Walter Braemer

Walter Braemer (7 January 1883 – 13 June 1955) was a soldier in the Imperial German Army, general in both the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht, member of the Schutzstaffel (SS) who rose to the rank of Gruppenführer (third-highest SS rank overall) — and the Nazi war criminal responsible for mass murders of the civilian population of Bydgoszcz in Poland at the outset of the Second World War, and later for crimes against humanity in the Hol­o­caust on (what was then) the territory of the Soviet Union, who escaped prosecution and punishment after the War despite having been captured and held for nearly 2½ years as a prisoner of war by the British.[1][2][3][4]

Early career

Braemer was born at Königsberg, then an East Prussian port city on the Baltic Sea, on 7 January 1883.[5] His military career under the German Empire and the Weimar Republic bears the unmistakable hallmarks of patronage commonly accorded at the time to people of high birth.

On 2 March 1901, at the age of 18, he enlisted as a fähnrich (officer candidate or ensign) in the 2nd Hanoverian Dragoon Regiment No. 16 (2. Hannoversches Dragoner-Regiment Nr. 16), a unit of the 20th Division of the Prussian Army stationed in the northern garrison town of Lüneburg in the Prussian Province of Hanover. Less than eleven months later, on 27 January 1902, he was promoted, without much education, military or other­wise, to the commissioned rank of leutnant — his commission as an officer (the so-called offiziers­patent) having been issued on 22 June 1900, i.e., actually prior to his enlistment in the army, at a time when he was a civilian minor of 17 years of age.[6][7]

Only subsequently, for two years between 1906 and 1908, did he study at the Military School of Equitation (Militär­reit­schule — see Militär­reit­in­s­ti­tut) in Hanover.[8] This course was followed by 2 years 9 months and 3 weeks he spent at a military academy (sources speak of a Kriegs­aka­de­mie: unclear whether the Prussian War Academy is meant, three other options being possible) where he was enrolled until 21 July 1911.[9] His training was to be expanded later only by a 26-day-long artillery course he was to take at the age of 39, and by another 29-day course in heavy infantry weapons in October 1929.

While still at the military academy, he was promoted to oberleutnant ("senior lieutenant") on 27 January 1910, and on 1 April 1912, was detached to the central military command known as the "Great General Staff" (Grosser Generalstab: see also German General Staff, and Generalstab), the governing body of the army. While there, he was given the higher rank of rittmeister ("captain of the cavalry") on 17 February 1914, and five days later formally inducted into the Great General Staff at the age of 31.

When the First World War broke out, Braemer was transferred on 2 August 1914 to the headquarters of the 9th Cavalry Division, a formation newly raised specifically for the war effort, where he served as a third-in-command (zweiter ge­ne­ral­stabs­of­fi­zier or so-called "Ib") under the fellow-Prussian commander Eberhard Graf von Schmettow and the latter's right hand or "Ia" (erster ge­ne­ral­stabs­of­fi­zier or second-in-command), Major Herwarth von Bittenfeld.[10]

Braemer married Erika freiin von der Goltz on 27 December 1915, when she was 22 and he nearly 33; they had three children (b. 1916, 1921, and 1923).[11] Between 9 September 1916 and 18 April 1917 hw circulated between the General Staffs (divisional commands) of such formations as the 75th Reserve Division, and the 6th and 7th Cavalry Divisions, before being appointed to the General Staff of the XII (1st Royal Saxon) Corps at Dresden. On 17 January 1917 hw was decorated with the Royal Prussian Hohenzollern House Order (Knight’s Cross with Swords) for military exploits that remain a complete mystery.[12] He then served for a few months between November 1917 and March 1918 under the ober­quartier­meister (quartermaster-general) within the command known as the 10th Army in Cologne, before being posted very briefly on 28 March 1918 to the General Staff of the 234th Infantry Division (234. Division (Deutsches Kaiserreich)), and the next month again to that of the XXVI Reserve Corps.

After the War he took over as a hauptmann (a rank approximating to that of captain) in the 20th Reichswehr Brigade based at Allenstein (now Olsztyn) in Ermland, 126 km south of his native Königsberg in East Prussia (1 May 1919­–13 De­cem­ber 1919), before being delegated to a desk job at the Bendlerblock in Berlin — the Ministry of the Reichswehr — for a period of 2 years and 3½ months between 13 December 1919 and 1 April 1922. While there he was again promoted to the rank of major (roughly equivalent to major in Anglo-American taxonomies) on 1 January 1922. For 18 months between April 1922 to October 1923 he was squadron leader (es­ka­d­ron­chef) in the 2nd (Prus­sian) Cavalry Regiment (2. (Preußisches) Rei­ter-Re­gi­ment (Reichs­wehr)) that garrisoned both Allenstein and Osterode (now Ostróda) in Ermland, then within the Province of East Prussia. Next, over the period of 3 years and 4 months from October 1923 to Feb­ru­a­ry 1927, Braemer served on the General Staff of the 6th Division at Münster in Westphalia: here he saw another ad­vance­ment in rank to oberst­leutnant (lieu­ten­ant colonel) on 1 April 1926.[13] From 1 February 1927 to 1 Jan­u­a­ry 1931 he held the command of the 6th (Prussian) Cavalry Regiment (6. (Preu­ßi­sches) Rei­ter-Re­gi­ment) headquartered in the northern town of Pasewalk, about 40 km west of Stettin (now Szczecin) in Western Pomerania — a post in which he spent 3 years and 11 months (his longest tour of duty ever).[14] A promotion to the rank of oberst (or colonel) was accorded him there on 1 October 1929. Lastly, Braemer held the military command of the city of Inster­burg in East Prussia (now Chernyakhovsk in Russia), some 100 km east of his native Königsberg, during the nearly 22-month period from 1 January 1931 to 30 November 1932. Here he was elevated to the general­major­ship (a rank roughly corresponding to that of brigadier general) on 1 October 1932, and two months later retired from the Reichswehr at the age of 49.[15]

