Ernst Brandenburg

Ernst Brandenburg
DLV-Fliegerkommodore Ernst Brandenburg
Birth name	Ernst Bruno Brandenburg
Birth date	4 June 1883
Place of birth	Sophienfelde, Kreis Znin, Regierungsbezirk Bromberg, Province of Posen, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date	1 July 1952 (aged 69)
Place of death	Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany
Resting place	South Cemetery in Bonn
Allegiance	German Empire Weimar Republic National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Prussian Army Imperial German Army Preliminary Reichswehr DLV NSKK
Rank	Major DLV-Fliegerkommodore NSKK-Oberführer Lieutenant Colonel (Tannenberg)
Awards	Iron Cross Pour le Mérite Knight's Cross of the WMC
Relations	∞ Anna Alma Auguste Lotte Meier

Ernst Bruno Brandenburg (4 June 1883 – 1 July 1952) was a German officer of the Prussian Army, the Imperial German Army in World War I and the Preliminary Reichswehr, finally Major and knight of the order "Pour le Mérite". On 27 August 1939, Tannenbergtag, he received the Charakter (brevet) as honorary Lieutenant Colonel of the Wehrmacht.

Life

Captain Brandenburg

The leader of the airship LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" Dr. Hugo Eckener, Reich Transport Minister Theodor von Guérard, and Ministerial Councillor Ernst Brandenburg in November 1928

Ernst Brandenburg (left with cane) with Hugo Junkers in front of a Junkers Jumo 4 engine in Berlin-Tempelhof, 1931

Dismissal from the NSDAP

Ernst Brandenburg was the son of a landowner and lord of the manor. After attending school and achieving his Abitur, he pursued a career as an officer and served with the 6th West Prussian Infantry Regiment No. 149 of the Prussian Army in Schneidemühl. His roles there included that of adjutant of the 1st Battalion. On 5 April 1909, he obtained the necessary license to become a free balloon pilot and made eight flights in this capacity by the autumn of 1913. In March 1911, he was briefly posted to Döberitz to the Aviation Training and Research Institute (Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt für das Militärflugwesen). Promoted to first lieutenant in August 1912, Brandenburg rose to regimental adjutant.

He remained in this position when the First World War broke out. Brandenburg and his regiment, subordinated to the II. Armeekorps, took part in the fighting in Belgium and in the battles on the Marne and at Ypres. There he was wounded by a shot in the ankle on 2 November 1914 and promoted to captain on the 28th of that month. After several months in military hospital, Brandenburg reported to the Fliegertruppe on 1 November 1915 and trained initially as an observer and later as a pilot. Deployed to a bomber squadron from June 1916, he received both classes of the Iron Cross and the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords for his services. On 5 March 1917, Brandenburg was appointed commodore of the newly formed Combat Wing 3 (Kampfgeschwader 3) of the Supreme Army Command (Kagohl 3) which was assembled in great silence near Ghent. In this position he carried out several bombing raids on England – the first of which was on 25 May 1917 with 23 Gotha G.IV bombers – which earned the unit the name "England Wing" (England-Geschwader). One notable action was an attack with seventeen (another source states 14) large aircraft (with three machine guns each) on the English capital London on 13 June 1917, in which 4,400 kg of bombs were dropped, setting fire to a train station, a bridge over the Thames, docks and warehouses. 162 people were killed and 432 more were wounded.

This daylight operation was one of the first German air raids on British territory using aircraft. For this, Brandenburg was awarded the highest Prussian bravery award, the Order Pour le Mérite, at headquarters in Kreuznach on 14 June (another source states 16 June) 1917. On 19 June 1917, Brandenburg's plane crashed during takeoff on the return flight to the front. The pilot, Hans-Ulrich von Trotha (squadron leader of the Bomberstaffel 15), was killed, while Brandenburg himself survived with serious injuries and lost his right leg. Captain Rudolf Kleine (⚔ 12 December 1917), also knight of the order "Pour le Mérite", took over the bomber wing. After his recovery, he took over Kagohl 3 again in December 1917 which was used from March 1918 to support the German attack on the Western Front. On 19/20 May 1918, he made his second flight to London, this time a night attack due to the increased defenses. In total, Bomber Wing 3 had carried out eight day and 14 night attacks on England. Brandenburg's strong personality and great humanity made him an effective commodore. After the armistice, Brandenburg served with the Reichsluftamt (Reich Air Office) and retired from active military service as a major in 1920 (another source states 1919).

