Curt Bruns

On February 13, 1945, U.S. soldiers from the 12th Infantry Regiment found the bodies of Jacobs and Zappler in a small hole about 100 yards away from the road. After Kauter, who had been recaptured, told U.S. officials what had happened, Bruns was listed as a suspected war criminal. After three weeks of searching, Bruns was arrested in a bunker at Schwarzer Mann. Although the war had not ended yet, Bruns was put on trial for war crimes for illegally executing Jacobs and Zappler. The early trial was permitted after Bruns was deemed a continuous threat to American military operations. Bruns’s trial lasted one day. It was held on April 7, 1945, in the town of Düren. Bruns maintained his innocence. However, several witnesses, including Kauter, testified against Bruns. Kauter said he saw what happened, and that Bruns gave the order to kill Jacobs and Zappler.

Bruns continued to proclaim his innocence and blame Witte for the executions. He denied having said anything to Korn. However, the court ruled that Kauter had no reason to lie and that his testimony was corroborated by the testimony of the others. Bruns was found guilty and sentenced to death by firing squad. His case was reviewed on April 20. The verdict and sentence were confirmed on May 8, 1945.

Bruns was shot at a gravel quarry in Denstorf on June 15, 1945. He was the first Nazi war criminal to be executed by the U.S. military. The U.S. military normally executed war criminals by hanging. This was due to the firing squad being viewed as an honorable way to die, something which officials felt that war criminals did not deserve. However, Bruns was shot anyway since he had been tried before the war ended. Under U.S. military law, he was allowed to wear his uniform, stripped of insignia, before he was shot. Bruns was one of six Germans to be shot in Denstorf by the U.S. military that day. The executions were filmed. The other five men, four SS troopers and one Wehrmacht soldier, were all executed for espionage.

Between December 16, 1944, and December 20, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, U.S. soldiers captured about 30 Wehrmacht soldiers, including Corporal Heinrich Kauter captured on December 16. During this time, Kauter and his fellow POWs were interrogated by two U.S. soldiers who spoke German fluently. On December 20, 1944, about 300 U.S. soldiers, including the two interrogators, were captured by the German 2nd Battalion, 293rd Volksgrensdier Regiment, 18th Volksgrenadier Division. The Germans were led by Curt Bruns, who was operating in Bleialf and Schoenberg. The American POWs were immediately marched to a custom house. Kauter went ahead of them. Bruns was in the street in front of the customs house when the POWs arrived.

Shortly after the POWs arrived, two of the recently freed German POWs informed Bruns that two of the American POWs spoke fluent German. These men were Ritchie Boys Staff Sergeant Kurt Jacobs, 35, and Technician 5th Grade Murray Zappler, 20. Bruns immediately ordered the two soldiers to retrieve Jacobs and Zappler. They were lined up against the wall of the house by one of Bruns’s sergeants. Bruns had all of the other American POWs marched in the direction of Bleialf. Bruns asked Jacobs and Zappler if they had interrogated his men in German. After they said yes, Bruns then asked them several more questions. He eventually realized that the two men were German Jews.

Curt Bruns (March 12, 1915 – June 14, 1945) was a Wehrmacht Hauptmann and war criminal. He was the first Nazi war criminal to be executed by the United States Army for war crimes. Bruns was shot for having ordered the executions of two American POWs during the Battle of the Bulge after learning they were Ritchie Boys. He said, “The Jews have no right to live in Germany.”

Bruns was born in Juist in 1915. He was a grocery clerk in Stuttgart before joining the Wehrmacht in 1936. Bruns became an officer in 1939. He obtained the rank of Hauptmann in September 1943. He got married and had a child.