Erich Ernst

Eduard Wilhelm Heinrich Erich Ernst (born March 24, 1889 in Einbeck , † May 2, 1945 in Berlin ) was a German SA leader .

Life

Youth and World War I (1889 to 1918)

Ernst came from a middle-class family. As a newspaper article from May 1934 expressly emphasized, he was not related to his long-time superior, SA leader Karl Ernst . In his youth, Ernst attended the humanistic grammar schools in Gandersheim and Hildesheim . He then completed from 1905 to 1908 an apprenticeship in banking and worked from 1908 to 1914, first for the bank Meyersfeld , Braunschweig and then for the Brunswick Bank and Kreditanstalt , as a bank official.

From 1914 to 1918 Ernst took part in the First World War as a war volunteer in RIR 78 and IR 73 . During the war it was used in Champagne , at Hartmannsweiler Kopf, before Verdun, in Flanders and in the Vosges. After being wounded, he was employed as the leader of a field railway company until 1916. In 1915 Ernst was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class for special achievements as a close combat fighter and promoted to lieutenant on November 6, 1915.

Weimar Republic (1919 to 1933)

After the war, Ernst worked in the transport sector in Berlin, initially in the overhaul of the Berlin tram until 1921 and then as chief inspector in the Association of German Transport Administrations until 1931. From July 1933 to October 1934 he was head of the personnel department of the Berlin transport company .

On November 1, 1930, Ernst joined the NSDAP (membership number 359.422). In the same year he became a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA), in which he was initially used in Sturm 37 (Köpenick). In the spring of 1931 he took part in the suppression of what became known as the Stennes Putsch by parts of the Berlin SA against the policies of the Munich leadership of the NSDAP and SA around Adolf Hitler and Ernst Röhm . At that time, on April 8, 1931, he was accepted into the staff of the Gausturm Berlin. Then Ernst was assigned to the independent Sturmbann V under Wilhelm Sander .

At the end of 1931 Ernst was appointed adjutant of Standard 5, again under Sander, in which he was promoted to Sturmbannführer in July 1932 .

Period of National Socialism (1933 to 1945)

When Sander was appointed staff leader of the SA group Berlin-Brandenburg in March 1933, Ernst took over his successor as leader of Standard 5 on March 15, 1933 while simultaneously being promoted to the rank of standard leader. As leader of Standard 5, the SA units of the Berlin districts Friedrichshain, Treptow and Oberschönweide were subordinate to him from then on.

In the summer of 1933 Standard 5 was upgraded to a brigade under the name Brigade 28, whereby Ernst - now with the rank of Oberführer - continued to lead. From then on, four standards of Brigade 28 with around 12,000 SA men were subordinate to him. He kept the leadership of the brigade until October 23, 1934. In the wake of the Röhm affair, disciplinary proceedings were initiated against Ernst before the special court of the Supreme SA leadership : According to the decision of the special court of October 23, 1934, he was promoted to the rank of one SA-Sturmbannführer transferred back.

From November 1934 to April 1935 Ernst then acted as leader of the Sturmbann IV / R30 and from April to September 1935 leader of the Standard R 28. He also worked as a Reich auditor in the treasury of the German Labor Front.

On September 1, 1935, Ernst became a full-time SA leader again and in this capacity took over the management of the staff of Brigade 30. In this position, he was promoted to SA Obersturmbannführer on November 9, 1935. From March 1936, Ernst then held the post of advisor for training in the staff of the SA group Berlin-Brandenburg. In this position he was elevated to SA standard leader on November 9, 1936. Then from February 1937 to April 1938 he commanded SA Standard 1 " Hans Maikowski " in Berlin.

In 1938 Ernst moved to Bavaria, where he was the main adviser on the staff of the SA group in Franconia until August 30, 1940.

After the beginning of the Second World War, Ernst was temporarily drafted into the Wehrmacht, in which he served from August 24, 1939 to July 1940, meanwhile promoted to first lieutenant, as adjutant of the commandant's office in Nuremberg-Fürth. After his indispensable position by the SA he officiated from September 1, 1940 to May 2, 1945 as staff leader of the SA group Warthe in Posen.

Promotions

• November 9, 1932: SA-Sturmbannführer
• March 15, 1933: SA Standartenführer
• November 30, 1934: SA Oberführer
• October 23, 1934: SA-Sturmbannführer (reassignment)
• November 9, 1935: SA Obersturmbannführer
• November 9, 1936: SA Standartenführer
• November 9, 1938: SA-Oberführer (Führer order 68)
• January 30, 1942: SA Brigade Leader (Führer order 79)

literature

• The way of the SA leaders , in: Berliner Illustrierte night edition of May 24, 1934.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Berliner Illustrierte night edition of May 24, 1934.