Between wars

After the war, Brandenburg worked as a senior civil servant in the Reich Ministry of Transport. From 1924 to 1933, Ministerial Councilor (Ministerialrat) Ernst Brandenburg was head of Department L (Aviation) in the Reich Ministry of Transport (Dirigent der Abteilung für Luft- und Kraftfahrwesen im Reichsverkehrsministerium). In this role, he represented German interests in the conclusion of the Paris Aviation Agreement of May 1926. In 1926, he was heavily involved in the founding of Deutsche Luft Hansa AG. His aim was to prevent a primarily civilian focus, but to have the armaments industry on board from the start.

After tough competition and as a result of the concentration policy of Ernst Brandenburg, head of the air traffic department in the Reich Ministry of Transport, only Junkers-Luftverkehr and Aero-Lloyd remained out of 38 airlines in 1925. When Junkers' company became insolvent after bad speculation, Brandenburg stepped in with subsidies – and in 1926 forced the two to merge into a single national airline: Deutsche Lufthansa AG (with Milch as one of the directors). Hermann Göring, among others, campaigned for its interests in the Reichstag.

Another task was to unite the various companies and institutions that were active in German commercial aviation and which, in some cases, were in considerable competition with each other. Due to his position in the Reich Ministry of Transport, he received a request from the Italian aviation department in 1928 that there was great interest in the re-establishment of air attachés and that German attachés would be welcome in Italy again. Brandenburg also supported German sport aviation, which was subject to strict regulations under the Treaty of Versailles and was not actually allowed to be supported by state funds.

In October 1928, he took part in the first American flight of the airship "Graf Zeppelin" (LZ 127) from Friedrichshafen, Germany to Lakehurst, USA under Dr. phil. Dr. h. c. mult. Hugo Eckener. In Berlin, he was also a member of the prestigious and influential Deutscher Herrenklub (German Gentlemen's Club; DHK). In 1932 and 1933, Brandenburg attended the disarmament conference in Geneva as an expert on aviation issues.

In 1933, Erhard Milch succeeded him as deputy Reichskommissar für die Luftfahrt. In february 1933, Brandenburg was appointed head of the Waterways Department in the Reich Ministry of Transport. From 22 March 1933 to 1942, he served as head of Department K (Department of Motor Vehicles and Highways) in the Reich Ministry of Transport, and as Ministerial Director (Ministerialdirektor) from 1933 onwards (as such also representative of the Reich Transport Minister).

"In almost all armies in the world we now find motorized troops of all kinds. [...] The motor vehicle occupies such an important position in military development that its use will be a decisive factor in a future war. Adolf Hitler himself speaks of the general motorization of the world, 'which will have an overwhelming impact on the next war'." One of the disciplinary and institutionally paradigmatic examples of a research complex that is equally relevant to autarky and armaments and is also anchored in a departmental context is motor vehicle research. [...] The Research Council met for its first meeting in the RVM on the occasion of the automobile exhibition in March 1934. Under the chairmanship of Ministerial Director Ernst Brandenburg, Ministerial Counselor Adolf Baeumker from the Reich Aviation Ministry (RLM) and the Reichswehr liaison officer in the RVM, Major Karl Zuckertort, took part in the meeting. The structure of the Research Council reflects the thematic breadth of the technological challenges of the motor vehicle industry, but above all represents the binding organizational linking of the decentralized locations of motor vehicle research at the technical universities under the chairmanship of a Reich department.

