- Wilhelm Brückner
Wilhelm Brückner (born
11 December 1884 inBaden-Baden ; died18 August 1954 inHerbstdorf , Chiemgau,Upper Bavaria ) was until 1940Adolf Hitler 's chiefadjutant .Brückner grew up in Baden-Baden and also did his "
Abitur " there. Afterwards he studiedlaw andeconomics inStrasbourg (then Straßburg,Germany ),Freiburg ,Heidelberg andMunich .In the
First World War , Brückner was an officer in aBavaria ninfantry regiment and was discharged as alieutenant . After the war, he joined the Freikorp Epp and participated in "Schützenregiment 42" as a member of theReichswehr in suppressing theBavarian Soviet Republic .Towards the end of 1919 Brückner was once again going to university, but became for three years a film recording technician. Already in late 1922 he joined the
NSDAP and a few months later, on1 February 1923 , became leader of the Munich SA Regiment. He was among those who were active in spurring on the Putsch. He also delivered the quote: "The day is coming when I cannot hold the people. If nothing happens now, then the people will slip away."On
9 November 1923 Brückner took part in theBeer Hall Putsch in Munich, as a result of which he was sentenced to a year and a half inprison . He was, however, released only four and a half months later and once again took over his old SA regiment's leadership. Shortly thereafter, he worked until 1927 as the third general secretary at the Association for the German Community Abroad ("Verein für das Deutschtum im Ausland" or VDA). Over the next few years he lived on his income as a sales representative, until 1929 when he found a steady job at the German Foreign Institute.By the next year, however, Brückner had become Adolf Hitler's adjutant and
bodyguard , later rising to chief adjutant. He thereby counted among those who were in Hitler's innermost personal circle, playing as one of Hitler's closest confidants next toJosef Goebbels andSepp Dietrich in thepropaganda film "Hitler über Deutschland" (1932).On
9 November 1934 , Brückner was appointed SAObergruppenführer by Hitler. It was through a car accident later that same year that Brückner managed to procure for Hitler his personal doctor,Karl Brandt , who stayed with Hitler for years.On
15 January 1936 , Brückner became an honorary citizen ofDetmold (he was however stripped of this honour by city council on 9 November 1945). Brückner, who was well liked by applicants and everyday visitors at the Reich Chancellery for his straightforwardness and affability, lost ever more importance with the war's outbreak. He found that he had to yield more and more ground toWehrmacht and SS adjutants. On18 October 1940 , he was suddenly fired for having an argument with Hitler's house manager Kannenberg. The string puller in all this was most likelyMartin Bormann .He was succeeded by
Julius Schaub . Brückner went into the Wehrmacht, becoming acolonel by war's end.External links
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0117685/maindetails Wilhelm Brückner at IMDb]
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