Nazi period

The beginning

Announcement signed by Braemer informing about the public execution of 20 of Polish hostages at Old Market in Bydgoszcz on 9th September 1939
Public execution in Bydgoszcz's Old Market Square
of civilians randomly caught in a street łapanka
9 September 1939
(historical photo from W. Jastrzębski,
Terror i zbrodnia; see Bibliography)
Public execution in Bydgoszcz's Old Market Square
of civilians randomly caught in a street łapanka
9 September 1939
(historical photo from W. Jastrzębski & J. Sziling,
Okupacja hitlerowska na Pomorzu Gdańskim;
see Bibliography)

Two years and eight months after Hitler's rise to power and nearly three years after his leave-taking of the army, on 1 October 1935, Braemer — then aged 52 — stirred him­self from re­tire­ment to join the SS with the rank of standartenführer (regiment leader), the sixth-highest SS rank — once again "flash­forward-fashion", before he joined the Nazi party — receiving the SS-Nummer (or membership number) 223910,[16] and in this rank was posted as a "training consultant" to the General Staff of the SS circuit or ober­abschnitt known as command Nord (not an army post), where he stayed until 15 April 1936, to be transferred to the ober­abschnitt Nord­west for one month, before being moved again to the ober­abschnitt Nord­see, where he stay­ed until 1 July 1938. All three SS districts in question were at the time head­quar­ter­ed at Altona in Hamburg. In the course of his SS service Braemer gained two promotions, ultimately to bri­ga­de­füh­rer, the fourth-highest rank in the SS, a remarkably quick climb accomplished in less than 2 years and 9 months since joining the ranks.[17] The latter rank of bri­ga­de­füh­rer was conferred on him only after he had be­come member of the Nazi party sometime in 1937 (the exact date of his joining the NSDAP has not been established) with the membership number 4012329.[16] At this time Braemer involved himself with Himmler's Lebens­born So­ci­e­ty, a nefarious or­gan­i­za­tion whose purpose was to devise ways and means of en­gi­neer­ing the genetic makeup of the German nation by promoting Nazi eugenics and "breeding" pure "Aryans".[18] On 1 July 1938 Braemer was appointed to the rank of generalmajor of the Wehrmacht, the same rank he last held in the Reichswehr, and was placed by the SS once again at the disposal of the army. At the time of mobilization mounted in preparation for the Nazi attack on Poland Braemer was appointed the commander of the 580th Rear Army Area (Rück­wärtiges Armee­gebiet 580), a po­si­tion codenamed "Korück 580" — korück being an acronym formed from the words kommandant (com­mand­er) and rückwärtig (rear), short for Kommandant des rück­wärtigen Armee­gebietes 580. He received that command on 26 August 1939, six days before the invasion of Poland.[19] Four days after becoming Korück 580, on 30 August 1939, Braemer gave the order for the formation of the concentration camp at Liepe, 8 kilometres west of the current German-Polish border, which camp was es­tab­lish­ed on 1 September 1939, the first day of the Second World War.[20][21] As Korück 580 Braemer was also responsible for the creation of the camps located at Łopienek (Ruhental) and other localities.[22]

War crimes

Poland

Shortly after the strike on Poland Braemer found himself with the Nazi invasion force in the Polish region of Cuyavia, where according to latest scholarship he was appointed by the 4th German Army — in his capacity as Ko­rück 580 — the commandant of the northern Polish city of Bydgoszcz, a position in which he formally styled himself in his written proc­la­ma­tions as the "chief in executive authority" (inhaber der voll­zie­henden gewalt in Brom­berg).[23][24][25] His short stint as the supremo of Bydgoszcz lasted with effect from 5 Sep­tem­ber 1939 — some earlier published sources cite the date of 8 Sep­tem­ber 1939 for his assumption of this post.[26][27] The dates are significant, as his appearance on the Bydgoszcz stage is said in some sources to have lasted for a total of only six days (although the far limit of his "tour of duty" is in fact uncertain). Within just four days of Braemer's beginning to exercise his "executive authority" he be­came personally re­spon­si­ble for the murder of 370 Polish civilians in Bydgoszcz in the large-scale pacification operations he ordered (the so-called säu­be­rungs­ak­ti­on­en or "cleanup op­e­ra­tions").[28][29] These included the public execution by a firing squad in the city's historic Old Market Square (the Stary Rynek) on 9 September 1939 of a large group of civilians ran­dom­ly round­ed up in the streets a short while earlier in the day (see the historical photographs to the right), a crime which provoked in the ensuing months a protest from the Vatican (as the victims included Catholic priests: see Piotr Szarek).[30] By 8 September 1939 the total number of civilian victims of Bydgoszcz executions grew to 200–400 by various es­ti­mates; on 9 Sep­tem­ber 1939 another 120 were shot.[31][32][33] The next day, 10 September 1939, in a Braemer-ordered raid on the working­-class Byd­goszcz neigh­bour­hood of "Swedish Heights" (Szwederowo) between 120 and 200 ci­vil­ians were killed,[34][35]­[36]­[37]­[38] while another public execution staged on that day in the centrally located Old Market Square claimed 20 victims.[39][40] It is said that the mass murders of civilians in Bydgoszcz went on at such a pace that Braemer, although a "com­pe­tent commandant", eventually lost all count of how many had been killed — and he allowed the slaughter to con­tin­ue.[41][42] Apparently the level of atrocities was such that on occasion it produced qualms of conscience in his own executioners, but never in Braemer himself (as evidenced by his entries in the personal diary he kept).[43] While carrying out his actions against the townsfolk of Bydgoszcz, in reprisal for the stiff resistance that the civilian population put up against the German invaders after the Polish armed forces withdrew from the city on 4 September 1939, Braemer instituted at the same time ethnic-cleansing policies against the Jewish minority of the town (which numbered about 2,000 before the War), being able as a result to report on 14 November 1939, in the 11th week of the war, that "the Jewish question does not arise in Bydgoszcz... because during the säu­be­rungs­ak­ti­on­en all the Jews who did not deem it advisable to flee from the city beforehand were eliminated".[44] The Bydgoszcz massacres are the primary reason for which some German his­to­ri­ans have con­sid­er­ed Braemer an "extremist" among the Nazi Wehrmacht's corps of generals.[45][46] Others have described him as a "fanatical Nazi" who resorted to (by then, i.e. in September 1939) "unheard-of brutality".[47] Little is known of Braemer's activities immediately following his disappearance from the Bydgoszcz scene, a com­mu­ni­ty on which he left an indelible mark, and there is no clear record of his departure as such. Historians (such as Stani­sław Na­wro­cki) have merely noted that he did not play any role in the occupation of the historical region of Greater Poland (Wielko­pol­ska), i.e. of the lands to the west of Cuyavia where Bydgoszcz is located, thereby suggesting that his activities were of interest to researchers in other areas.[48] It is on record, how­ever, that Braemer continued as Ko­rück 580 (a position which put him in charge of "law and order" in areas under Nazi occupation) for a total of nearly 21 months — until 19 May 1941.