At a meeting on 11 April 1934, convened by the Reich Ministry of Transport as the responsible department and chaired by Ministerial Director Brandenburg, the most important requirements for the Volkswagen to be built were compiled as follows: a purchase price of no more than 1,000 Reichsmarks, operating costs of no more than 6 Reichspfennigs/km and space for three adults and one child. Hitler was immediately informed of these discussions. Ministerial Director Brandenburg in the Reich Ministry of Transport and the Managing Director of the Reich Association of the Automobile Industry, Dr. Scholz, were informed in May 1934 that Reich Chancellor Hitler wanted to build a four-wheeled Volkswagen.

On 1 November 1934, he joined the Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche, St. Annen in Berlin-Dahlem) with membership number 649. In 1938, in the criminal trial against Pastor Dr. h. c. mult. Martin Niemöller (1892–1984), Brandenburg testified in his favor. For this, he was expelled from the NSDAP in November 1939. However, this step did not lead to professional disadvantages, as is sometimes claimed in post-war literature. He remained in the ministry until 1942 and was highly decorated in 1944 for his service. On 2 April 1940, he was charged with special research-works (system of traffic) by the Reich Transport Minister. On 28 June 1941, he became a member of the Reich Research Council and chairman of the “Fachsparte Verkehrswissenschaften“ (special branch for system of traffic).

Post-WWII

In 1948, Brandenburg served as an advisor to the Parliamentary Council. The Parliamentary Council was an assembly elected by eleven German state parliaments of the three western zones, which met in Bonn from September 1948 to May/June 1949 on the orders of the foreign occupiers. It was intended to initiate a new political beginning for Germany based on democratic principles. On 8 May 1949, the Parliamentary Council passed the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, a constitutional and public law basis for the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), which still depended on the consent of the state parliaments and the approval of the Allied military governors of the western zones.

Promotions

• 18 August 1903 Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant)
• 18 August 1912 Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant)
• 28 November 1914 Hauptmann (Captain)
• 1919/1920 Charakter als Major (Honorary Major)
• c. 1933 DLV-Fliegerkommodore (Colonel)
• 20 April 1935 NSKK-Standartenführer (Colonel)
• 9 November 1937 NSKK-Oberführer (senior colonel; no equivalent in the German army)
• 27 August 1939 Tannenberg-Oberstleutnant der Wehrmacht (Honorary Lieutenant Colonel)
  • was now classified as Oberstleutnant a. D. (Lieutenant Colonel, retired)

Awards, decorations and honours

Awards and decorations

• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Class
• Prussian Observer's Badge (Abzeichen für Beobachtungsoffiziere aus Flugzeugen)
• House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross with Swords (HOH3⚔) in January 1917
• Pour le Mérite on 14 June 1917 as Captain and Commodore of the Bombengeschwader Nr. 3
• Wound Badge (1918) in Silver
• DLV Pilots Badge (double wings)
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 with Swords
• War Merit Cross (1939), 2nd and 1st Class
• Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords on 1 September 1944
• Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Great Cross of Merit (Großes Verdienstkreuz) in 1952

Honours

• Dr.-Ing. e. h. of the Technical University of Braunschweig in January 1929 for his services in the field of promoting aviation development
• Honorary member of the German Air Sports Association with the title “Honorary Leader of German Aviation” (Ehrenführer der deutschen Luftfahrt), 1933
• Honorary Leader of the NSKK (Ehrenführer des NSKK) in the Staff of the Corps Leadership of the NSKK on 20 April 1935

Writings

• Johannes Poeschel (editor): Einführung in die Luftfahrt unter Mitwirkung von Ernst Brandenburg, Erich Ewald, Kurt Wegener u. a. mit Geleitworten von Hugo Eckener und Hugo Junkers im Auftrage des Deutschen Luftfahrtverbandes herausgegeben, Voigtländer Verlag, Leipzig 1925
• Was bedeutet der deutsche Gleichberechtigungsanspruch auf dem Gebiete der Luftfahrt? (What does the German Demand for Equality of Rights mean with regard to Aviation?), Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

Gallery

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