He studied law at the University of Berlin until volunteering for the First World War in 1914, in which he initially fought on the Western Front with the 28th (2nd Royal Saxon) Field Artillery Regiment.

Commissioned as a Leutnant, he rose to the rank of Hauptmann and was posted as an adjutant to Erich Ludendorff, the Deputy Chief of the German General Staff in December 1917.

[2] In October 1936, when Göring was named Representative (Beauftragter) of the newly established Four Year Plan with plenipotentiary power, Körner was brought along as the State Secretary.

[4] After the launching of the war against the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa, Körner was named Göring’s Deputy on the newly former “Economic Executive Staff East” within the Four Year Plan in July 1941.

This organization directed the exploitation and looting of the occupied eastern territories with regard to agricultural products and raw materials such as oil and minerals.

[7] In addition, Körner was also chairman of the supervisory board of the ore mining and ironworks conglomerate Reichswerke Hermann Göring from July 1937 to 1942.

He was also chairman of the board of directors of Mining and Smelting Works East (Berg und Hüttenwerksgesellschaft Ost [de]) from 20 August 1941 to 31 March 1943.

He was promoted to SS-Gruppenführer in March 1934, and served in the SS Senior District East (Oberabschnitt Ost) headquartered in Berlin from 1 October 1934 through 1 April 1936 when he was transferred to the staff of the Reichsführer-SS.