Leopold Bürkner (29 January 1894 - 15 July 1975) was a German naval officer who served on torpedo boats in World War I.

[citation needed] Bürkner was employed on various torpedo boats from 17 January 1916 until the end of the war.

[1] Bürkner was cadet company commander at the Naval Academy Mürwik from 1 August 1920 to 26 September 1923.

[3] Bürkner was First Officer on the newly commissioned pocket battleship Admiral Scheer from 1 October 1935 until 26 July 1937.

[1] In July 1936 the ship was sent to Spain to evacuate German civilians caught in the midst of the Spanish Civil War.

From 8 August 1936 she served with her sister ship Deutschland on non-intervention patrols off the Republican-held coast of Spain.

[5] In reprisal, on 31 May 1937 Admiral Scheer arrived off Almería and opened fire on shore batteries, naval installations and ships in the harbor.

[8] After World War II began, Canaris was disgusted by the brutal executions conducted by the SS in Poland.

[9] In March 1941, Bürkner was involved in discussions concerning setting up a network of Arabs in Palestine to engage in sabotage and armed uprisings.

While in captivity he was one of the former high-ranking officers of the armed forces who assisted in creating 2,500 military history studies.