After his appointment as Ko­rück 580 came to an end on 19 May 1941, Braemer spent 35 days, until 24 June 1941, officially mothballed in the füh­rer­re­ser­ve or officers' reserve pool within the German Army High Command (Oberkommando des Heeres) as his new assignment was being prepared for him.

The Baltic and Byelorussia

Memorial stone on the site of the Slutsk ghetto
— the inscription reads, in part:
ON THIS SPOT, ON 7 AND 8 FEBRUARY 1943,
THE NAZIS KILLED AND BURNED 3,000 PEOPLE
(photo September 2012)

Two days after the commencement of the Operation Barbarossa (Hitler's attack on his own ally, the Soviet Union), Braemer was appointed the Wehr­macht­befehls­haber or supreme military commander of the so­-call­ed Reichskommissariat Ostland, a Nazi régime established in the combined occupied territory of the Baltic states, parts of north­eastern Poland and western Byelo­Russia, head­quarter­ed in Riga, the capital of Latvia (again in the general region of his birth, 380 km to the north­-east of his native Königs­berg). He was to hold this office during the period of about 2 years and 10 months between 24 June 1941[49] and 20 April 1944. In some reports his ap­point­ment to this post was already finalized in the planning stages on 27 May 1941.[50] In this ca­pac­i­ty Braemer was heavily im­pli­cated in the mass murder of the Jew­ish population in the territories under his command.[4][51] He was responsible for, among other things, prom­ul­gat­ing legislation that laid the legal and operational ground­work on the basis of which whole Jewish communities numbering thousands of people were ex­ter­mi­nated in the Holocaust. Thus for example, on 25 Sep­tem­ber 1941 Braemer issued his "Guidelines for Military Security and Maintenance of Quiet and Order" which specifically stipulated the "imperative elim­i­na­tion" of, among others, "Jews and philo­se­mit­ic elements (ju­den­freund­liche kreise)".[52][53][54] The pivotal role that Braemer played in the Holo­caust of the Jewish populations in Bye­lo­rus­sia has been described by the German historian Hannes Heer.[55] Braemer has been shown to possess the notorious distinction of having originated the first annihilation op­e­ra­tions against the Jewish ghettos in Bye­lo­Russia: the Smilavichy ghetto, whose 1,338 inhabitants were mur­der­ed on 14 October 1941; the Koidanovo ghetto, with its 1,000 victims on 21 October 1941; fol­low­ed by the murder of 5,900 people in the predominantly Jewish town of Slutsk on 27 and 28 October 1941 in a massacre some­times eu­phe­mis­tic­al­ly referred to as the "Slutsk Affair" — and that just to begin with.[56][57][58] Braemer's service in the Ostland was considered so meritorious by both the Wehrmacht and the SS that he was rewarded with two military promotions, viz., to ge­ne­ral­leut­nant (a rank roughly cor­res­pon­ding to major-general) on 1 July 1941, just a week after arrival, and later, 14 months into his tour of duty, on 1 September 1942, as a reward for a job well done, to ge­ne­ral der ka­val­le­rie z.v. ("general of the cavalry", the sec­ond­-highest general officer rank roughly equivalent to lieutenant general, a "prestigious" cachet within the echelons of the German military);[59] and then again on the last day of his assignment with an SS pro­mo­tion to the rank of grup­pen­füh­rer, the third-highest SS rank overall. Goebbels went so far as to discuss Braemer's "po­lit­i­cal ideas" in his diaries (entry for 24 No­vem­ber 1941).[60]

Conflict with Lohse

Nazi approval of Braemer was not universal, however. During his tenure as the Wehrmachtbefehlshaber or territorial military commander of the Reichskommissariat Ostland, Braemer had (pre­su­ma­bly) an immediate su­pe­ri­or in the person of reichskommissar (and gauleiter) Hinrich Lohse, the overall governor of the Ostland who was likewise headquartered in Riga, Latvia. While Lohse's slapping of Braemer on the face — in public — at the Riga Opera House during the banquet celebrating Hitler's birthday on 20 April 1944 prob­a­bly should not be made too much of, it is indicative nonetheless of the tensions simmering within the Nazi leadership in the Ostland and points at least to the pos­si­bil­i­ty that even to high-ranking (but non­-Wehrmacht and non­-SS) Nazis like Lohse the methods used by Braemer in the implementation of the Holocaust might have seem­ed ob­jec­tion­a­ble (if only on eco­nom­ic grounds, by depriving his administration of needed workforce),[61][62][63][64] even if the event has also been put down to the incipient panic in the face of looming defeat[65] or to personal rivalries be­tween two Nazi apparatchiks vying for a position of pre­-em­i­nence within the Ostland bu­reauc­ra­cy.[66] In some reports the punch from Lohse (meted out in response to Braemer's applying to Lohse the unparliamentary epithet of dummes luder — "silly rotter") is said literally to have knocked Braemer to the ground.[67][68][69][70] But the knockout blow appears to have been invested with figurative significance as well, as the in­ci­dent marks Braemer's exit from the scene in Riga (on orders from the Wehr­macht which removed him that very day not only from the commandership of the Ost­land but from active duty altogether[71]) and, con­verse­ly, his pro­mo­tion by the SS to the afore­men­tioned higher rank of grup­pen­füh­rer on the same day.[72] Braemer was 61-years' old at the time.

