Willi Brandner

Willi Brandner
SS-Brigadeführer Willi Brandner
Birth date	12 August 1909
Place of birth	Schönbach near Eger, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary
Death date	⚔ 29 December 1944 (aged 35)
Place of death	Oroslavje near Agram, Croatia
Place of burial	German War Cemetery Zagreb-Mirogoj
Allegiance	Czechoslovakia National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Czechoslovak Army SS
Years of service	1931–1933 1938–1945
Rank	SS-Brigadeführer
Service number	NSDAP #6,644,578 #310,310
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Iron Cross
Relations	Married with two children
Other work	Violin maker, politician

Willibald "Willi" Brandner (12 August 1909 – 29 December 1944) was a German officer of the SS, Waffen-SS and Police in WWII as well as member of the Reichstag from 4 December 1938.

Life

Speeches and essays on the national gymnastics movement 1928–1933 by Konrad Henlein, published by Willi Brandner in 1934, 2nd edition in 1939 (NS-Gauverlag Sudetenland, Reichenberg).

After completing his schooling (elementary school, community school, vocational training school, secondary school), Brandner trained as a violin maker. Upon completion of this training, he passed the professional examination and later the master craftsman's examination. From October 1931 to January 1933, he served in the Czechoslovak army (motorized mountain unit). At that time, Germans were also required to complete Czech military service.

Brandner was trained as a gymnastics instructor by Konrad Henlein and headed the Sudeten German gymnastics school in Asch from 1933 to 1938. He also became a team leader in the Sudeten German nationalist gymnastics movement and, in 1938, Gauführer Sudetenland in the National Socialist Reich League for Physical Exercise (NSRL).

Until September 1938, Brandner commanded a volunteer Sudeten German militia, the Voluntary German Protection Service of the Sudeten German Party (SdP) with 33 officers and 370 NCOs and men. In August 1938, he had received 20 new motorcycles paid for by Heinrich Himmler, who had promised him these on 30 July 1938 during a Turnfest (gymnastic festival) in Breslau. From mid-September 1938 until the implementation of the Munich Agreement in early October 1938, he belonged to the Bayreuth-based Bavarian Ostmark group of the Sudeten German Freikorps (Freikorpsgruppe 3).

The Freikorps, composed primarily of refugee Sudeten Germans, was supervised by the SA and fought in the border region against Czech terror against Germans: Czech customs stations, patrols, and military installations were attacked; approximately 150 people were killed.

On 6 October 1938, Brandner (and the most of his men) joined the Allgemeine SS and was appointed first leader of the SS-Abschnitt XXXVII in Reichenberg where he lived with his wife and two children.

WWII

• March 1940 Joined the 1st Company/Replacement Battalion/LSSAH
  • another source states he volunteered for the SS/VT in early December 1939
• 3rd War Junker Course at the SS Junker School Tölz until 31 July 1940
• August 1940 Replacement Battalion/SS-Totenkopf-Division
• December 1940 Adjutant of the II. Replacement Battalion/SS-Totenkopf-Division
• 1 January 1941 to 1 April 1942 Leader of the SS-Abschnitt II in Chemnitz
• 31 January 1941 Return to the LSSAH
• November 1941 Wounded
• April 1942 to 1 July 1943 Staff/SS-Oberabschnitt Elbe
• 1942 Wounded during a bomb raid
• 1 October 1942 Service with the HSSPF "Russland-Mitte" in Mogilew under Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski
• 8 February 1943 After a detailed medical examination in January 1943 by the therapist and naturopathic doctor Eduard Alexander Felix Kersten in Berlin, the Reichsführer SS sent him home for four months to recover from a torn sympathetic nervous system.
• 25 June 1943 Appointed Police District Commander Agram and Deputy HSSPF (Higher SS and Police Leader) "Croatia"
  • 10 July 1943 Arrived in Agram

Death

SS-Brigadeführer Willi Brandner was shot in the head on 28 December 1944 during a partisan attack on an inspection trip in Oroslavje near Agram. His men were able to bring him to a military hospital, but he was already brain dead and died on 29 December 1944. The general is buried at the German War Cemetery Zagreb-Mirogoj; final grave location: Plot 82, Field 1, Grave 5.

SS-Promotions

• 6 October 1938 SS-Mann
• 8 October 1938 SS-Oberführer
• 20 October 1942 Oberst der Polizei (Colonel of the Police)
• 10 July 1943 SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei

Waffen-SS

• 1 March 1940 SS-Unterscharführer
• June 1940 SS-Standartenoberjunker
• 1 August 1940 SS-Untersturmführer der Reserve
• 1942 SS-Obersturmführer der Reserve with Rank Seniority (RDA) from 9 November 1941

Awards and decorations

1938 Reichstag entry

• Deutsches Olympia-Ehrenzeichen, 2nd Class in 1936
• Sudetenland Medal
• Honour Sword of the Reichsführers-SS
• SS Honour Ring
• Golden Party Badge
• Wound Badge (1939) in Black
• SS Long Service Award (SS-Dienstauszeichnung), 4th Grade for 4 years
• Iron Cross (1939), 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class in 1942
  • 1st Class in 1944
• War Merit Cross (1939), 2nd Class with Swords in 1944

Gallery

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•