Karl Rudolf Werner Braune[3] (11 April 1909 − 7 June 1951) was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era and a Holocaust perpetrator.

[6] In November 1931, Braune became a member of the Nazi paramilitary organization known as the Sturmabteilung (SA), sometimes called "stormtroopers" in English.

Under the command of Werner Braune, Special Detachment 11b carried out the massacre of Simferopol, in the Crimea, where in the course of three days from 11 to 13 December 1941 they murdered 14,300 Jews.

From 1943 through 1944, he was the leader of the German Foreign Service Academy, until, in 1945, he was sent to Norway as the commander of the Security Police (Sicherheitspolizei; SiPo) and SD.

[9]On 10 April 1948, Braune was sentenced to death and shortly after midnight on 7 June 1951 he was executed by hanging at Landsberg Prison.

[1] Also hanged on 7 June 1951 at Landsberg Prison were six other Nazi war criminals including Otto Ohlendorf, Erich Naumann, Paul Blobel and Oswald Pohl.