The end game

After his retirement on 20 April 1944 from the position of Wehrmachtbefehlshaber in the Ostland — an office to which Braemer was first appointed on 24 June 1941 but which from 30 January 1942 onwards he had been holding concurrently with his (second) SS posting on the command of Ober­abschnitt Nord­see, an SS beat headquartered at Altona near Hamburg — he continued on active duty in the latter (non-army) post for 6 months and 3 weeks longer, until 9 November 1944, even while being rusticated by the army to the führerreserve or officers' reserve pool within the German Army High Command (Oberkommando des Heeres) with effect from 20 April 1944.

After nearly nine months in reserve, on 17 January 1945 Braemer was suddenly recalled by the Wehrmacht to active duty as a so-called "general on special assignment" (general zur besonderen ver­wen­dung) and in that capacity posted to the Military District Command I at Königs­berg, his native place (Wehr­kreis I (Königs­berg); 17–22 January 1945), only to shift after just five days — doubtless in connection with the tightening vice grip by the Soviet forces investing the city — to the Military District Com­mand II at Stettin in Western Pom­er­a­nia (Wehrkreis II (Stettin)), some 480 kilometres (overland) away from Königsberg and its Eastern front, where he spent the following 19 days in a similar capacity (as a "general on special assignment") between 22 January and 10 February 1945. Finally, during the ensuing 22 days between 10 February and 4 March 1945 Braemer exercised (ersatz) "military authority" as a korück (for definition, see above) or rear-army-area com­mand­er for the Wehrmacht's 11th Army — a largely fictitious formation contrived on paper by Himmler for the sake of providing em­ploy­ment to the rapidly in­creas­ing cadre of unemployed SS functionaries (see 11th SS Panzer Army) — before being relegated once more and for the last time to the führerreserve of the German Army High Com­mand on 4 March 1945, two months before the end of the War.[73]

Aftermath

Braemer was captured by the British liberation forces in the port city of Lübeck in Germany on 2 May 1945 and detained as a prisoner of war. Eight months and a week after capture, on 9 January 1946 he was transferred to the prisoner-of-war camp in South Wales, the so-called Special Camp 11 or Island Farm where high-value Nazi captives awaiting extradition to Nuremberg were imprisoned. Braemer was held at Island Farm for nearly 21 months as prisoner of war No. A451665. Then, on 6 Oc­to­ber 1947, after a total of 887 days (2 years 5 months and 4 days) in custody since capture, Braemer was transferred from Island Farm — via Camp 43 — to the Civil Internment Camp No. 6 at Neuengamme near Hamburg, a post-Nazi concentration-camp facility used after the War specifically for detention of suspected German war criminals.[11] There he was apparently set free some­time later that October without extenuating cir­cum­stances (like ill health: the precise circumstances and date of release are not known), having spent less than 2½ years in prisoner-of-war camps but without having been brought to trial for war crimes.[11] This outcome was ap­par­ent­ly brought about by the deliberate shielding of Braemer by British authorities wilfully refusing to take cognizance of his past as a war criminal.[74] On 30 August 1948, ten months after his release from British custody, the government of Poland requested the extradition of Braemer on the charge of murder of twenty hostages and hundreds of civilians in Poland in 1939. By the admission of British Foreign Office personnel, the facts of the case were never in dispute, "not even by Braemer himself".[74] Nevertheless, after legal manoeuvrings and much prevarication intended to shield Braemer from responsibility for his crimes, the ex­tra­di­tion re­quest was refused in September 1950 by the Gov­ern­ment of the United Kingdom.[75] According to some sources, the Polish request for Braemer's extradition was initially presented to (and denied by) the British authorities as early as 1945.[31] In a ruling by the British Extradition Court in Hamburg that has only recently — half a century after the fact — been called into question by some British historians such as Donald Bloxham, Braemer was in effect declared innocent of war crimes on the grounds that the execution ordered by him of the hostages in question "had been so ordered in accordance with the law of nations".[3][76]

Although Telford Taylor, the legendary American prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, takes note of Braemer in several of his books (for example, in The March of Conquest, 1958; see Bibliography), there is no record of Braemer's having ever been called to answer for his role in the Holocaust on the territory of the (former) Soviet Union.

Braemer died of natural causes in Hamburg on 13 June 1955, at the age of 72, a free man who has never been convicted of or charged in open court with any crime.[2]

Braemer's personal papers and personnel files ("Personalakte Walter Braemer"; including pages from his war diary which provide direct evidence of some of his crimes) are preserved at the German Federal Archives-Military Archives (BA­-MA; see Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv) located at Wie­sen­tal­stra­ße 10 in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau (shelf mark Pers. 6/2102), and at the Bundesarchiv Berlin (BAB).[77]

