Franz Josef Huber

[1] In his last year of school, Huber served as a Zeitfreiwilliger (timed volunteer), which were reserve units that could be mobilized on short notice by the army.

During the years of the Weimar Republic, he worked with Heinrich Müller, then chief of the political department of the Munich police.

Immediately thereafter, Heydrich transferred to the Berlin office of the Gestapo, and took with him: Müller, Meisinger and Huber, referred to as the Bajuwaren-Brigade (Bavarian Brigade).

Meisinger's investigation revealed that Blomberg's wife, Erna Gruhn had been a prostitute with a police record and once posed for pornographic photos.

[7] In 1936, Meisinger uncovered allegations of homosexuality made against the Commander-in-Chief of the Army Colonel General Werner von Fritsch.

At one point Huber and Meisinger interrogated Otto Schmidt, a notorious criminal whose Berlin gang had specialized in blackmail of homosexuals.

[6] Huber did remain good friends with Heinrich Müller who was appointed Gestapo chief on 27 September 1939.

[6] Johann Georg Elser, a German craftsman from Königsbronn, chose the anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch in 1939, to kill Hitler with a bomb during his speech inside the Bürgerbräukeller.

British SIS agents, Captain Sigismund Payne Best and Major Richard Henry Stevens were captured in what became known as the Venlo Incident.

In March 1938, after the annexation of Austria into the German Reich, Huber was appointed head of the State Police.

[14] Huber was also the formal chief of the Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna, and although the de facto leaders were Adolf Eichmann and later Alois Brunner, was nevertheless responsible for the mass deportations of Jews.

[14] In addition, Huber was political adviser to the Gauleiter Baldur von Schirach and his representative as Defense of the Reich Commissioner for the Military District XVII.

In late autumn 1944, Huber was promoted by Ernst Kaltenbrunner to be the Commander of the SiPo and SD in the Military District XVII.

1939 photo: Shown left to right are Huber , Nebe ( Kripo ), Himmler , Heydrich and Müller planning the investigation of the Bürgerbräukeller assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler.
Franz Josef Huber (in doorway) with Heinrich Himmler , August Eigruber and other SS officers, at Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp , June 1941.