Georg Altner

Ernst Georg Altner (4 December 1901 – 12 April 1945) was a German Nazi Party politician and an SS-Brigadeführer. He was a member of the Reichstag throughout the duration of Nazi Germany. He also served as the police president in Plauen and in Dortmund. Toward the end of World War II in Europe when Dortmund fell to the US Army, he died by suicide.

Early life Altner was born in Waldheim, Saxony, the son of a senior prison guard. From 1908, he attended the local Volksschule and Realgymnasium until 1917. Between 1917 and 1919, he completed an apprenticeship as a factory machinist and, at the same time, attended the Hochschule Mittweida, a university of applied sciences, which he left without graduating. In March, 1920, he took part in the Kapp Putsch against the government of the Weimar Republic as a member of the local citizen's militia. In 1919 and 1920, he worked as a metal worker and lathe operator in Waldheim. From 1921 to 1933, he was employed as a construction manager in civil engineering in Halle.

Nazi Party and SS career Between 1922 and 1925, Altner was a member of Der Stahlhelm, the right-wing German veterans organization. He joined the Nazi Party in April 1926 (membership number 34,339). As an early Party member, he later would be awarded the Golden Party Badge. He became the propaganda leader and press officer for Party Bezirk (district) of Rochlitz-Colditz in Gau Saxony.

Wartime military service and death From 1935, Altner was also a member of the German Army and, by 1940, had been promoted to Oberleutnant in the reserves. After the outbreak of the Second World War, he took part in the Battle of France in May 1940 as the leader of a pioneer company, and was seriously wounded on 15 June 1940. He was awarded the Iron Cross second class, the War Merit Cross, first and second class with swords, and the Wound Badge in black.

Returning to his police duties in Plauen, Altner was transferred to the Dortmund police headquarters at the end of 1941, and was appointed police president and head of the local Kripo on 14 January 1942. In March, he was promoted to SS-Brigadeführer and Generalmajor of police with an effective date of 1 January 1942 and remained in this post for the next few years. When the US Army attacked and occupied the city, he shot himself in Dortmund's Rombergpark.

SS and police ranks SA, SS and police ranks Date Rank 1925 SA-Truppführer 1929 SA-Sturmführer 10 May 1929 SS-Mann 30 April 1931 SS-Truppführer 1 July 1931 SS-Sturmführer 15 November 1931 SS-Sturmbannführer 24 December 1932 SS-Standartenführer 9 November 1933 SS-Oberführer 1 January 1942 SS-Brigadeführer and Generalmajor of police