page_title: Philipp Bouhler
section_title: Nazi functionary
hierarchical_section_title: Philipp Bouhler / Nazi functionary
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Des Führers Rückkehr von den Münchener Besprechungen Der Führer begrüßt auf dem Bahnsteig des Anhalter Bahnhof seine Mitarbeiter. UBz: v.r.n.l. Reichsminister Graf von Schwerin-Krosigk, Reichminister Kerrl, Reichsminister Rust, Reichsleiter Bouhler, Reichsjugendführer Baldur von Schirach, rechts Generalfeldmarschall Göring und Reichsminister Dr. Goebbels. Fot.: 1.10.38 12946-38 Information added by Wikimedia users.Returning to Berlin after the Munich Agreement, Hitler is greeted by his collaborators on the railway platform
context_page_description: Philipp Bouhler was a German senior Nazi Party functionary who was both a Reichsleiter and Chief of the Chancellery of the Führer of the NSDAP. He was also the SS official responsible for the Aktion T4 euthanasia program that killed more than 250,000 disabled adults and children in Nazi Germany, as well as co-initiator of Aktion 14f13, also called "Sonderbehandlung", that killed 15,000–20,000 concentration camp prisoners.
  Bouhler was arrested on 10 May 1945 by American troops. He committed suicide on 19 May 1945 while in the U.S. internment camp at Zell am See in Austria.
context_section_description: He joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in July 1922 with membership number 12. By autumn 1922 he had become deputy manager of the NSDAP. After the failed Beerhall Putsch in Munich and the subsequent refounding of the party in 1925, he became Reich Secretary of the NSDAP. After the seizure of power in 1933, he was elected as a member of the Reichstag for Westphalia. On 2 June 1933 Hilter appointed him a Reichsleiter, the second highest political rank in the Nazi Party. He joined the SS in the rank of Gruppenführer on 20 April 1933 with membership number: 54,932. On 30 January 1936, Bouhler was promoted to the rank of Obergruppenführer.
  In August 1934, Bouhler became police president of Munich, and was appointed chief of Adolf Hitler's Chancellery, a post specially created on 17 November 1934 that was first and foremost set aside for party business. He held that position until 23 April 1945. In this job, for instance, secret decrees might be prepared, or internal business managed, before being brought before Adolf Hitler. Moreover, Bouhler was chairman of the "Official Party Inspection Commission for the Protection of National Socialist Literature" (Der Chef der Kanzlei des Führers und Vorsitzender der Parteiamtlichen Prüfungskommission zum Schutze des NS-Schrifttums), which determined what writings were and were not suitable for Nazi society.
  Bouhler's office was responsible for all correspondence for Hitler, which included private and internal communications as well as responding to public inquiries (for example, requests for material help, godfathership, jobs, clemency, NSDAP business and birthday wishes). His personal adjutant was SS-Sturmbannführer Karl Freiherr Michel von Tüßling. By 1944, much of the functions of the Kanzlei des Führers were absorbed by the Party Chancellery (Parteikanzlei) under Martin Bormann.
caption: Bouhler with Adolf Hitler, Baldur von Schirach, Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Göring; Munich, October 1938
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