Walter Ernst

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Walter Ernst
Bromberg
In office
June 1942 – January 1945
Personal details
Born(1899-04-06)6 April 1899
University of Halle
ProfessionLawyer

Walter Ernst (6 April 1899 – March 1945) was a German lawyer,

Bromberg
.

Early Nazi career

Not much is known about Ernst's early life. In February 1925, the Nazi Party was reestablished after having been outlawed as a result of the Beer Hall Putsch. Ernst joined the Party early after its formation and received membership number 4,476.[1]

At the time, the Nazi Party leadership in the area around Halle and Merseburg was largely unorganized. The Ortsgruppe (Local Group) in the city of Halle, under its chairman Großclaus, reported directly to the central Party leadership in Munich. Walter Ernst was able to persuade other, smaller party groups in the region to coalesce around him. With the support of the Sturmabteilung (SA) leader in Halle, Wolf-Heinrich Graf von Helldorff, Ernst was able to consolidate his position, and the two succeeded in excluding Großclaus from the Party leadership.[2]

Ernst was elected Nazi State Association Leader (Landesverbandes-Fuhrer) for the newly-formed Gau Halle-Merseburg on 27 June 1925. He thus became, effectively, the first Gauleiter of the region. Also in 1925, Ernst founded a newspaper, the Mitteldeutscher Beobachter, to support the Party’s position on issues.[3]

Still, the Gau remained factionalized and, on 25 July 1926, Ernst himself lost his leadership position and was expelled from the Party by decision of the Halle Ortsgruppe on 30 July. His successor as Gauleiter was Paul Hinkler.[2]

Later career and death

From October 1927 to November 1931 Ernst studied law at the

Bromberg (today Bydgoszcz).[3]

As the

penal battalion and ordered to undertake especially dangerous missions. Though Kühn survived the war, Ernst was killed in action in defense of the greater Danzig area sometime in March 1945.[4]

References

  1. ^ Miller & Schulz 2012, p. 155.
  2. ^ a b Höffkes 1986, p. 63.
  3. ^ a b Miller & Schulz 2012, p. 156.
  4. ^ Miller & Schulz 2012, pp. 156–157.

Sources

  • Höffkes, Karl (1986). Hitlers Politische Generale. Die Gauleiter des Dritten Reiches: ein biographisches Nachschlagewerk. Tübingen: Grabert-Verlag. .
  • Miller, Michael D.; Schulz, Andreas (2012). Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925-1945. Vol. I (Herbert Albrecht - H. Wilhelm Hüttmann). R. James Bender Publishing. .