Ernst Kaltenbrunner quotes

Ernst Kaltenbrunner was an Austrian SS official and a leading figure in Nazi Germany during World War II. As chief of the Reich Main Security Office, he played a major role in orchestrating the Holocaust and other war crimes. He was later convicted of crimes against humanity and executed after the Nuremberg Trials. Here are 23 of his quotes:

I do not feel guilty of any war crimes, I have only done my duty as an intelligence organ, and I refuse to serve as an ersatz for Himmler.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

There is no human law or law of God or national law that states that any healthy being has to permit the snake to eat the mouse - but on the other hand, it is perfectly justified to defend the mouse.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

The quicker humanity advances, the more important it is to be the one who deals the first blow.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

Armenia was always a minority nation. The Armenians were annihilated by the Russians and then by the Turks.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

Russia demanded Armenian territories, very cleverly using long-standing, bitter fights between Armenians and Turks.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

I have talked to you in the past but we have always exchanged pleasantries. And it has always been assumed that I am Kaltenbrunner, the big bad man next to Himmler and the successor of Himmler. But I think you can see by this time, after having treated my brain hemorrhages, both in the hospital and here in my cell, that I am not the disagreeable, uncouth fellow the public probably thinks because of all the atrocities committed under Himmler's rule, and of which I am totally innocent.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

(While smiling, and jokingly) You haven't come to see me for three weeks. I wondered whether you had become disgusted with us war criminals - particularly me, the so-called archcriminal of them all.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

I am thought of as another Himmler. I'm not. The papers make me out as a criminal. I never killed anyone.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

I do not believe that I have made myself guilty.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

(While playing solitaire and sipping cognac) It's all a lot of crap. The game is up.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

Don't even step out of your garden gate until this matter has been clarified.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

The colonel in charge of the London prison that I was in has told me that I would be hanged in any case, no matter what the outcome would be. Since I am fully aware of that, all I want to do is to clear up on the fundamental things that are wrong here.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

The Prosecution holds me responsible for the concentration camps, for the destruction of Jewish life, for Einsatzgruppen and other things. All of this is neither in accord with the evidence nor with the truth. The accusers as well as the accused are exposed to the dangers of a summary proceeding. It is correct that I had to take over the Reich Security Main Office. There was no guilt in that in itself. Such offices exist in governments of other nations too. However, the task and activity assigned to me in 1943 consisted almost exclusively in the reorganization of the German political and military intelligence service, though not as Heydrich's successor. Almost a year after his death I had to accept this post under orders and as an officer at a time when suspicion fell on Admiral Canaris of having collaborated with the enemy for years. In a short time I ascertained the treason of Canaris and his accomplices to the most frightful extent.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

Please report to RF SS and to the Fuehrer that all arrangements against Jews, political and concentration camp internees in the Protectorate have been taken care of by me personally today.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

All offices of the SD and the security police are to be informed that pogroms of the populace against English and American terror-fliers were not to be interfered with; on the contrary, this hostile mood is to be fostered.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

In the first place, I should like to state to the Tribunal that I am fully aware of the serious character of the charges against me. I know the hatred of the world is directed against me; that I particularly since Himmler, Müller, and Pohl are no longer alive, must here, alone, give an account to the world and the Tribunal. I realize that I shall have to tell the truth in this courtroom, in order to enable the Court and the world to fully recognize and understand what has been going on in Germany during this war and to judge it with fairness.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

It is precisely the immediate and thorough eradication of the Jews in Italy which is the special interest of the present internal political situation and the general security in Italy.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

I have loved my German people and my fatherland with a warm heart. I have done my duty by the laws of my people and I am sorry this time my people were led by men who were not soldiers and that crimes were committed of which I had no knowledge. Germany, good luck.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

I have loved my German people and my fatherland with a warm heart.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

I have done my duty by the laws of my people and I am sorry my people were led this time by men who were not soldiers and that crimes were committed of which I had no knowledge.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner