Philipp Bouhler (1899 – 1945)

As head of the »Chancellery of the Führer« of the NSDAP (KdF), Philipp Bouhler was one of the main people responsible for the »euthanasia« crimes. Born in Munich in 1899 and raised there, he first entered on the career of a military officer. He was wounded During World War I. After the war and joining the NSDAP in 1922, he worked for National Socialist newspapers and as a party functionary. In 1925, Bouhler became Reich Managing Director of the NSDAP. In 1934, he joined the SS and in 1936 was appointed SS-Obergruppenführer.

In November 1934 and now Reichsleiter of the NSDAP, he was appointed head of the KdF, which was directly subordinate to Adolf Hitler and responsible for all party affairs. From 1939 onwards, he was responsible for organising the patient murders: both the »Reich Committee for the Scientific Registering of Serious Hereditary and Congenital Illnesses« responsible for the »child euthanasia« and the T4 were directly subordinate to the KdF. In October 1939, Hitler appointed Bouhler co-head of the »euthanasia« programme, along with his accompanying physician Karl Brandt. In this capacity, Bouhler took part in the first »trial killings« of institutional patients in Brandenburg.

After his arrest, Bouhler took his own life in Dachau on 19 May 1945.