Awards and decorations

Bibliography

Career history

Braemer's war crimes

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hans-Heinrich Wilhelm, "Personelle Kontinuitäten in baltischen Angelegenheiten auf deutscher Seite von 1917/19 bis zum Zweiten Weltkrieg"; in: The Baltic in International Relations between the Two World Wars: Symposium or­gan­ized by the Centre for Baltic Studies, November 11–13, 1986, University of Stockholm, Frescati, ed. J. Hiden & A. Loit, Stockholm, Centre for Baltic Studies, University of Stockholm, 1988, pp. 165–169. ISBN 9122011943.
  2. 1 2 Edmund Pyszczyński, "'Akcja Tannenberg' w Bydgoszczy w okresie od 5 IX do 20 XI 1939 r."; in: Z oku­pa­cyj­nych dziejów Bydgoszczy, ed. J. Wiśniowski & J. Sziling, (Bydgoskie Towarzystwo Naukowe: Prace Wydziału Nauk Hu­ma­ni­stycznych series E, No. 10), Warsaw, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1977, p. 80.
  3. 1 2 Donald Bloxham, Genocide on Trial: War Crimes Trials and the Formation of Holocaust History and Memory, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 199–201. ISBN 0198208723.
  4. 1 2 Dieter Pohl, Die Herrschaft der Wehrmacht: Deutsche Militärbesatzung und einheimische Bevölkerung in der Sowjetunion, 1941–1944, Munich, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2009, p. 39. ISBN 9783486591743.
  5. ↑ The entirety of this section, except as otherwise noted below, is based on the Lexikon der Wehrmacht (see online), supplemented by the prisoner information from the British prisoner-of-war camp — Island Farm — where Braemer was held between 9 January 1946 and 6 October 1947 (see online).
  6. ↑ Militär-Wochenblatt (see Militär-Wochenblatt), vol. 87, Berlin, E. S. Mittler & Sohn, 1902, p. 17. Google Books
  7. ↑ Wolf Keilig, Das deutsche Heer, 1939–1945, vol. 3 (Gliederung; Einsatz, Stellenbesetzung), Bad Nauheim, Verlag Hans-Henning Podzun, 1956, p. 43.
  8. ↑ On the Military School of Equitation in Hanover, see United States; Adjutant-General’s Office; Military Information Division [institutional author], Sources of Information on Military Professional Subjects: A Classified List of Books and Publications [Nov. 10, 1897], Washington, Government Printing Office, 1898, p. 110.
  9. ↑ Hans-Heinrich Wilhelm, "Motivation und 'Kriegsbild' deutscher Generale und Offiziere im Krieg gegen die Sowjet­union"; in: Erobern und Vernichten: der Krieg gegen die Sowjet­union 1941–1945, ed. P Jahn, et al., Berlin, Argon Verlag, 1991, p. 181. ISBN 3870241896.
  10. ↑ Janet Robinson and Joe Robinson, Handbook of Imperial Germany, Bloomington (Indiana), AuthorHouse, 2009, p. 263. ISBN 9781449021139.
  11. 1 2 3 Prisoner information from the British prisoner-of-war camp — Island Farm — where Braemer was held between 9 January 1946 and 6 October 1947 (see online).
  12. ↑ Militär-Wochenblatt (see Militär-Wochenblatt), vol. 101, Berlin, E. S. Mittler & Sohn, 1902, p. 3188. Google Books
  13. ↑ Reichswehrministerium (Heeres-Personalamt),Rangliste des deutschen Reichsheeres: Nach dem Stande vom 1. Mai 1927, Berlin, Verlag von E. S. Mittler & Sohn, 1927, p. 56.
  14. ↑ Stellenbesetzung der deutschen Heere, 1815–1939, vol. 3 (Die Stellenbesetzung der aktiven Regimenter, Bataillone und Abteilungen von der Stiftung bzw. Aufstellung bis zum 26. August 1939...), Osnabrück, Biblio-Verlag, 1993, p. 477. ISBN 3764824131.
  15. ↑ The entirety of this section, except as otherwise noted above, is based on the Lexikon der Wehrmacht (see online), supplemented by the prisoner information from the British prisoner-of-war camp — Island Farm — where Braemer was held between 9 January 1946 and 6 October 1947 (see online).
  16. 1 2 Prisoner information from the British prisoner-of-war camp — Island Farm — where Braemer was held between 9 January 1946 and 6 October 1947 (see online). Cf. SS-Personalhauptamt [institutional author], Dienstaltersliste der Schutzstaffel der NSDAP... Stand vom 1. Dezember 1938..., ed. B. Meyer, Berlin, [Gedruckt in der Reichs­dru­cke­rei], 1938, p. 14.
  17. ↑ SS-Personalhauptamt [institutional author], Dienstaltersliste der Schutzstaffel der NSDAP... Stand vom 20. April 1942..., Berlin, [Gedruckt in der Reichsdruckerei], 1942, p. 142.
  18. ↑ The Lexikon der Wehrmacht (see online).
  19. ↑ The entirety of this section — insofar as it concerns the timeline of Braemer's military career — is based on the Lexikon der Wehrmacht (see online); supplemented by the prisoner information from the British prisoner-of-war camp — Island Farm — where Braemer was held between 9 January 1946 and 6 October 1947 (see online). Matters relating to Braemer's war crimes are referenced separately in the footnotes below.
  20. ↑ Stutthof: Das Konzentrationslager, ed. D. Steyer & F. Dwertmann, tr. (from the Polish into German) R. Malcher, Gdańsk, Wydawnictwo Marpress, 1996, p. 66. ISBN 8385349537, ISBN 9788385349532. The identification in this source of the locality of Liepe with the (now Polish) village of Lipka in Złotów County (Kreis Flatow) seems how­ever to be erroneous (it is not supported by the standard gazetteer, the Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i in­nych krajów sło­wiań­skich, which assigns to the village of Lipka in Złotów County the German exonym of Linde, not Liepe: see vol. 5, p. 267, col. 1).
  21. ↑ Das nationalsozialistische Lagersystem (CCP), ed. M. Weinmann, et al., Frankfurt am Main, Zweitausendeins, 1990, pp. 265 & 964. (No ISBN.) This source identifies the camp's location as Liepe in Kreis Angermünde (i.e. the Liepe in today's Landkreis Barnim).
