Werner Braune
Karl Rudolf Werner Braune (11 April 1909 - 7 June 1951) was a German SS functionary and Holocaust perpetrator. He was the commander of Einsatzkommando 11b, one of the Einsatzgruppen death squads that carried out the mass murder of Jews in Eastern Europe. Braune's group had responsibility for the murder of Jews in Ukraine and the Crimea.
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| “ | In October 1941 he was assigned to Einsatzkommando 11b. As chief of this unit Braune knew of the Fuehrer Order and executed it to the hilt. His defense is the general one of superior orders which avails Braune no more than it does anyone else who executes a criminal order with the zeal that Braune brought to the Fuehrer Order. Various reports implicate Braune and his Kommando in the sordid business of illegal killings. The Tribunal has already spoken of the Christmas massacre of Simferopol. Braune was the leader in charge of this operation. He has admitted responsibility for this murder in unequivocal language. | „ |
| ~ Ruling against Braune at the Einsatzgruppen trial, 1948. |
Biography edit
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.