Bruno Streckenbach (7 February 1902 – 28 October 1977) was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era. He was the head of the Administration and Personnel Department of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). Streckenbach was responsible for many thousands of murders committed by Nazi mobile killing squads known as Einsatzgruppen.
Early years
Bruno Streckenbach was born in Hamburg, Germany, on 7 February 1902. His highest education was Gymnasium, which he left in April 1918 to voluntarily report to the German Army during World War I. Just like his close colleagues Erwin Schulz and Heinrich Himmler, he never served on the front lines of the battlefield due to the ceasefire that took place in November 1918.
After the end of the First World War, he was an active member of the Freikorps Bahrenfeld, which took part in the 1920 Kapp-Putsch. He was employed as a wholesale merchant, tried his hand at advertising, being a radio editor and also trying to establish himself as the director of a local office.
Nazi seizure of power in 1933
1933 was a huge year for many soon-to-be SS and police officers. After winning the majority vote, the Nazis seized full power. Persecution against political opponents and Jews increased, as did the incidence of brutal assaults, sporadic murders, and arson. It was during this seizure of power that many of the future leaders of the RSHA were given their first positions in the party.
More than a quarter of the future RSHA leaders had already been police officers in their hometowns before 1933. In 1933, almost two-thirds of these men were given political police positions in their towns or cities, or sent to Berlin as a part of the Gestapo Office.
Streckenbach's placement as chief of the Gestapo in Hamburg illustrates the “superficiality of professional continuity” – referring to the lack of qualifications many candidates possessed – as some historians characterise the Nazi Party's seizure of power. For years, these young radical right-wing militants had been marginalised, but with the rise of the Nazis, they were now given the chance to pursue a career which not only allowed but encouraged them to act on their radical and violent worldviews, while providing them with professional advances they had failed to achieve before then.
The Einsatzgruppen were in charge of securing German power and occupational authority in Poland through terror, furthering the ideology of ethnic cleansing and Lebensraum via deportations from the occupied territory and mass executions within. The number of Einsatzgruppen corresponded to the Wehrmacht army units deployed. The leaders of the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo; Security Police) in Berlin selected the office heads of the Einsatzgruppen very carefully, most of them being prior SD members or leaders. The members of the Einsatzgruppen——500 men per Einsatzgruppe——were taken from local SS and police stations near the five units’ locations. During his time in Poland, he had earned a reputation as the ruthless chief who fought with much determination and mercilessness to eradicate any Nazi opponents.
German offensive against the Soviet Union
At the beginning of 1941, the attack on the Soviet Union was first discussed among the leaders of the RSHA. In March 1941, Heydrich informed a small circle of leaders, including Streckenbach, about the offensive that was to take place. The Wehrmacht army would lead, and the Einsatzgruppen would secure the area after the Soviets had been defeated. Streckenbach volunteered his units, but Heydrich decided differently.
Streckenbach had commissioned the Personnel and Administration Office Leaders, advising them to prepare for deployment. In May 1941, Streckenbach called on his long-time colleague Erwin Schulz to prepare his men in the Leadership School of the Security Police in Berlin-Charlottenberg for deployment after just having completed their training as Criminal Police inspectors. Streckenbach sent them to Pretzsch, where they were to assume leadership status of the Einsatzkommando.
On 30 June 1973, a bill of indictment for the murder of at least a million people was brought. Streckenbach never had to answer these charges.
Streckenbach, who was suffering from serious heart disease at the time, sought to avoid trial based on the strains a trial might place on his health. On 20 September 1974, the Hanseatic Appellate Court confirmed a diagnosis postponing trial commencement indefinitely. He died on 28 October 1977 in Hamburg, Germany.
Awards
- Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (10 October 1940) & 1st Class (15 July 1943)
- German Cross in Gold on 15 December 1943 as SS-Standartenführer in the SS-Kavallerie-Division
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
- Knight's Cross on 27 August 1944 as commander of the 19. Waffen-Grenadier Division der Waffen-SS (lett. Nr. 2).
- Oak Leaves on 16 January 1945 as commander of the 19. Waffen-Grenadier Division der Waffen-SS (lett. Nr. 2).
See also
- List SS-Gruppenführer