Ernst Kaltenbrunner

Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Director of the Reich Main Security Office
In office 30 January 1943 – 12 May 1945
Appointed by	Adolf Hitler
Preceded by	Reinhard Heydrich / Heinrich Himmler (acting)
Succeeded by	None
President of the ICPC
In office 30 January 1943 – 12 May 1945
Preceded by	Arthur Nebe
Personal details
Born	4 October 1903 Ried im Innkreis, Austria-Hungary
Died	16 October 1946 (aged 43) Nuremberg, Allied-occupied Germany
Nationality	Austrian
Political party	National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP)
Alma mater	University of Graz
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Gottgläubig prev. Roman Catholic
Military service
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	SS
Years of service	1940–1945
Rank	Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei und Waffen-SS

Ernst Kaltenbrunner (4 October 1903 – 16 October 1946) was an Austrian-born senior official of Nazi Germany during World War II. An Obergruppenführer (general) in the Schutzstaffel (SS), between January 1943 and May 1945 he held the offices of Chief of the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt; RSHA). He was the highest-ranking member of the SS to face trial at the first Nuremberg trials. He was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and executed.

Born in Ried im Innkreis, Austria, Kaltenbrunner was the son of a lawyer, and was educated at the Realgymnasium in Linz. Raised in a right-wing nationalist family, Kaltenbrunner 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 doctorate degree in law at Graz University in 1926. He 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 from dueling in his student days, although some sources attribute them to an automobile accident.

On 14 January 1934, Kaltenbrunner married Elisabeth Eder (b. 1908) who was from Linz and a Nazi Party member. They had three children. In addition to the children from his marriage, Kaltenbrunner had twins, Ursula and Wolfgang, (b. 1945) with his long-time mistress Gisela Gräfin von Westarp (née Wolf). All the children survived the war.

On 18 October 1930, Kaltenbrunner joined the Nazi Party as NSDAP member number 300,179. In 1931, he was the Bezirksredner (district speaker) for the Nazi Party in Oberösterreich. He went on to join the SS on 31 August 1931, his SS number was 13,039. He first became a Rechtsberater (legal consultant) for the party in 1929 and later held this same position for SS Abschnitt VIII beginning in 1932. That same year, he began working at his father's law practice and by 1933 was head of the National-Socialist Lawyers' League in Linz.