Bruno Müller or Brunon Müller-Altenau (13 September 1905 – 1 March 1960) served as an SS-'' Obersturmbannführer'' during the Nazi German

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

. In September 1939, he was put in charge of the ''

Einsatzkommando During World War II, the Nazi German ' were a sub-group of the ' (mobile killing squads) – up to 3,000 men total – usually composed of 500–1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to exterminate Jews, Polish intellect ...

'' 2, attached to ''

Einsatzgruppe (, ; also 'task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the impl ...

'' I '' (pl)'' of the Security Police. They were deployed in Poland along with the 14th Army of the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

Paramilitary posts

Müller was head of the Gestapo office (''Geheimstaatspolizei'') in Oldenburg from 1935 until World War II. During the invasion of Poland, he served as one of four captains of the mobile killing squads (''Einsatzkommandos'') within ''Einsatzgruppe'' I, led by ''SS-Brigadeführer'' Bruno Streckenbach. In total, eight ''Einsatzgruppen'' () had been deployed in Poland. They were active until late 1940, and composed of the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

Kripo ''Kriminalpolizei'' (, "criminal police") is the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of Germany, Austria, and the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. In Nazi Germany, the Kripo was the criminal polic ...

and SD functionaries involved in extermination actions including

Operation Tannenberg Operation Tannenberg (, ) was one of the first Anti-Polish sentiment, anti-Polish extermination actions by Nazi Germany in Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), German-occupied Poland from September 1939 to January 1940. The operation was conducted ...

as well as ''

Intelligenzaktion The ''Intelligenzaktion'' (), or the Intelligentsia mass shootings, was a series of mass murders committed against the Polish people, Polish intelligentsia (teachers, priests, physicians, and other prominent members of Polish society) during the ...

'' against the Polish cultural elites. Müller was appointed commander of the

Division 4 ''Krakau'' in the new

General Government The General Government (, ; ; ), formally the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (), was a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Slovak Republic (1939–1945), Slovakia and the Soviet ...

district (''Generalgouvernement'') two months after the attack.

''Sonderaktion Krakau''

Müller personally conducted the operation ''

Sonderaktion Krakau ''Sonderaktion Krakau'' was a German operation against professors and academics of the Jagiellonian University and other universities in German-occupied Kraków, Poland, at the beginning of World War II. It was carried out as part of the much bro ...

'' against the Polish professors in occupied

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. On 6 November 1939, at the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

(UJ) lecture room no. 56 of the Collegium Novum, he summoned all academics for a speech, where he announced their immediate arrest and internment. Among them were 105 professors and 33 lecturers from the Jagiellonian University, including its rector

Tadeusz Lehr-Spławiński Tadeusz Lehr-Spławiński (September 20, 1891 – February 17, 1965) was a Polish linguist, scholar, and professor of Slavonic studies. He was twice elected rector of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków before and after the Nazi German occupa ...

, 34 professors and doctors from

Academy of Mining and Metallurgy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

(AGH), 4 from College of Commerce (Wyższe Studium Handlowe) and 4 from

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

and

Wilno Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

universities, as well as the President of Kraków, Dr Stanisław Klimecki who was apprehended at home. All of them, 184 persons in total, were transported to prison at Montelupich, and – some three days later – to detention center in

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

(). They were sent to

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners t ...

on the other side of Berlin two weeks later, and in March 1940 further to

Dachau Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

near Munich after a new 'selection'. ''Note:'' Please save a copy to your own hard drive without opening it, and run a virus check through that copy first if you're concerned with security. Source is reliable. Following international protest involving prominent Italians including

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

and the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

, surviving prisoners older than 40, were released on 8 February 1940. More academics were released later. However, over a dozen died in captivity, including Stanisław Estreicher, and several others right after their return, owing to emaciation.

