Kurt Wilhelm Günther (31 October 1896 – 3 April 1947) was a German surveyor who became an SA-Obergruppenführer in the Sturmabteilung, the Nazi Party paramilitary organization, and was the long-serving leader of the SA in Thuringia. He was also a Nazi politician and sat as a deputy in the Reichstag throughout most of the Third Reich. He served in the German Army during the Second World War and, after the end of the war, he was executed for war crimes by the State of Thuringia in the Soviet occupation zone.
Contents
Early life
Günther was born in Gera, the son of a weaving mill foreman. He was educated in the local Mittelschule through age 16. He then trained as a surveyor for three years. In 1915 he was drafted into the Imperial German Army and fought in the First World War. He served in Pioneer Battalion 11 and in Mine Laying Company 408 on the eastern and the western fronts. He was detached for specialized training in topography from February to July 1918 at the Preußische Landesaufnahme (Prussian State Survey) in Berlin and the Technische Hochschule Stuttgart. After serving in two infantry regiments until the end of the war, he was discharged from the army in December 1918 with the rank of Gefreiter and the Iron Cross, 2nd class.