Karl Jakob Heinrich Brenner

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Karl Jakob Heinrich Brenner (born May 19, 1895 in Mannheim , † February 14, 1954 in Karlsruhe ) was a German officer , most recently an SS group leader and lieutenant general of the police in World War II . Brenner is also known under the name of Karl-Heinrich Brenner in post-war literature .

Life

Youth and First World War

Brenner was the son of the businessman Georg Jakob Brenner and his wife Anna Elisabeth, née Leucht.

After attending school, including his Abitur , Brenner began studying at the Technical University . After the outbreak of the First World War he enlisted on August 3, 1914 as a volunteer at the second Baden Field Artillery Regiment. 30 , which in Rastatt was stationed. From October 17, 1914 to November 1918, Brenner participated as a member of the field artillery regiment "von Scharnhorst" (1st Hannoversches) No. 10 in the fighting on the eastern and western fronts. From 1917 he was platoon and battery commander and regimental adjutant.

In the Weimar Republic

After the end of the war, Brenner returned home. After being wounded four times and losing his left eye, he was considered 30% war-damaged. However, it was the burner of 15 January 1919 to the April 1, 1920 a member of a volunteer corps , the "Baden Volunteer Battalion East", and counted so that the members of the so-called " Black Reichswehr ".

On September 1, 1919, Brenner was accepted into the provisional Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic . There he was used in Infantry Regiment 17 and in Infantry Escort Brigade 61. Brenner took an active part in the so-called Kapp Putsch in March 1920 .

On April 1, 1920, Brenner left the Reichswehr and joined the Baden police force. There he was a member of the Security Police (SiPo) as a platoon leader and a Hundredschaftsführer, then was a sports officer for the Baden police for several years and also took part in various competitions. He was multiple national champion in the 10,000 meter run and multiple police master in skiing .

In National Socialism

In 1926, Brenner came into contact with the National Socialists . In the same year he joined the Hitler Youth in Baden as a HJ comrade leader. He was an active member of the Hitler Youth until March 31, 1935 and on August 16, 1933 he was appointed HJ Bannführer in the NSDAP Gau Baden.

On May 1, 1933, Brenner joined the NSDAP ( membership number 3.460.685). As part of his officer training, he took part in a course at the State Police Driving School in Berlin at the beginning of 1935 . In February 1935, Brenner was appointed head of the central department in the Reich Staff of the Prussian State Police in Berlin and was Kurt Daluege's adjutant until September 1936 . The latter suggested that he join the SS .

On April 11, 1935, Brenner married his fiancée Ursula Monigner. This marriage produced three children, a son and two daughters. Between 1935 and 1939, Brenner held several positions within the police. So he took part in a reserve exercise with the 41st Artillery Regiment in Ulm in September 1935 . On November 11, 1935, Brenner was promoted to police major with RDA from November 9th. In October 1936, Brenner changed from the security police to the protection police (SchuPo) and was given the character of a lieutenant colonel in the protection police. The regular promotion to this rank was carried out on April 20, 1937, when Brenner was now appointed lieutenant colonel of the protection police (with effect from April 1, 1937 and RDA from April 20, 1937). Between March 12 and 22, 1938, he was a member of the mounted protection police group in Austria .

On April 13, 1938, Brenner applied for membership in the SS, into which he was accepted on July 1 of the same year (SS no. 307.786) and received the rank of SS Obersturmbannführer in a direct promotion by Heinrich Himmler . His reputation witnesses required for admission to the SS were Kurt Daluege and Josef Dietrich , with whom he also became friends privately. Brenner was now listed as the “SS leader at the SS main office”, to which he officially belonged until May 8, 1945. On September 11, 1938, he was awarded the rank of SS Oberführer in another direct promotion with effect from July 1, 1938. Between January and August 1939, Brenner was employed as the "Sports Group Leader in the Command Office of the Main Office of the Ordnungspolizei ". In 1939 he joined the SS association " Lebensborn ". His last police post before the Second World War was as a commander at the Police Sports School in Berlin-Spandau, to which he officially belonged between August 1, 1939 and February 1940.

On April 20, 1939, Brenner received his promotion to colonel of the Schutzpolizei (with effect from April 1, 1939 and RAD from April 20, 1939), who was promoted to SS-Standartenführer on May 4 (with effect from April 20, 1939) followed.

Second World War

On September 1, 1939, Brenner took part in the German invasion of Poland when he was deployed as commander of the 3rd Police Regiment. This was stationed in Warsaw after the German victory and officially renamed "Police Regiment Warsaw" on October 19, 1939. From this time on, Brenner's rise in the SS and active involvement in the National Socialist policy of oppression began. Brenner now became the commander of the police in the Warsaw area. He held this post until March 1940. At the same time, Brenner was also chief of staff at the commander of the police in Krakow , from which the so-called General Government was controlled.

In March 1940, Brenner was recalled to the main office of the Ordnungspolizei, on March 9th, he was assigned to the artillery standard of the SS Totenkopf Division , where he was appointed commander on March 12th, 1940. However, his delegation to the SS-Totenkopfverband was revoked on April 27, 1940 and Brenner was again assigned to the main office of the Ordnungspolizei.

In May 1940 Brenner took over the leadership of the SS Police Artillery Regiment in the SS Police Division . In October 1941 he was seriously wounded by a mine explosion near Leningrad and was admitted to the SS and police hospital in Berlin-Lichterfelde for rehabilitation . He stayed there until October 28th, and due to the war injuries he had suffered, he was initially classified as not "fit for the front". On November 9, 1941, Brenner was appointed SS-Oberführer and released from the police division. At the same time he was appointed Oberführer, he was given the character of Major General of the Police. On November 26, 1941, his marriage to Ursula Moninger was divorced, who in turn married the friend and former reputation witness of her ex-husband, Josef Dietrich , in 1942 .

On December 1, 1940, with effect from November 1, Brenner became the commander of the Waffen-SS "Northwest" in The Hague and was also the commander of the replacement units of the SS Police Division. From February 1 to March 17, 1942 he was "Inspector of the Ordnungspolizei at the Higher SS and Police Leader Alpenland" ( Military District XVIII) in Salzburg . Subsequently, he was used until November 20, 1943 at the BdO Alpenland in the so-called "gang fight". Almost at the same time, from July 1 to October 7, 1942, Brenner was assigned to the deployment staff of the newly established “SS General Command”, which was renamed “General Command SS Panzer Corps” on September 14, 1942. There he was also the commander of the artillery until February 1, 1943.

Between November and December 1942, Brenner belonged to the "Combat Group Port Toulon", which was formed for the planned takeover of the port of Toulon , but which was prevented by the self-sinking of the Vichy fleet on November 27, 1942. On January 19, 1943, Brenners married Ursula Spielhagen, née Bueb, from which they had a daughter. On February 1 of the same year he returned to the main office of the Ordnungspolizei and on March 7, 1943 he was again commander of the Ordnungspolizei at the Higher SS and Police Leader "Alpenland", where he was probably also used in the "gang fight" in Carinthia and Upper Styria .

Since December 15, 1943, Brenner was in command of the Ordnungspolizei in the Reichskommissariat Ukraine and at the same time, since February 10, 1944, deputy commander of the "Kampfgruppe Prützmann ". On March 27, 1944, Brenner set up his own association for the “fight against crime and gangs” with the “Brenner Police Combat Group”. But this was already dissolved on March 29th and reactivated on April 17th, 1944 as the "Brenner Group". This was subject to the XIII. Army Corps of the 4th Panzer Army of Army Group North and was again under the command of Brenner.

End of war and post-war period

Between June 6 and July 23, 1944, Brenner was the military leader of the "gang fighting" of the Higher SS and Police Leader "Central Russia" and "White Ruthenia", Curt von Gottberg . He already appointed Brenner on July 2nd as the "leader of the Gottberg group". At almost the same time, at the beginning of July 1944, Brenner became the representative of the chief of the gang fighting units. After various assignments, he was commander of the 6th SS Mountain Division "North" from September 1, 1944 to March 10, 1945 and was then used as an interim commander until April 2, 1945 because his successor, the SS- Standartenführer Franz Schreiber , the troops no longer reached. The 6th SS Mountain Division "North" surrendered to American troops on April 2, 1945 and Brenner was taken prisoner by the Americans.

After his release from captivity, Brenner lived with his family in Karlsruhe , where he began to be politically active. In 1953 he was the Bundestag candidate for the right-wing extremist electoral alliance " Umbrella Association of the National Collection " in the Karlsruhe-Stadt constituency . Brenner died on February 14, 1954 due to heart failure.

Awards

literature

  • Dermot Bradley (ed.), Andreas Schulz , Günter Wegmann: The generals of the Waffen-SS and the police. The military careers of the generals, as well as the doctors, veterinarians, intendants, judges and ministerial officials with the rank of general. Volume 1: Abraham – Gutenberger. Biblio Publishing House. Bissendorf 2003. ISBN 3-7648-2373-9 . Pp. 163-167.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karl Brenner was in the last regular SS seniority list (November 9, 1944) the only division commander in the general rank who did not hold the designation "SS-Gruppenführer and Lieutenant General of the Waffen-SS". In Heinrich Himmler's list of suggestions for the award of the Knight's Cross and after its award (December 31, 1944), Brenner was listed in both the large and small Knight's Cross index cards as "SS-Gruppenführer Lieutenant General of the Waffen-SS and Police".
  2. ↑ a b Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 243.
personal data
SURNAME Brenner, Karl Jakob Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brenner, Karl-Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German military and police officer
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Mannheim
DATE OF DEATH February 14, 1954
Place of death Karlsruhe