  22. ↑ Biuletyn Głównej Komisji Badania Zbrodni Hitlerowskich Polsce, vol. 31, Warsaw, Wydawnictwo Prawnicze, 1982, pp. 25–26. ISBN 8321901212.
  23. ↑ "Inhaber der vollziehenden Gewalt in Brom­berg" ("holder of executive authority in Bydgoszcz"): this is how Braemer styled himself in his own written proclamations and official communications dated from Bydgoszcz: see Pierwsze miesiące okupacji hitlerowskiej w Bydgoszczy w świetle źródeł niemieckich, ed. T. Esman & W. Jastrzębski, Bydgoszcz, Bydgoskie Towarzystwo Naukowe; Poznań, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1967, p. 12. Cf. Helmut Krausnick, Hitlers Einsatzgruppen: Die Truppe des Weltanschauungskrieges, 1938–1942, Frankfurt am Main, Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, 1985, p. 49. ISBN 3596243440, ISBN 9783596243440.
  24. ↑ Hans Umbreit, Deutsche Militärverwaltungen, 1938/39: Die militärische Besetzung der Tschechoslowakei und Polens, (Beiträge zur Militär- und Kriegsgeschichte series, vol. 18), Stuttgart, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1977, p. 143. ISBN 3421017948.
  25. ↑ Jochen Böhler, Auftakt zum Vernichtungskrieg: Die Wehrmacht in Polen, 1939, Frankfurt am Main, Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, 2006, pp. 206–208. ISBN 3596163072, ISBN 9783596163076.
  26. ↑ "Recenzje i omówienia", Wojskowy Przegląd Historyczny (Warsaw), vol. 7, No. 3, July–September 1962, pp. 376–377, n. 78.
  27. ↑ Christian Hartmann, Wehrmacht im Ostkrieg: Front und militärisches Hinterland, 1941/42, (Quellen und Dar­stel­lung­en zur Zeitgeschichte series, vol. 75), 2nd ed., Munich, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2010, p. 106. ISBN 9783486702255.
  28. ↑ Zygmunt Bielecki and Ryszard Dębowski, W obronie niepodległości: wrzesień 1939, Warsaw, Interpress (Rada Ochrony Pomników Walki i Męczeństwa), 1972, p. 118.
  29. ↑ Deutsche und Polen, 1.9.39: Abgründe und Hoffnungen, ed. B. Asmuss, et al., Dresden, Sandstein, 2009, p. 129. ISBN 9783940319661. ("Als Generalmajor der Wehrmacht und Kommandant des rückwärtigen Armeegebietes 580 übernahm Braemer am 8. September 1939 die vollziehende Gewalt in Bydgoszcz. Er befahl groß angelegte „Säu­be­rungs­aktionen“, bei denen innerhalb von vier Tagen mehrere hundert Zivilisten verhaftet und rund 370 Menschen erschossen wurden": p. 129.) Cf. Alexander B. Rossino, Hitler Strikes Poland: Blitzkrieg, Ideology, and Atrocity, Lawrence (Kansas), University Press of Kansas, 2003, p. 62. ISBN 0700612343.
  30. ↑ Włodzimierz Jastrzębski, Terror i zbrodnia: eksterminacja ludności polskiej i żydowskiej w rejencji bydgoskiej w latach 1939–1945, Warsaw, Polska Agencja Inter­press, 1974, pp. 40–41 (cf. illustration on p. 32).
  31. 1 2 Franciszek Bernaś and Julitta Mikulska-Bernaś, Bydgoski wrzesień, Warsaw, Książka i Wiedza (Rada Ochrony Pomników Walki i Męczeństwa), 1968, p. 61.
  32. ↑ Jochen Böhler, "'Tragische Verstrickung' oder Auftakt zum Vernichtungskrieg? Die Wehrmacht in Polen, 1939"; in: Genesis des Genozids: Polen, 1939–1941, ed. K.-M. Mallmann & B. Musial, (Forschungsstelle Ludwigs­burg: Ver­öffentlichungen der Forschungsstelle Ludwigs­burg der Universität Stuttgart series, vol. 3), Darmstadt, WBG: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft (Auftr. des Deutschen Historischen Instituts Warschau), 2004, p. 41. ISBN 3534180968, ISBN 9783534180967.
  33. ↑ Christopher R. Browning (with contributions by Jürgen Matthäus), The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939–March 1942, Lincoln (Nebraska), University of Nebraska Press; Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, 2004, p. 29. ISBN 0803259794, ISBN 9780803259799.
  34. ↑ Franciszek Bernaś and Julitta Mikulska-Bernaś, Bydgoski wrzesień, Warsaw, Książka i Wiedza (Rada Ochrony Pomników Walki i Męczeństwa), 1968, p. 56.
  35. ↑ Tadeusz Jurga, Druga wojna zaczęła się w Polsce, 2nd ed., Warsaw, Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne, 1979, p. 186. ISBN 8302000728.
  36. ↑ Michael Mueller, Canaris: The Life and Death of Hitler's Spymaster, tr. G. Brooks, London, Chatham Publishing, 2007, pp. 162–163. ISBN 9781861763075, ISBN 1861763077, ISBN 9781591141013.
  37. ↑ Jochen Böhler, Der Überfall: Deutschlands Krieg gegen Polen, Frankfurt am Main, Eichborn, 2009, pp. 133–134. ISBN 9783821857060.
  38. ↑ Wolfgang Curilla, Der Judenmord in Polen und die deutsche Ordnungspolizei, 1939–1945, Paderborn, Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2011, p. 34. ISBN 3506770438, ISBN 9783506770431.
  39. ↑ Janusz Gumkowski and Rajmund Kuczma, Zbrodnie hitlerowskie: Bydgoszcz, 1939, Warsaw, Polonia, 1967, p. 18.
  40. ↑ Edmund Pyszczyński, "'Akcja Tannenberg' w Bydgoszczy w okresie od 5 IX do 20 XI 1939 r."; in: Z oku­pa­cyj­nych dziejów Bydgoszczy, ed. J. Wiśniowski & J. Sziling, (Bydgoskie Towarzystwo Naukowe: Prace Wydziału Nauk Hu­ma­ni­stycznych series E, No. 10), Warsaw, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1977, p. 64.
  41. ↑ Michael Mueller, Canaris: The Life and Death of Hitler's Spymaster, tr. G. Brooks, London, Chatham Publishing, 2007, p. 162. ISBN 9781861763075, ISBN 1861763077, ISBN 9781591141013.
  42. ↑ Dieter Pohl, Die Herrschaft der Wehrmacht: Deutsche Militärbesatzung und einheimische Bevölkerung in der Sowjetunion, 1941–1944, Munich, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2009, p. 54. ISBN 9783486591743.
  43. ↑ The revulsion at the atrocities privately expressed by a Wehrmacht soldier to one of Braemer's victims in Bydgoszcz (Es ist doch eine Gemein­heit, was die Hunde mit euch machen; Eng., "it's really vile what these dogs are doing to you") is reported — and contrasted with Braemer's own diary entries — in: Franciszek Bernaś and Julitta Mikulska-Bernaś, Bydgoski wrzesień, Warsaw, Książka i Wiedza (Rada Ochrony Pomników Walki i Męczeństwa), 1968, p. 61.
