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Concept
Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Summary
Ernst Kaltenbrunner (4 October 1903 16 October 1946) was a high-ranking Austrian SS official during the Nazi era and a major perpetrator of the Holocaust. After the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in 1942, and a brief period under Heinrich Himmler, Kaltenbrunner was the third Chief of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), which included the offices of Gestapo, Kripo and SD, from January 1943 until the end of World War II in Europe.
Kaltenbrunner joined the Nazi Party in 1930 and the SS in 1931, and by 1935 he was considered a leader of the Austrian SS. In 1938, he assisted in the Anschluss and was given command of the SS and police force in Austria. In January 1943, Kaltenbrunner was appointed chief of the RSHA, succeeding Reinhard Heydrich, who was assassinated in May 1942.
A committed anti-Semite and fanatical Hitler loyalist, Kaltenbrunner oversaw a period in which the genocide of Jews intensified. He was the highest-ranking member of the SS to face trial (Himmler having committed suicide in May 1945) at the Nuremberg trials, where he was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Kaltenbrunner was sentenced to death and executed by hanging 16 October 1946.
Kaltenbrunner was born in Ried im Innkreis, Austria, the son of a lawyer, spent his early years and primary education in Raab and later attended the Realgymnasium in Linz. Raised in a nationalist family, he was childhood friends with Adolf Eichmann, the infamous SS officer who played a key role in implementing the Nazis' "Final Solution" against Europe's Jews. After Gymnasium, Kaltenbrunner went on to obtain his PhD in law at Graz University in 1926.
Kaltenbrunner worked at a law firm in Salzburg for a year before opening his own law office in Linz. He had deep scars on his face reportedly from dueling in his student days, although some sources attribute them to a car accident.
On 14 January 1934, Kaltenbrunner married Elisabeth Eder (born 20 October 1908, Linz, Upper Austria - died 20 May 2002, Linz), who was also a Nazi Party member; the couple had three children.
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