In May 1953, he was convicted in the murder of Dr. Erich Klausener, head of Katholische Aktion (Catholic Action) group, during the "Night of the Long Knives" in 1934.

In his childhood Kurt Gildisch attended primary school in the village of Potrempschen (23 km south west of Insterburg).

[1] On 29 February 1932, Adolf Hitler chose eight from a prospective twelve SS men presented by Sepp Dietrich to serve as his personal bodyguard, the SS-Begleitkommando des Führers.

[1] On 15 June 1934, Himmler had Gildisch removed from his post because of his heavy drinking habits, and replaced by Bruno Gesche as the commander of the SS-Begleitkommando.

Despite the warning and demotion, Gildisch continued to drink heavily and this led to his expulsion from both the SS and the Nazi Party in 1936.

Klausener had been a transportation official in the Prussian Ministry and head of the Katholische Aktion ("Catholic Action") group.

Kurt Gildisch finally found work after retraining as a bookbinder in an Evangelical-Lutheran maintained company that employed disabled people.

[5] Kurt Gildisch died in 1956 of incurable liver disease in a Wilmersdorfer private hospital after the criminal sentence was suspended due to his poor health and lack of available medical treatment in prison.