Josef Bühler (16 February 1904 – 22 August 1948) was a state secretary and deputy governor to the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

Germany-controlled General Government in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Background

Bühler was born in

Bad Waldsee Bad Waldsee () is a town in Upper Swabia in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is part of the district of Ravensburg. It is situated 20 km south of Biberach an der Riß, and 20 km northeast of Ravensburg. The town is known for its histo ...

into a Catholic family. His father was a baker. After obtaining his degree in law he received an appointment to work under

Hans Frank Hans Michael Frank (23 May 1900 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and lawyer who served as head of the General Government in Nazi-occupied Poland during the Second World War. Frank was an early member of the German Workers' Party ...

, a legal advisor to

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

and the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

. Bühler did not take up membership of the NSDAP until 1 April 1933, already after the Nazi rise to power.

Nazi career

Hans Frank was appointed Minister of Justice for

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

in 1933. Bühler became a member of NSDAP on 1 April 1933, according to his own testimony at the

Nuremberg Trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded m ...

, and was appointed administrator of the Court of

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. In 1935 he became district chief attorney. In 1938

, now Reich Minister without portfolio, put him in charge of his cabinet office. After the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in September 1939, Frank was appointed Governor-General for the occupied Polish territories and Bühler accompanied him to

to take up the post of State Secretary of the General Government, also serving as Frank's deputy. He was given the honorary rank of SS-

Brigadeführer ''Brigadeführer'' (, ) was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) that was used between the years of 1932 to 1945. It was mainly known for its use as an SS rank. As an SA rank, it was used after briefly being known as ''Untergruppenf ...

Reichsführer-SS (, ) was a special title and rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945 for the commander of the (SS). ''Reichsführer-SS'' was a title from 1925 to 1933, and from 1934 to 1945 it was the highest rank of the SS. The longest-servi ...

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

around this time.

Wannsee Conference and Final Solution

Bühler attended the Wannsee Conference on 20 January 1942 as the representative from the Governor General's office. During this conference, which discussed the imposition of the '

Final Solution The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution to th ...

of the Jewish Question in the German Sphere of Influence in Europe', Bühler stated to the other conference attendees the importance of solving 'the Jewish Question in the General Government as quickly as possible'.

Trial and execution

After the war, Bühler testified on Frank's behalf at the

. He was later extradited to Poland and tried before the

Supreme National Tribunal The Supreme National Tribunal ( pl, Najwyższy Trybunał Narodowy TN}) was a war-crime tribunal active in communist-era Poland from 1946 to 1948. Its aims and purpose were defined by the State National Council in decrees of 22 January and 17 Oc ...

of Poland for crimes against humanity. Bühler was found guilty, sentenced to death, and ordered to forfeit all of his property on 10 July 1948. He was executed by

hanging Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging ...

on 22 August at

Montelupich Prison The Montelupich prison, so called from the street in which it is located, the ''ulica Montelupich'' ("street of the Montelupi family"),Ulica Montelupich or "street of the Montelupis" itself is named after the Montelupi manor house (Kamienica (arch ...

in Kraków.

In popular media

Bühler played a major part in the 1992 alternate history ''

Fatherland A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethn ...

'', written by Robert Harris. In the novel,

continued to fight the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

well into the 1960s and had hopes of building an alliance and ending its Cold War with the United States. Bühler continued to serve in the novel in the General Government until 1951, when he was wounded by Polish resistance and was forced to retire. The discovery of Bühler's

corpse A cadaver or corpse is a dead human body that is used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a living human being. Stud ...

in the Havel at the beginning of the novel sparks the investigation by the protagonist, Xavier March, a major in the now peace-time SS police force. That investigation leads to the discovery of the

. It turns out that Bühler was murdered by the

Gestapo The (), 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 Prussia into one orga ...

during an attempt to cover all traces of the Final Solution, which Bühler had helped to instigate. In the 2001 HBO film '' Conspiracy'', which portrayed the Wannsee Conference, Bühler was played by the British actor Ben Daniels.

Literature

* Internationaler Militärgerichtshof Nürnberg (Hrsg.): ''Der Prozess gegen die Hauptkriegsverbrecher vor dem Internationalen Militärgerichtshof (14. November 1945 bis 1. Oktober 1946). Amtlicher Text in deutscher Sprache.'' * ''Dr. Josef Buhler, Staatssekretär and Deputy Governor-General. Supreme National Tribunal of Poland (17TH JUNE-10TH JULY, 1948)'', Law-Reports of Trials of War Criminals, Selected and prepared by The United Nations War Crimes Commission, Volume XIV, London, HMSO. 1948 (englisch).
PDF
* Bogdan Musiał: ''Deutsche Zivilverwaltung und Judenverfolgung im Generalgouvernement''. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1999, ; 2. unveränderte Auflage, ebd. 2004, . * Friedman, Towiah: ''Die höchsten Nazi-Beamten im General-Gouvernement in Polen in den Kriegs-Jahren 1939–45.'' Inst. of Documentation in Israel for the Investigation of Nazi War Crimes, Haifa 2002Katalog-Eintrag der DNB
/ref> * Grimm, Hans: ''Dr. Josef Bühler – Impusgeber bei der Wannsee-Konferenz''. In: Wolfgang Praske: ''Täter Helfer Trittbrettfahrer. Band 4. NS-Belastete aus Oberschwaben''. Kugelberg Verlag, Gerstetten 2015, , p. 70–83

References

* Transcript, Bühler's testimony at the Nuremberg Trials, IMT Proceedings vol. 12, pp. 64–113

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090529053743/http://resources.ushmm.org/film/display/main.php?search=simple&dquery=keyword(ROSENBERG%2C+ALFRED)&cache_file=uia_agxOnc&total_recs=39&page_len=25&page=1&rec=23&file_num=3022 Videoclip, Part I, Bühler testifying at the Nuremberg Trials (in German)]
Videoclip, Part II, Bühler testifying at the Nuremberg Trials (in German)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buhler, Josef 1904 births 1948 deaths People from Bad Waldsee People from the Kingdom of Württemberg Nazi Party politicians Members of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany Holocaust perpetrators in Poland German people convicted of crimes against humanity Executed people from Baden-Württemberg SS-Brigadeführer Lawyers in the Nazi Party 20th-century German lawyers General Government Executions by the Supreme National Tribunal People extradited to Poland