Kurt Gildisch was the third commander of Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard, which he took command of on 11 April 1933.
19 Facts About Kurt Gildisch
1.
2.
Kurt Gildisch was a trained teacher, who had failed to find a classroom job and thereafter joined the Prussian police force.
3.
Kurt Gildisch was sentenced to 15 years in prison and died in 1956.
4.
Kurt Gildisch was born in Potrempschen in East Prussia, the fourth child of Paul Gildisch and his wife Marie.
5.
Kurt Gildisch was suspended from the police force in 1930 for involvement in Nazi Party activities.
6.
Kurt Gildisch was later dismissed from the police force on 10 March 1931 because of his ties to the Nazi Party.
7.
Kurt Gildisch joined the SA on 1 April 1931 and then transferred to the SS on 29 September 1931.
8.
Kurt Gildisch was viewed with mistrust and dislike by Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler.
9.
On 15 June 1934, Himmler had Kurt Gildisch removed from his post because of his heavy drinking habits, and replaced by Bruno Gesche as the commander of the SS-Begleitkommando.
10.
Kurt Gildisch had been ordered by Reinhard Heydrich to Dr Erich Klausener's office to shoot him.
11.
Kurt Gildisch participated in a leadership course at the SS-Junkerschule Bad Tolz and on 20 April 1941, he was appointed Untersturmfuhrer der Waffen-SS.
12.
From 1942 Kurt Gildisch actively fought on the Eastern Front where he "distinguished himself" in combat.
13.
In 1944 Kurt Gildisch was attached to the 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland.
14.
On 2 May 1945 Kurt Gildisch was wounded again and taken prisoner by Soviet Red Army troops at the end of the Battle of Berlin.
15.
Kurt Gildisch was released after the war in August 1946.
16.
Kurt Gildisch was for some time incapable of work and due to his personal far-right politics he could seek only limited work options.
17.
Kurt Gildisch finally found work after retraining as a bookbinder in an Evangelical-Lutheran maintained company that employed disabled people.
18.
Kurt Gildisch was sentenced to 15 years in prison for crimes against humanity.
19.
Kurt Gildisch died in 1956 of incurable liver disease in a Wilmersdorfer private hospital after the criminal sentence was suspended due to his poor health and lack of available medical treatment in prison.