  44. ↑ "Eksterminacja ludności polskiej w Bydgoszczy w początkowym okresie okupacji" (The Extermination of the Polish Population of Bydgoszcz in the Initial Period of the [Nazi] Occupation), p. 3, on the official website of the Voivodeship Marshal's Office (Urząd Marszałkowski) of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Department of Education, Sports, and Tourism (see online).
  45. ↑ Dieter Pohl, Die Herrschaft der Wehrmacht: Deutsche Militärbesatzung und einheimische Bevölkerung in der Sowjetunion, 1941–1944, Munich, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2009, pp. 39 and 54. ISBN 9783486591743.
  46. ↑ Cf. Christian Hartmann, Wehrmacht im Ostkrieg: Front und militärisches Hinterland, 1941/42, (Quellen und Dar­stel­lung­en zur Zeitgeschichte series, vol. 75), 2nd ed., Munich, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2010, p. 107. ISBN 9783486702255.
  47. ↑ Christian Hartmann, Wehrmacht im Ostkrieg: Front und militärisches Hinterland, 1941/42, (Quellen und Dar­stel­lung­en zur Zeitgeschichte series, vol. 75), 2nd ed., Munich, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2010, pp. 106–107. ISBN 9783486702255.
  48. ↑ Stanisław Nawrocki, Hitlerowska okupacja Wielkopolski w okresie zarządu wojskowego: wrzesień­–październik 1939 r., (Badania nad Okupacją Niemiecką w Polsce series, vol. 8), Poznań, Instytut Zachodni, 1966, p. 81.
  49. ↑ This date, like the other dates cited in the present article, is based on sources mentioned in Bibliography. The date of 25 June 1941 for this appointment is given in a Hitler-signed document reproduced in: "Führer-Erlasse" 1939–1945: Edition sämtlicher überlieferter, nicht im Reichsgesetzblatt abgedruckter, von Hitler während des Zweiten Welt­krieges schriftlich erteilter Direktiven aus den Bereichen Staat, Partei, Wirtschaft, Besatzungspolitik und Mi­li­tär­ver­wal­tung, ed. M. Moll, et al., Stuttgart, Franz Steiner Verlag, 1997, pp. 196–197 & 205. ISBN 3515068732.
  50. ↑ So Kriegstagebuch: Tägliche Aufzeichnungen des Chefs des Generalstabes d. Heeres, 1939–1942, vol. 2 (Von der geplanten Landung in England bis zum Beginn des Ostfeldzuges (1.7.1940­–21.6.1941)), ed. H.-A. Jacobsen, Stuttgart, Kohlhammer, 1963, p. 431. Cited in: Christian Möller, Massensterben und Massenvernichtung: Das Stalag 305 in der Ukraine, 1941–1944, Munich, GRIN Verlag, 2007, p. 7. ISBN 978-3-638-68773-7. Google Books
  51. ↑ Hannes Heer, "Killing Fields: Die Wehrmacht und der Holocaust"; in: Vernichtungskrieg: Verbrechen der Wehrmacht 1941 bis 1944, ed. H. Heer & K. Naumann, Hamburg, Hamburger Edition: Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung (HIS), 1995, pp. 57–77. ISBN 3930908042. Cf. Donald Bloxham, Genocide on Trial: War Crimes Trials and the Formation of Holocaust History and Memory, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 199. ISBN 0198208723.
  52. ↑ Jürgen Förster, "The Relation between Operation Barbarossa as an Ideological War of Extermination and the Final Solution"; in: The Final Solution: Origins and Implementation, ed. D. Cesarani, London, Routledge, 1994, p. 95. ISBN 0415099544.
  53. ↑ Jürgen Förster, "Complicity or Entanglement? Wehrmacht, War, and Holocaust"; in: The Holocaust and History: The Known, the Unknown, the Disputed, and the Reexamined, ed. M. Berenbaum & A. J. Peck, Bloomington (Indiana), Indiana University Press (published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum), 1998, p. 277. ISBN 0253215293. Cf. Timm C. Richter, "Die Wehrmacht und der Partisanenkrieg in den besetzten Gebieten der So­w­jet­uni­on"; in: Die Wehrmacht: Mythos und Realität, ed. R.-D. Müller & H.-E. Volkmann, Munich, R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1999, p. 847. ISBN 3486563831.
  54. ↑ Hannes Heer, "Nicht Planer, aber Vollstrecker: Die Mitwirkung der Wehrmacht beim Holocaust"; in: Genozid in der modernen Geschichte, ed. S. Förster, et al., Münster, Lit, 1999, p. 75. ISBN 3825840182.
  55. ↑ Hannes Heer, "Killing Fields: The Wehrmacht and the Holocaust in Belorussia, 1941–1942"; in: Holocaust: Critical Concepts in Historical Studies, ed. D. Cesarani, vol. 3 (The "Final Solution"), London, Routledge, 2004, pp. 195–198. ISBN 0415275121.
  56. ↑ Hannes Heer, "Killing Fields: The Wehrmacht and the Holocaust in Belorussia, 1941–42"; in: War of Extermination: the German Military in World War II, 1941–1944, ed. H. Heer & K. Naumann, New York, Berghahn Books, 2000, p. 68. ISBN 1571812326, ISBN 1571814930.
  57. ↑ Christian Gerlach, Kalkulierte Morde: Die deutsche Wirtschafts- und Vernichtungspolitik in Weißrußland 1941 bis 1944, Hamburg, Hamburger Edition: Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung (HIS), 1999, pp. 612–614. ISBN 3930908549.
  58. ↑ Dieter Kusenberg, Lucian (Lutz) Damianus Wysocki: Der ungesühnte Aufstieg vom Polizeipräsidenten zum SS-General im Osten, (Schriftenreihe der Gedenkhalle Schloß Oberhausen series, vol. 2), Oberhausen, Laufen, 1999, pp. 63–64. ISBN 3874681637.
  59. ↑ Z.v. (in the German language conventionally capitalized "z.V."), short for zur ver­fü­gung, lit., "at the dis­pos­al" — a type of promotion in rank that makes the recipient subject to recall to active duty after retirement.
  60. ↑ Joseph Goebbels, Die Tagebücher, pt. 2 (Diktate 1941–1945), vol. 2 (Oktober–Dezember 1941), ed. E. Fröhlich, Munich, Saur, 1996, p. 357. ISBN 3598219229.