''Einsatzkommando'' 11b

Müller briefly served as the RKF chief of staff in

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

in late 1940, replaced by ''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Fritz Arlt in preparation for the Action Saybusch in

Żywiec Żywiec () is a town on the River Soła in southern Poland with 31,194 inhabitants (2019). It is situated within the Silesian Voivodeship, near the Żywiec Lake and Żywiec Landscape Park, one of the eight protected areas in the voivodeship. H ...

. Soon later, following the German attack on the Soviet Union, Müller was selected as leader of the ''Einsatzkommando'' "11b" attached to the 11th Army of the Wehrmacht. He operated along with the entire '' Einsatzgruppe D'' (consisting of 600 men) in the territory of

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

in southern Ukraine. From there, they went to Southern

Bessarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...

and the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

. His ''Einsatzgruppe'' D ''mobile killing unit'' (term used by

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

historians), of which ''Einsatzkommando'' 11b was a part, became responsible for the murder of over 90,000 people, an average of 340 to 700 victims per day. Müller's activities in the region are not as well-documented as those of some other Nazi leaders. See
Working translation
in ''Google Translate''. At the beginning of August 1941 he led the unit that massacred about 155 Jews, including women and children in the city of Bender in Moldova. Müller, who was a heavy drinker, insisted that to be trusted, every one of his men first had to burn "the bridges to respectable society" by committing murder at least once. One account tells of how he modeled the killing process by shooting a two-year-old child and the child's mother, then told his officers to follow his example.

"First ��Müller approached a Jewish woman who had a three-year-old child on her arm and who had been brought forward by someone ��and said something like this: 'You must die so that we can live.' Then he drew his pistol and shot first the child and then the woman."

In October 1941, four months after the commencement of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

, Müller was replaced as leader of ''Einsatzkommando'' "11b" by '

Werner Braune Karl Rudolf Werner Braune (11 April 1909 − 7 June 1951) was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era and a Holocaust perpetrator. During the German invasion of the Soviet Union of 1941, Braune was the commander of ''Einsatzkommando'' 11b, ...

, who was later named by Commander

Otto Ohlendorf Otto Ohlendorf (; 4 February 1907 – 7 June 1951) was a German Schutzstaffel, SS functionary and Holocaust perpetrator during the Nazi era. An economist by education, he was head of the Sicherheitsdienst#Inland-SD, (SD) Inland, responsible ...

in his killing tally sent to Berlin. Müller served as the KdS of

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

and

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

before the end of the war. He was detained by the Allies in June 1945. In late 1947, Müller and eight others were tried as war criminals by a British military court for crimes committed at the Kiel-Hassee camp in

Nordmark The Northern March or North March (, ) was created out of the division of the vast ''Marca Geronis'' in 965. It initially comprised the northern third of the ''Marca'' (roughly corresponding to the modern state of Brandenburg) and was part of the ...

, where 578 prisoners died between May 1944 and the end of the war. Müller was charged since his position as the local head of the security police in the area gave him command responsibility for all crimes committed there. Since Müller was not directly involved in the abuse or killings of prisoners, and the court was unaware of his crimes in Poland at the time, he was spared execution unlike two of his codefendants and instead sentenced to 20 years in prison. However, he was released from prison in 1953 due to amnesty laws. In 1952, a French military court sentenced Müller to death in absentia for his responsibility for crimes committed at Rouen. Polish authorities also sought to have him punished for crimes he committed as the leader of EK 2/I in Poland. However, West German authorities never prosecuted him. Müller worked as a salesman for the rest of his life and died in 1960, at the age of 54.

Film portrayal

Müller's activities in occupied Kraków were portrayed in the 2007 film '' Katyń'' by

Andrzej Wajda Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the "P ...

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Brunon 1905 births 1960 deaths Military personnel from Alsace-Lorraine Gestapo personnel Einsatzgruppen personnel Military personnel from Strasbourg SS-Obersturmbannführer German murderers of children German police officers convicted of crimes Holocaust perpetrators in Poland Holocaust perpetrators in Ukraine Nazis sentenced to death in absentia by France People convicted in the Curiohaus trials