Friedrich Alpers
Friedrich Alpers (25 March 1901 – 3 September 1944) was a German Nazi politician and SS-"Obergruppenführer". He was also a Minister of the Free State of Brunswick, and "Generalforstmeister" (General forest supervisor). Alpers was responsible for numerous political crimes in Brunswick. Life and career. Born in 1901, Alpers studied law and political science at the Heidelberg University, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and University of Greifswald. He became a lawyer in 1929. NSDAP and SS. In June 1929, Alpers joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP membership number 132,812). In May 1930 he joined the "Sturmabteilung" (SA). On 1 March 1931  he joined the SS (membership number 6,427). He was an active member in the SS, rising to the rank of "Obergruppenführer". Since October 1930, he was Minister of the Brunswick State Parliament. Alpers was twice temporarily suspended from the SS in 1933 following complaints of excessive violence made against him during the Nazi takeover of Brunswick. Minister of the Free State of Brunswick. After the Nazi seizure of power, Alpers became Finance and Justice Minister of Brunswick on 8 May 1933 (a position in which he served until 1934) under the "Ministerpräsident" Dietrich Klagges. Along with Klagges and Friedrich Jeckeln , Alpers was one of the main persons responsible for the "Gleichschaltung" and persecution of political opponents in the Free State of Brunswick. Subordinated to Alpers was Klagges ""Hilfspolizei"" ("Auxiliary Police"). This force was directly answerable to Klagges and consisted of SA, SS and "Der Stahlhelm" men. On 4 July 1933, Alpers was directly involved in the Rieseberg Murders of eleven communists and labor organizers in Rieseberg, about east of Braunschweig. World War II. From 1941, Alpers served as a military officer, being made a battalion commander of paratroops in February 1944. After having been badly wounded in battle near Mons , he died on 3 September 1944, either by suicide or by being shot.