Karl Bömelburg

Karl Bömelburg (28 October 1885, Elberfeld, today merged with Wuppertal – 1946) was an SS-Sturmbannführer (major) and head of the Gestapo in France during the Second World War. He notably had authority over section IV J, charged with the deportation of the Jews, for which Alois Brunner (sent in 1943 by Heinrich Müller) was responsible. His aliases included Charles Bois, Mollemburg, and Bennelburger.

During his youth, he spent five years in Paris, in which he learned to speak nearly perfect French. He returned to Germany, was married and began working in his parents' bakery in Berlin. In 1931, Bömelburg became a member of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi Party), joining the SA then the SS. In 1933 he joined the Gestapo, in which he became a commissary directing the Kripo in Berlin.

In 1938 he joined the staff of Joachim von Ribbentrop in Paris. At the start of November, he was put in charge of enquiries into the murder of Ernst vom Rath. When this affair was quickly resolved, he became attached to the German ambassador in Paris, setting up an unofficial Gestapo centre in Paris. He worked in Lyon and Saint-Étienne, making use of his French language ability.

In January 1939, he was expelled by Antoine Mondanel, the inspector general of the judicial police, for helping extreme-right French organisations and fifth-columnists. He moved to Prague, becoming police counsellor to the Gestapo and the head of its anti-Maquis section. While in Prague, he played a crucial role in Nicholas Winton's rescue of 669 Jewish children who escaped Czechoslovakia at the last moment, in exchange for bribes.

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