  61. ↑ Hans Umbreit, "German Rule in the Occupied Territories, 1942–1945"; in: Germany and the Second World War, vol. 5, pt. 2 (Organization and Mobilization of the German Sphere of Power: Wartime Administration, Economy, and Manpower Resources, 1942–1944/45), ed. B. R. Kroener, et al., tr. D. Cook-Radmore, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 58. ISBN 0198208731.
  62. ↑ Andrej Angrick and Peter Klein, The "Final Solution" in Riga: Exploitation and Annihilation, 1941–1944, tr. R. Brandon, New York, Berghahn Books, 2009, pp. 138, 166 (n. 23), 190, 268–271, 304, and (esp.) 366–378. ISBN 1845456084, ISBN 9781845456085.
  63. ↑ Die Generale der Waffen-SS und der Polizei: Die militärischen Werdegänge der Generale, sowie der Ärzte, Veterinäre, Intendanten, Richter und Ministerialbeamten im Generalsrang: 1933–1945, ed. A. Schulz, et al., vol. 3 (Lammerding–Plesch), Bissendorf, Biblio-Verlag, 2008, p. 282. ISBN 3764823755, ISBN 9783764823757. See also Hinrich Lohse on German Wikipedia.
  64. ↑ Gertrude Schneider, Journey into Terror: Story of the Riga Ghetto, 2nd ed., enl., Westport (Connecticut), Praeger Publishers, 2001, pp. 10 & 192. ISBN 0275970507. (Lohse is reported here to have written in December 1941 to the SS and police leaders in Reval, Riga, Kovno and Minsk asking them to prevent the killing of skilled workers even if they were Jewish.) Cf. Valdis O. Lumans, Latvia in World War II, New York, Fordham University Press, 2006, p. 175; cf. p. 232. ISBN 0823226271, ISBN 9780823226276. (Alfred Valdmanis, 1908–1970, is reported here to have described Lohse as having purportedly obstructed the Nazi murder of Jews.)
  65. ↑ Andreas Zellhuber, "Unsere Verwaltung treibt einer Katastrophe zu...": das Reichsministerium für die besetzten Ostgebiete und die deutsche Besatzungsherrschaft in der Sowjetunion 1941–1945, Munich, Verlag Ernst Vögel, 2006, pp. 132–133 & 354. ISBN 3896502131, ISBN 9783896502131.
  66. ↑ Modris Eksteins, Walking since Daybreak: A Story of Eastern Europe, World War II, and the Heart of Our Century, Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1999. ISBN 0395937477. On Lohse's delusions of personal grandeur, see Gerhard P. Bassler, Alfred Valdmanis and the Politics of Survival, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2000, p. 110. ISBN 0802044131.
  67. ↑ Akten der Partei-Kanzlei der NSDAP, pt. 1 (Regesten), vol. 2, ed. H. Heider, Munich, R. Oldenbourg Verlag; Munich, K. G. Saur Verlag, 1983, p. 1017. ISBN 348650181X, ISBN 3598302622.
  68. ↑ Modris Eksteins, Walking since Daybreak: A Story of Eastern Europe, World War II, and the Heart of Our Century, Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1999. ISBN 0395937477.
  69. ↑ Beatrice Heiber & Helmut Heiber, eds., Die Rückseite des Hakenkreuzes: Absonderliches aus den Akten des Dritten Reiches, Munich, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 1993, pp. 382–383. ISBN 3423029676.
  70. ↑ Christian Gerlach, Kalkulierte Morde: Die deutsche Wirtschafts- und Vernichtungspolitik in Weißrußland 1941 bis 1944, Hamburg, Hamburger Edition: Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung (HIS), 1999, p. 174. ISBN 3930908549.
  71. ↑ In one source Braemer is said to have exercised the command of the Panzer Division Kempf "for a short time" be­gin­ning on 10 June 1944, i.e. after his removal from the military commandership of the Ostland: see Norbert Müller, Wehrmacht und Okkupation, 1941–1944: Zur Rolle der Wehrmacht und ihrer Führungsorgane im Okkupations­regime des faschistischen deutschen Imperialismus auf sowjetischem Territorium, Berlin, Deutscher Militärverlag, 1971, p. 79 n. 84. This information is unsourced here, but is not otherwise inconceivable (Werner Kempf succeeded Braemer as the Wehr­macht­befehls­haber or military supremo of the Ostland).
  72. ↑ Hinrich Lohse on the other hand remained in his post as the Reichskommissar Ostland after the incident, only to go (of his own accord) into hiding later in the year as the Red Army entered Latvia: see Valdis O. Lumans, Latvia in World War II, New York, Fordham University Press, 2006, p. 344. ISBN 0823226271, ISBN 9780823226276.
  73. ↑ The entirety of this section is based on the Lexikon der Wehrmacht (see online), supplemented by (1) the pris­on­er information from the British prisoner-of-war camp — Island Farm — where Braemer was held between 9 Jan­u­a­ry 1946 and 6 October 1947 (see online), and by (2) Die Generale der Waffen-SS und der Polizei: Die mi­li­tä­risch­en Werdegänge der Generale, sowie der Ärzte, Veterinäre, Intendanten, Richter und Ministerialbeamten im Generalsrang: 1933–1945, ed. A. Schulz, et al., vol. 3 (Lammerding–Plesch), Bissendorf, Biblio-Verlag, 2008, p. 282. ISBN 3764823755, ISBN 9783764823757.
  74. 1 2 Donald Bloxham, Genocide on Trial: War Crimes Trials and the Formation of Holocaust History and Memory, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 199. ISBN 0198208723.
  75. ↑ Donald Bloxham, Genocide on Trial: War Crimes Trials and the Formation of Holocaust History and Memory, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 200. ISBN 0198208723.
  76. ↑ "Jurisprudence britannique", Revue de droit pénal militaire et de droit de la guerre (Brussels, Palais de justice), vol. 1, 1963, pp. 81–83.
  77. ↑ Christian Hartmann, Wehrmacht im Ostkrieg: Front und militärisches Hinterland, 1941/42, (Quellen und Dar­stel­lung­en zur Zeitgeschichte series, vol. 75), 2nd ed., Munich, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2010, pp. 106–107 (n. 178), 855. ISBN 9783486702255.

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