Alois Brunner, one of the most ruthless figures of the Holocaust and a key collaborator of Adolf Eichmann, was directly responsible for the systematic deportation and murder of tens of thousands of Jews across Europe, with his actions in Thessaloniki, Greece, representing one of the most tragic episodes.
Brunner wiped out a centuries-old community in Thessaloniki
Brunner, known as Eichmann’s “right-hand man,” was dispatched to the Balkans in early 1943 specifically to organize the destruction of the large, centuries-old Jewish community of Thessaloniki.
Within a period of just two months, Brunner oversaw the systematic deportation of approximately 43,000 to 46,000 Greek Jews from the city.
The victims were crammed into sealed freight wagons for a harrowing nine-day journey to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in occupied Poland, where nearly all were murdered upon arrival.
Brunner’s efficiency and dedication to the Nazi agenda effectively wiped out the entirety of Greece’s largest Jewish community.
A career of atrocities
Brunner’s direct role in the Final Solution extended far beyond Greece. Conservative estimates suggest he was accountable for the deaths of at least 128,500 people in total. His other major assignments included:
- Organizing the deportation of 47,000 Austrian Jews.
- Commanding the notorious Drancy internment camp near Paris, overseeing the transport of thousands of French Jews, including hundreds of children, to the gas chambers
After the war, in the 1950s, he escaped to Syria, where he allegedly became an advisor to President Hafez al-Assad, father of Bashar al-Assad. He managed to escape two assassination attempts by members of the Israeli intelligence.
He was repeatedly convicted and sentenced to death in absentia in France during the 1950s.
The exact timing of Brunner’s death remains a source of conflicting reports. While some intelligence suggests he died in 2010, later investigations indicate his death may have occurred earlier, possibly in December 2001, allegedly while confined to a miserable basement in Damascus.
He was never brought to justice in person.
Related: Diane von Fürstenberg Honored in Thessaloniki, The Birthplace of Her Holocaust Survivor Mother
