42 Facts About Ernst Kaltenbrunner

Ernst Kaltenbrunner was a high-ranking Austrian SS official during the Nazi era and a major perpetrator of the Holocaust.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner joined the Nazi Party in 1930 and the SS in 1931, and by 1935 he was considered a leader of the Austrian SS.

In January 1943, Ernst Kaltenbrunner was appointed chief of the RSHA, succeeding Reinhard Heydrich, who was assassinated in May 1942.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner was the highest-ranking member of the SS to face trial at the Nuremberg trials, where he was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner was sentenced to death and executed by hanging 16 October 1946.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner was born in Ried im Innkreis, Austria, the son of a lawyer, spent his early years and primary education in Raab and later attended the Realgymnasium in Linz.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner worked at a law firm in Salzburg for a year before opening his own law office in Linz.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner had deep scars on his face reportedly from dueling in his student days, although some sources attribute them to a car accident.

On 18 October 1930, Ernst Kaltenbrunner joined the Nazi Party as member number 300,179.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner joined the SS on 31 August 1931; his SS number was 13,039.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner first became a Rechtsberater for the NSDAP in 1929 and later held this same position for SS Abschnitt VIII, beginning in 1932.

In January 1934, Ernst Kaltenbrunner was briefly jailed at the Kaisersteinbruch detention camp with other Nazis for conspiracy by the Engelbert Dollfuss government.

From mid-1935 Ernst Kaltenbrunner was head of the illegal SS Abschnitt VIII in Linz and was considered a leader of the Austrian SS.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner would hide on a train and on a ship that traveled to Passau, then return with money and orders for Austrian comrades.

In 1937 Ernst Kaltenbrunner was arrested again by Austrian authorities on charges of heading the illegal Nazi Party organization in Oberosterreich.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner was a member of the German Reichstag from 10 April 1938 until 8 May 1945.

On 11 September 1938, Ernst Kaltenbrunner was promoted to the rank of SS-Gruppenfuhrer while holding the position of Fuhrer of SS-Oberabschnitt Osterreich.

In June 1940, Ernst Kaltenbrunner was appointed Vienna's chief of police and held that additional post for a year.

Alongside his many official duties, Ernst Kaltenbrunner developed an impressive intelligence network across Austria, moving southeastwards, which eventually brought him to Himmler's attention for appointment as chief of the Reich Security Main Office in January 1943.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner replaced Heydrich, who had been assassinated in June 1942.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner held this position until the end of World War II.

Nonetheless, Ernst Kaltenbrunner was promoted to SS-Obergruppenfuhrer und General der Polizei on 21 June 1943.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner replaced Heydrich as president of the International Criminal Police Commission, the organization today known as Interpol.

Historian Richard Grunberger added the name of Wilhelm Stuckart, the future minister of the German Interior, as another potential candidate for head of the RSHA; however, he suggests that Ernst Kaltenbrunner was most likely selected since he was a comparative "newcomer", expected to be more "pliable" in Himmler's hands.

In 1944, during an arranged meeting in Klessheim Castle near Salzburg, when Hitler was in the process of strong-arming Admiral Horthy into a closer integration between Hungary and Nazi Germany, Ernst Kaltenbrunner was present for the negotiations and escorted Horthy out once they were over.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner was a longtime friend of Otto Skorzeny and recommended him for many secret missions, allowing Skorzeny to become one of Hitler's favorite agents.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner allegedly headed Operation Long Jump, an alleged plan to assassinate Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt in Tehran in 1943.

Immediately in the wake of the 20 July Plot on Hitler's life in 1944, Ernst Kaltenbrunner was summoned to Hitler's wartime headquarters at the Wolfsschanze in East Prussia to begin the investigation into who had planned the assassination attempt.

Once it was revealed that an attempted military coup against Hitler had been launched, Himmler and Ernst Kaltenbrunner had to tread carefully, as the military was not under the jurisdiction of the Gestapo or the SD.

In December 1944, Ernst Kaltenbrunner was granted the additional rank of General of the Waffen-SS.

Himmler believed him, but Ernst Kaltenbrunner did not, and told Himmler that an informant claimed that Wolff had negotiated with Cardinal Schuster of Milan and was about to surrender occupied Italy to the Allies.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner attempted to organize cells for post-war sabotage in the region and Germany, but accomplished little.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner was among those present, but realizing the end was near, he then fled from Berlin.

On 12 May 1945 Ernst Kaltenbrunner was apprehended along with his adjutant, Arthur Scheidler, and two SS guards in a remote cabin at the top of the Totes Gebirge mountains near Altaussee, Austria, by a search party initiated by the 80th Infantry Division, Third US Army.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner claimed to be a doctor and offered a false name.

At the Nuremberg trials, Ernst Kaltenbrunner was charged with conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner said all decrees and legal documents that bore his signature were "rubber-stamped" and filed by his adjutant.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner said Gestapo Chief Heinrich Muller had illegally affixed his signature to numerous documents in question.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner argued in his defence that his position as RSHA chief existed only theoretically and said he was only active in matters of espionage and intelligence.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner maintained that Himmler, as his superior, was the person culpable for the atrocities committed during his tenure as chief of the RSHA.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner asserted that he had no knowledge of the Final Solution before 1943 and went on to claim that he protested against the ill-treatment of the Jews to Himmler and Hitler.

At one point, Ernst Kaltenbrunner went so far as to avow that he was responsible for bringing the Final Solution to an end.