Hermann Fegelein

Schutzstaffel (SS) Fascism and National Socialism Counter-revolution 1906–1945 ✕ Shot

SS general and Eva Braun's brother-in-law, shot for desertion

When the search party found him at his Berlin flat on 27 April 1945, Fegelein was in civilian clothes, preparing to flee to Sweden or Switzerland, and carrying cash and jewellery, some of it Eva Braun's.

Born in Ansbach, Fegelein served in a cavalry regiment and the Bavarian state police before joining the Nazi Party and the SS, where he led the SS mounted units. In 1941 SS cavalry under his command killed more than 17,000 civilians, most of them Jews, in the Pripyat Marshes of Soviet Byelorussia. After commanding the 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer in 1943 he became the SS liaison officer at Hitler's headquarters, and in June 1944 he married Gretl Braun, the younger sister of Eva Braun. On 27 April 1945 he left the Führerbunker and was found at his Berlin flat. When Hitler learned that Heinrich Himmler had secretly offered the Western Allies a surrender, Fegelein was stripped of his rank and shot.