Ernst Brandenburg (Ministerial Officer)

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Ernst Bruno Brandenburg (born June 4, 1883 in Sophienfelde near Znin , † July 1, 1952 in Bonn ) was a German officer and ministerial official.

Life

Brandenburg was the son of a landowner. After attending school, he embarked on an officer career and was promoted to lieutenant in the 6th West Prussian Infantry Regiment No. 149 of the Prussian Army with a patent from August 18, 1903 . He served there a. a. as adjutant of the 1st battalion. On April 5, 1909, with the acquisition of the necessary patent, he became a free balloon pilot and made eight trips in this capacity by autumn 1913 . In March 1911 he was briefly commanded to Döberitz to the teaching and research institute for aviation. Promoted to first lieutenant on August 18, 1912 , Brandenburg rose to regimental adjutant.

He was also in this position when the First World War broke out . Brandenburg took part in the fighting in Belgium with his regiment and took part in the battles on the Marne and Ypres . There he was wounded in the ankle shot on November 2, 1914 and promoted to captain on the 28th of the month.After several months in the hospital, Brandenburg reported to the air force on November 1, 1915 and trained first as an observer and later as a pilot. Assigned to a bomber squadron from June 1916, he received the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords for his services in addition to both classes of the Iron Cross . On March 5, 1917, Brandenburg was appointed commodore of the newly established Combat Squadron 3 of the Supreme Army Command (Kagohl 3). In this position he carried out several bombing raids against England - the first of which on May 25, 1917 with 23 G.IV bombers - which earned the association the designation "England Squadron". A notable action was an attack with seventeen large aircraft on the English capital London on June 13, 1917, during which 4400 kg bombs were dropped, which set a train station, a Thames bridge , docks and warehouses on fire. This attack was one of the first German air raids on British territory by air. For this, on June 14, 1917, Brandenburg was awarded the highest Prussian bravery award, the Order Pour le Mérite , at the headquarters in Kreuznach . After the award ceremony, the Brandenburg plane crashed on its way back to the front during take-off. The pilot, Hans Ulrich von Trotha, was killed, Brandenburg himself survived seriously injured and lost his right leg. After his recovery, he took over Kagohl 3 again on November 12, 1917 and ran it until the end of the war.

After the armistice , Brandenburg resigned from active military service as a major in 1919 .

During the time of the Weimar Republic and the Nazi regime, Brandenburg was a senior official in the Reich Ministry of Transport . From 1924 to 1933 he was head of Department L (Aviation) in the Reich Ministry of Transport. In this function he represented German interests in the conclusion of the Paris Aviation Agreement of May 1926. In 1926 he also participated in the founding of Luft Hansa . In January 1929 Brandenburg received the honorary doctorate of Dr.-Ing. the TH Braunschweig for his services in the field of promoting aviation development. In 1932 and 1933 Brandenburg took part in the disarmament conference in Geneva as an expert on aviation issues . From 1933 to 1942 he was head of Department K (Department of Motor Vehicles and Roads), and from 1935 as Ministerial Director in the Reich Ministry of Transport.

On November 1, 1934, he joined the Confessing Church (St. Annen in Berlin-Dahlem) with membership number 649 .

Brandenburg received the character of a colonel on August 27, 1939, the so-called Tannenberg Day.

In 1942 he was dismissed from all his offices because of “political unreliability” (Confessing Church).

In 1948 Brandenburg acted as an advisor to the Parliamentary Council . He last appeared in public in 1950 when he appeared as a witness in the trial against former SS member Kurt Gildisch before the Berlin Regional Court for the murder of the ministerial director in the Ministry of Transport, Erich Klausener, in 1934. Shortly before his death, Brandenburg received the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany .

literature

  • Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 1: AG. Biblio Publishing House. Osnabrück 1999. ISBN 3-7648-2505-7 . Pp. 174-175.
  • Hanns Möller: History of the knights of the order pour le mérite in the world war. Volume I: A-L. Bernard & Graefe publishing house. Berlin 1935. pp. 133-134.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jörg Mückler: German bombers in the First World War. Motorbuch, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-613-03952-0 , pp. 59/60
personal data
SURNAME Brandenburg, Ernst
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brandenburg, Ernst Bruno (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer and ministerial official
DATE OF BIRTH June 4, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Sophienfeld near Bromberg
DATE OF DEATH July 1, 1952
Place of death Bonn