Karl Brunner (26 July 1900 – 7 December 1980) was a German lawyer, SS-''

Brigadeführer ''Brigadeführer'' (, ) was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) that was used between the years of 1932 to 1945. It was mainly known for its use as an SS rank. As an SA rank, it was used after briefly being known as '' Untergruppe ...

'' and ''Generalmajor'' of the police and the SS and police leader in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

and

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third ...

. Brunner served as head of the '' Einsatzkommando 4/I'' during the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week af ...

and 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 at

Island Farm Island Farm, also called Camp 198, was a prisoner of war camp on the outskirts of the town of Bridgend, South Wales. It hosted a number of Axis prisoners, mainly German, and was the scene of the largest escape attempt by German POWs in Britain d ...

Prisoner 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 in Passau on 26 July 1900 in what was then the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...

within the German Empire. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, 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 the ''

Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, reg ...

'', a right-wing paramilitary militia, in 1919 and was part of the '' Marine-Brigade Ehrhardt'' in 1922–23. After studying law at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: link=no, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of ...

, he worked as a lawyer from 1927 onward. In March 1933, Brunner joined the ''

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; literally "Storm Detachment (military), Detachment") was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing pro ...

'' (SA), and the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

. In June 1934 he joined the ''

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe d ...

'' (SS) and, from January to September 1935, worked in the

SiPo The ''Sicherheitspolizei'' ( en, Security Police), often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Germany for security police. In the Nazi era, it referred to the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by th ...

. From April 1937 to June 1940 was head of the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one or ...

in Munich. In this role he was responsible for securing employment in an aircraft factory for

Max Troll Max Troll (1902 – 7 April 1972) was a German communist-turned- informer who betrayed hundreds of Bavarian communists to the Bavarian Political Police, a forerunner of the Gestapo, between 1933 and 1936. Troll spent a short time in Dachau concen ...

, a communist-turned-informer who betrayed over 250 resistance members to the Gestapo between 1933 and 1936. With the

, Brunner served as head of the '' Einsatzkommando 4/I'' until November 1939, tasked with the killing of Polish civilians as part of Operation Tannenberg. From early 1940 to April 1944 he was Inspector of the Security police in

. Simultaneously, since March 1941, he headed ''Amt Ia'' at the

Reich Security Main Office The Reich Security Main Office (german: Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and '' Reichsführer-SS'', the head of the Nazi ...

. From 15 September 1943 he was also SS and police leader for the

Alpine Foothills The Alpine foothills, or Prealps (german: Voralpen; french: Préalpes; it, Prealpi; ), may refer generally to any foothills at the base of the Alps in Europe. They are the transition zone between the High Alps and the Swiss Plateau and the Bava ...

, based in

, 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 to

extermination camps Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The ...

and 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 in

Merano Merano (, , ) or Meran () is a city and ''comune'' in South Tyrol, northern Italy. Generally best known for its spa resorts, it is located within a basin, surrounded by mountains standing up to above sea level, at the entrance to the Passeier V ...

on 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 ( it, 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 at

, and was released in May 1948. During his time in the SS he rose to the rank ''Generalmajor'' of the police, promoted on 21 October 1942, and SS-''

'' (

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed t ...

), promoted on 9 November 1942. He was also awarded the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia e ...

first 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 the Gehlen Organization, a predecessor of the ''

Bundesnachrichtendienst The Federal Intelligence Service (German: ; , BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Chancellor's Office. The BND headquarters is located in central Berlin and is the world's largest intelligence headq ...

'', the domestic West German intelligence service. In 1956, he re-entered Bavarian government service, rising to the rank of a ''Regierungsrat'' in the district of Pfaffenhofen. Brunner never faced any charges for his criminal conduct in the SS during the war.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brunner, Karl 1900 births 1980 deaths People from Passau Gestapo personnel Einsatzgruppen personnel Sturmabteilung personnel SS-Brigadeführer Reich Security Main Office personnel SS and Police Leaders Holocaust perpetrators in Italy Holocaust perpetrators in Poland Military personnel of Bavaria German Army personnel of World War I 20th-century Freikorps personnel German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United Kingdom