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Ernst Kaltenbrunner was heading in the same direction, disguised as an International Red Cross doctor, if disguise was possible for a man nearly seven feet tall with a face slashed with scars. He knew of plans to use escape routes through the Alps, but he was not sure if his old friend Martin Bormann could help. He had a rendezvous with Adolf Eichmann, the bureaucrat who took the view that the subhuman breeds should be exterminated. His fellow Austrian Otto Skorzeny had already gone to earth in the region. Earlier when Kaltenbrunner had been asked what to do about syphilitic prostitutes, he had said (with all the majesty of the law behind him as Heydrich's successor): 'Bury them.'

Ernst Kaltenbrunner#63

HistoryEscapeMoralitySurvival

About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker describes escape plans and ruthless past decisions.
In plain terms
I planned to flee but also ordered harsh punishments before.
What can you take from it?
Escape and harshness can coexist in desperate leaders.

Where it applies

  • wartime flight
  • legal judgment
  • historical record

Putting it to work

  • prepare exit strategies
  • review past actions
  • assess risks

Questions to consider

  • What drives leaders to flee?
  • How do past actions affect future choices?

Another view

Desperation may justify actions that are ethically indefensible.

More from Ernst Kaltenbrunner

  1. Kaltenbrunner said that the western Nazis were less radical, but my opinion is that the Nazis of Austria were more radical. I always had to meet criticism from…

    Permalink to quote #62
  2. SS Obergruppenfuhrer Dr. Kaltenbrunner attended personally conferences with SS Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl, Chief of the SS Wirtschaft and Verwaltungshauptamt and …

    Permalink to quote #64
  3. As far as I remember, he was there two, three, or four times. At any rate, during the last months of the war I saw him two, three, or four times. Kaltenbrunner…

    Permalink to quote #61

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