Ernst Kaltenbrunner Biography

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World of Criminal Justice on Ernst Kaltenbrunner

Ernst Kaltenbrunner was an Austrian Nazi leader who headed the Austrian SS and eventually all German police forces. A close associate of SS chief Heinrich Himmler, Kaltenbrunner was prosecuted for war crimes by the International Military Tribunal (IMT). He was convicted in 1946 after his trial at Nuremberg.

Kaltenbrunner was born on October 4, 1903 in Ried im Innkries, Austria-Hungary. He studied law at the University of Prague and joined the Austrian Nazi Party in 1932 and the SS, a Nazi paramilitary group, a few months later. By 1935 he had become the leader of the Austrian SS. Kaltenbrunner, like most Austrian Nazis, called for the union of Austria with Germany. After Adolph Hitler coerced Austrian leaders into this Anschluss, Kaltenbrunner's career advanced. In 1938 he was appointed minister of state security, a position that allowed him to delve into intelligence activities. He held this position until 1941.

In January of 1943 Himmler promoted Kaltenbrunner to head the Reich Security Central Office. Reporting directly to Himmler, Kaltenbrunner had authority over the Security Service and the Gestapo (Secret State Police.) In this role, he also oversaw the system of Nazi concentration camps that were found in Germany and the conquered countries of Europe. In these camps the Nazis exterminated millions of Jews and other minorities or undesirables, while employing their prisoners as slave laborers. Kaltenbrunner endorsed the idea of exterminating all Jews and agreed with Himmler in 1942 that the use of gas chambers was the most efficient way of accomplishing this goal.

In May 1945, shortly after Germany surrendered, U.S. troops captured Kaltenbrunner. The IMT indicted him in August of 1945 for war crimes and crimes against humanity. At his trial with other Nazi leaders at Nuremberg, prosecutors introduced overwhelming evidence of his participation in the killings at the concentration camps. One witness denounced Kaltenbrunner's sadistic personality and noted that he had carried out his murderous duties with the ruthless efficiency of a lawyer.

Kaltenbrunner's lawyer mounted a defense that sought to minimize his client's participation in the actions surrounding the concentration camps. He argued that though Kaltenbrunner supervised the Gestapo, it was actually headed by Heinrich Mueller, who dealt directly with Himmler. The signature on the execution and imprisonment orders was always Mueller, thus implying that Kaltenbrunner had no role in the Holocaust. In addition, Kaltenbrunner sought to minimize his contacts with his old friend Adolph Eichmann, an SS officer responsible for masterminding the deportation of Jews to concentration camps. This defense strategy portrayed Kaltenbrunner as an officer who continued his duties to gathering intelligence.

On the witness stand Kaltenbrunner denied guilt for any of the charges lodged against him. His denials became absurd as he claimed that orders bearing his signature were forged. Moreover, he claimed to have visited just one concentration camp and had never seen a gas chamber. Prosecutors destroyed his credibility by having witnesses testify to Kaltenbrunner's numerous visits and inspections of the camps, the gas chambers, and the crematoria. In addition, witnesses said he had watched executions. In October 1946 the IMT found Kaltenbrunner guilty on all charges and sentenced him to death. He was hanged on October 16, 1946 in Nuremberg.