Helmuth Brückner

Helmuth Brückner (1896–1954) was a Gauleiter of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) from 1925 until 1934.

Helmuth Brückner was born on 7 May 1896 in Peilau (Prussia). He attended Volkschule in Peilau, Höhere Knabenschule in Langenbielau, and Kgl. Realgymnasium in Reichenbach. He then studied at Friederich-Wilhelm-Universität in Breslau.

In 1914, Brückner volunteered for the Army and was posted with the Feld-Artillerie-Regiment 88 where he won the Iron Cross 2nd and 1st Class as Leutnant der Reserve and Abteilung-Adjutant. On 25 March 1918 he was seriously wounded while in France. In 1921 he was Ib–Gruppe Nord with the Deutschen Selbstschutz (Freikorps) in Oberschlesien.

In 1924, Brückner joined the NS-Freiheitsbewegung (the NSDAP had been banned after the failed “Beer Hall Putsch” in 1923) and became editor of Schlesien Volksstimme. He also became Stadtverordneter in Breslau, a position he held until 1926.

Brückner organized the NSDAP in Silesia; on 15 March 1925 he officially joined the refounded NSDAP (number 2 023) and was appointed Gauleiter for Silesia. In September 1930 he became a member of the Reichstag for Wroclaw (Wkr.8), and on 24 April 1932 he became a member of the Preußischen Lantags. On 17 August 1932 Brückner was named Kommissar Ost der NSDAP. It was at this time he also founded the publishing house NS-Schlesien which published the “Schlesischen Beobachters”.

On 12 March 1933 Brückner became Provinzial-Landtagsabgeordneter, Kreistagsabgeordneter and Stadtverordneter. On 25 March 1933 he became a Preußischen Staatsrat and the Oberpräsident in Wroclaw (while simultaneously being given temporary authority of Oberpräsident in Opole). On 7 October 1933 he became SA-Gruppenführer but on 25 December 1934 he was expelled from NSDAP and dismissed as Gauleiter in connection with the "Röhm Putsch".

From 1938, Brückner was working as an industrial worker in the Heinkel works in Rostock. He was politically rehabilitated.

Arrested by the Soviets in July 1945, he was confined in a prison camp in Thuringia until 1949, then moved to the USSR where he was also in various internment camps. Official sources give his year of death as both 1951 and 1954, and appear to hide the date and place.

• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918
• Wound Badge
• Iron Cross of 1914, 1st and 2nd class
• Silesian Eagle, 1st and 2nd class