the war Brunner was held atIsland FarmPrisoner of War Camp. He later entered the Bavarian government service and died in 1980 without facing prosecution for his criminal conduct during the war.

Biography

Brunner was born inPassauon 26 July 1900 in what was then theKingdom of Bavariawithin theGerman Empire.DuringWorld War I,from September 1917 onward, he served in the Bavarian 16th Infantry Regiment "Großherzog Ferdinand von Toskana", from which he was discharged in 1919.

Leaving the Bavarian Army with the rank of lieutenant, Brunner joined theFreikorps,a right-wing paramilitary militia, in 1919 and was part of theMarine-Brigade Ehrhardtin 1922–23.After studying law at theUniversity of Munich,he worked as a lawyer from 1927 onward.

In March 1933, Brunner joined theSturmabteilung(SA), and theNazi Party.In June 1934 he joined theSchutzstaffel(SS) and, from January to September 1935, worked in theSiPo.From April 1937 to June 1940 was head of theGestapoin Munich.In this role he was responsible for securing employment in an aircraft factory forMax Troll,a communist-turned-informer who betrayed over 250 resistance members to the Gestapo between 1933 and 1936.

With theinvasion of Poland,Brunner served as head of theEinsatzkommando 4/Iuntil November 1939,tasked with the killing of Polish civilians as part ofOperation Tannenberg.From early 1940 to April 1944 he was Inspector of the Security police inSalzburg.Simultaneously, since March 1941, he headedAmt Iaat theReich Security Main Office.From 15 September 1943 he was alsoSS and police leaderfor theAlpine Foothills,based inBolzano,a position he held until the end of the war.

During his time in Italy, Brunner, a fanatical Nazi, was responsible for the deportation of Italian Jews toextermination campsand reprisals against Italian civilians and partisans.Shortly after his arrival in Northern Italy, on 12 September 1943, he ordered the arrest of all Jews in his jurisdiction.

Brunner has been blamed for some the final atrocities committed by Germany in Italy, after the German surrender.After the surrender, celebrations of the Italian-speaking population broke out that saw 11 people killed inMeranoon 30 April and 41 people killed at Bolzano on 3 May 1945, when Wehrmacht and SS units fired on civilians. This and the encounters between German troops and Italian partisans has been referred to as the Battle of Bolzano (Italian:Battaglia di Bolzano).

Brunner was arrested in Bolzano on 13 May 1945. He spend the next three years in British Prisoner of War Camps, the final year of it atIsland Farm,and was released in May 1948. During his time in the SS he rose to the rankGeneralmajorof the police, promoted on 21 October 1942, and SS-Brigadeführer(brigadier general), promoted on 9 November 1942. He was also awarded theIron Crossfirst class in January 1945.His membership number in the SS was 107,161 and in the Nazi Party, 1,903,386.

In post-war Germany, Brunner worked for theGehlen Organization,a predecessor of theBundesnachrichtendienst,the domestic West German intelligence service. In 1956, he re-entered Bavarian government service, rising to the rank of aRegierungsratin the district ofPfaffenhofen.Brunner never faced any charges for his criminal conduct in the SS during the war.

References

Bibliography

• Gentile, Carlo (October 2005).The Police Transit Camps in Fossoli and Bolzano - Historical report in connection with the trial of Manfred Seifert.Cologne.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Meinl, Susanne; Schröder, Joachim (2015)."Einstellung zum demokratischen Staat: Bedenkenfrei". Zur Frühgeschichte des bayerischen Landesamts für Verfassungsschutz[Attitude towards the democratic state: Without concern. The early history of the Bavarian State Department for the Protection of the Constitution] (Report) (in German).Alliance 90/The Greensin theLandtag of Bavaria.
• van Tonder, Gerry (2018).SS Einsatzgruppen: Nazi Death Squads, 1939–1945.Pen and Sword Books.ISBN978-1526729095.