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Ernst-Robert Grawitz

Ernst-Robert Grawitz (8 June 1899 – 24 April 1945) was a Schutzstaffel obergruppenfuhrer and German reichsarzt (physician) during World War II. During the Battle of Berlin, he killed himself and his family by detonating two grenades under his dinner table.

Biography[]

Grawitz death

Grawitz's death

Ernst-Robert Grawitz was born on 8 June 1899 in Charlottenburg, Berlin, Germany. From 1935 to 1945 he served as Secretary-General of the German Red Cross, but at the same time he was a Nazi Party member who funded efforts to "cure" homosexuality and to eradicate the world of gays. Grawitz became an Obergruppenfuhrer of the Schutzstaffel (SS), and he served as a physician to Adolf Hitler in his bunker in Berlin. In April 1945, he approached Hitler and asked if he could leave Berlin, as the hospitals had all left. Hitler told Grawitz that he could not leave, and that future generations would thank him for his scientific research, while Hitler would take all responsibility for his fate. A terrified Grawitz, fearing that the Soviets would harm him and his family, went home to dinner in his military uniform. His children noticed that he was in his "Sunday suit", while his wife asked him if anything was wrong. He pulled the pins of two grenades under the dinner table, and the explosion killed him and his family.

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