Editing Werner Braune (section)

==Biography==
Braune joined the [[Nazi Party]] and ''[[Sturmabteilung]]'' in 1931 while studying civil law at the University of Jena. He joined the SS in 1934 a year after graduating, followed by the ''[[Sicherheitsdienst]]'' later that year and the [[Gestapo]] in 1936. He served as Gestapo chief in Münster, Koblenz, Wesermünde and Halle at various points in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

From October 1941 onwards, Braune served as commander of Special Department 11b of ''Einsatzgruppe'' D under [[Otto Ohlendorf]]. The duty of Special Department 11b was to carry out the mass killings of Jews in Ukraine and the Crimea. Troops under Braune killed thousands of Jews through shooting between October 1941 and September 1942. In particular, Braune oversaw the massacre of 14, 300 Jews in Simferopol, Crimea, in December 1941. Braune retired his command in September 1942 and returned to Halle, where he served as leader of the German Foreign Service Academy until he was sent to Norway in 1945 as commander of security police.

Following the end of [[World War II]], Braune was charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity and membership of a criminal organisation at the Einsatzgruppen trial in 1947. His defence that he was only following orders was rejected by the court and he was convicted on all counts on 10 April 1948. Braune and 13 other defendants were sentenced to death. Braune, Otto Ohlendorf, [[Erich Naumann]], [[Paul Blobel]] and [[Oswald Pohl]] were executed by hanging at Landsberg prison on 7 June 1951.
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