Alwin-Broder Albrecht

Alwin-Broder Albrecht
NSKK-Brigadeführer Albrecht
Birth date	18 September 1903(1903-09-18)
Place of birth	Sankt Peter, Friesland, Province of Schleswig-Holstein, German Empire
Death date	1 May 1945 (aged 41)
Place of death	Berlin, German Reich
Allegiance	Weimar Republic National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Reichsmarine (1922–1935) Kriegsmarine (1935–1939) NSKK (1939–1945)
Years of service	1922–1945
Rank	Kapitänleutnant Korvettenkapitän NSKK-Brigadeführer
Battles/wars	World War II Battle of Berlin

Alwin-Broder Albrecht (also Alwin Broder; 18 September 1903 – 1 May 1945) was a German naval officer of the Reichsmarine and the Kriegsmarine as well as the National Socialist Motor Corps. From 1938 to 1945, he was a personal adjutant of Adolf Hitler editing private letters to Hitler, supervising the many construction works and processing organizational questions in the Reich Chancellery, but also issuing certificates for decorations in the last weeks of the war.

Life

Naval adjutant Korvettenkapitän Albrecht

A lesser known member of Adolf Hitler’s personal staff, Alwin-Broder Albrecht was born in 1903, and although he was too young to serve in the Great War joined the much downsized Reichsmarine in 1922 at the age of nineteen. Within two years he was assigned to the Naval Academy at Flensburg, and eventually commanded torpedo boats for some time in the early 1930s. Little information is available on how Albrecht came into contact with Hitler, although it is entirely possible it was simply as part of his military duties. It is known that when Hitler’s Naval Adjutant, Karl von Puttkammer, returned to active service to command a destroyer, Albrecht was named as his replacement. Albrecht, by now a Korvettenkapitain (Lt. Commander), would serve in this post for just over a year, in the pivotal period between 1938 and 1939 as the outbreak of the Second World War loomed. In 1939 Albrecht married, and this was to spell the end of his naval career. The woman in question had an unsavory history (the details of this remain unknown), and this led to Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, the commander of the Kriegsmarine, to make an attempt at posting him to Tokyo as an attaché. The Fuhrer, however, had grown fond of the young officer, and instead offered him a position as a permanent member of his staff, with the rank of Oberführer (Colonel) in the NSKK (Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrkorps). This purportedly even led to an argument between Hitler and the Grand Admiral, but in the Third Reich there was no going against Hitler’s will. Putkammer returned to the Naval Adjutant’s post, while Albrecht settled into his new position at the Reich Chancellery. Albrecht would remain in this post for the duration of the war, and survived the assassination attempt made on Hitler in 1945, as well as the following purges. By 1945 the Third Reich was on the brink of collapse, as the Soviet Red Army entered Berlin on 20 April, 1945. Albrecht would remain in the damp Führerbunker under the ruined Chancellery alongside his Fuhrer until the end, when Hitler committed suicide on 30 April. The following day, 1 May, would be that last time that Albrecht appears in any record, having been witnessed defending the building along with the remnants of Hitler’s guards (Führer-Begleit-Kommando).

Death

During the Battle of Berlin, he was last seen defending the Reich Chancellery with a machine gun. He is believed to have committed suicide on 1 May 1945, aged 41, but it is also possible he fell (⚔). His body was never found.

According to Erna Flegel, a nurse working in the makeshift hospital set up in the adjoining basement of the bunker, Albrecht committed suicide by gunshot as SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke, erstwhile commander of the defense of the building, departed with most of the survivors of Hitler’s staff to attempt a breakout of the doomed capital.

Family

Marriage

When Albrecht had married a woman with "a history" in early 1939 and Grand Admiral Raeder found out about it afterwards, he immediately suspended Albrecht from service. When Hitler heard this, he became angry because Albrecht was on his staff and Raeder had not informed him. When Raeder insisted on transferring Albrecht to Tokyo as a military attache, on 1 July 1939, Hitler simply appointed him his personal adjutant under Reichsleiter Philipp Bouhler and bestowed on him the rank of NSKK-Oberführer.

He had Albrecht come to the Berghof with his newly wedded wife, and Hitler liked the woman. On 13 July 1939, they talked for 90 minutes in the Bechsteinhaus (Obersalzberg) about her past, but also about the future, although only 20 minutes were scheduled. Albrecht's loyalty to the Führer now knew no bounds.

Promotions

• 30 March 1922 Naval Officer Candidate
  • joined the Reichsmarine after his Abitur
• 1 April 1924 Fähnrich zur See (Naval Officer Cadet)
• 1 October 1926 Leutnant zur See (Naval 2nd Lieutenant)
• 1 July 1928 Oberleutnant zur See (Naval 1st Lieutenant)
• 1 June 1934 Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant Captain)
• 1 November 1937 Korvettenkapitän (Corvette Captain)
  • Albrecht was discharged from active military service in the previous uniform on 30 June 1939
• 1 July 1939 NSKK-Oberführer (Colonel)
• c. 1941 NSKK-Brigadeführer (Brigadier General)

Awards and decorations (excerpt)

• Wehrmacht Long Service Award (Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung), 4th to 3rd Class
• Memel Medal
• Special pocket watch for Christmas 1938 (A. Lange & Söhne, Werk-Nr. 89127)