Biographie von Karl Otto Braun

Quelle: http://www.revisionists.com/revisionists/braun.html. Diese Seite war am 4.12.2016 mit Microsoft Internet

Explorer nicht abrufbar. Stattdessen erschien folgender Hinweis:

Dies ist der Cache von Google von http://www.revisionists.com/revisionists/braun.html. Es handelt sich
dabei um ein Abbild der Seite, wie diese am 4. Dez. 2016 09:55:54 GMT angezeigt wurde.

Karl Otto Braun

Karl Otto Braun (1910-1988) was a German diplomat and historian.

He was born in Bavaria, and received his secondary education at the prestigious Wilhelmsgymnasium in Munich
and the humanistic Gymnasium in Coburg. He studied English, history, geography and international law at the
universities of Munich, London and Berlin, including study under the great historian Dr. Karl Alexander von
Mller in Munich. Braun's special areas of emphasis were Manchuria, the League of Nations and the works of
Shakespeare. After receiving his Dr. phil. (Ph.D.) in 1935, he studied Japanese at the University of Berlin's
center for oriental languages. (He also spoke English, Italian, Spanish and French.)
He received a year of training for the diplomatic service at the German Foreign Office in Berlin, and then, from
1938 to November 1940, he served in Japan as a cultural attach with the German embassy in Tokyo and as an
economic affairs Vice Consul with the German Consulate General in Osaka. From 1941 until the end of the
Second World War he was with the East Asia section of the Political Department of the German Foreign Office
in Berlin. During the final two years of the war, he headed the section. In that capacity, he met in Berlin with the
legendary Indian nationalist leader Subhas Chandra Bose, and played a role in arranging Bose's dramatic
submarine voyage from Europe to Asia. In July 1944 he lost his brother, Major Wilhelm Braun, who was killed
in action in Poland.
In the aftermath of the war, all former German officials with university degrees were subject to "automatic
arrest" under the provision of U.S. occupation directive SCS 1067, regardless of whether or not they had been
members of the National Socialist Party. Dr. Braun was accordingly seized by American occupation forces in
1945 and interned at the Dachau concentration camp, which was then run by U.S. authorities. He escaped in the
fall of 1946, in part to avoid being forced to testify against his former colleagues. (A common U.S. practice at
the time was to coerce former German officials into testifying against their former colleagues by threatening to
turn them over to the Soviets.)
After the escape, he fled with his wife and infant daughter to South Tyrol, the ethnically German region of
northern Italy, where he worked for two years as a journalist. He then moved to Argentina where he worked in
Buenos Aires for the German steel industry as an independent merchant, 1948-1954. He returned to Germany
where he was employed by major steel corporations until his retirement in 1975.

Dr. Braun devoted the final years of his life to historical research and writing, with a special emphasis on
American foreign policy toward Germany and Japan under Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt.
During the last decade of his life, Braun authored numerous historical essays and reviews, which appeared in a
variety of West German publications, as well as a book, Pearl Harbor in neuer Sicht ("A new view of Pearl
Harbor").
He also translated a number of essays from English into German. For example, he translated and skillfully
condensed an important essay by Tyler Kent, along with an introduction by Mark Weber, from The Journal of
Historical Review (Summer 1983) for publication in the German monthly Nation Europa, February 1984. In the
same issue of Nation Europa was his translation of a presentation by Leon Degrelle from The Journal of
Historical Review (Fall 1982). He also translated former U.S. Congressman Hamilton Fish's book FDR: The
Other Side of the Coin, for which he also provided a foreword and footnotes for the German edition published in
1982.
Although he served as an important official in a government which was at war with the United States. Dr. Braun
had a genuine regard for America's welfare and long-term interests. He was very troubled, for example, by the
threat posed by Zionist power and influence to America's national integrity and basic values.
Braun was a good friend and supporter of the Institute for Historical Review. His first contribution to The
Journal of Historical Review (Winter 1984) was a essay on the legacy of the policies of Woodrow Wilson and
Franklin Roosevelt on Europe. He was a featured speaker at two IHR conferences. His presentation at the Sixth
IHR Conference (Feb. 1985) was an informative and partially autobiographical address, "Reflections on German
and American Foreign Policy, 1933-1945," which was published in the Spring 1985 issue of The Journal of
Historical Review. His younger daughter, Sabine, accompanied him to the Eighth IHR Conference (Oct. 1987),
where he spoke about Richard Sorge, the Soviet master spy who obtained tremendously important secrets for the
Kremlin from the German embassy in Tokyo while working as the Japan correspondent of the Frankfurter
Zeitung newspaper. Braun knew Sorge during his posting in Tokyo.
Braun remained productive until the end. Even during his final days in the Munich hospital where he died, he
worked on a translation of an American book about Franklin Roosevelt and Wall Street.
In spite of a serious physical disability, he was also an active outdoorsman and mountain climber who scaled
several of Europe's highest peaks.
Braun's work on behalf of historical justice for Germany was rooted in an abiding devotion to the heritage and
culture of his people. His search for historical truth was also motivated by a heartfelt concern for world peace
and international harmony.
As a conscientious scholar, Dr. Braun combined a devotion to truth and justice with careful attention to accuracy
and detail. His firm belief in the ultimate triumph of historical truth, was reflected in a Latin phrase he often
quoted: "Veritas magna est et praevalebit." ("The truth is great and will prevail").
His character and spirit were manifest in his address to the 1985 IHR conference. Each revisionist historian, he
said, must ... weigh his words carefully, must maintain a sense of balance and, about all, must stick to the facts.
Revisionism has a mission. It is to find facts. Historical fact-finding has a purifying effect because it embodies
the struggle for truth ... Nations should promote a regard for history, thereby strengthening their memory and
power.
"The dawn of another Renaissance is approaching! Believe me: Moral values have a more enduring life than
shrewd tactics! If we stoop to the level of Marxist lies and self-deception, as Franklin Roosevelt did, we fall into
the hands of our more cunning enemies; whereas if we keep ourselves on a morally elevated plane, we will
emerge victorious. When all is said and done, our blue shining planet, our universe, is in the hands of God ...
Both in person and in his correspondence, Karl Otto Braun was invariably kind, tactful and encouraging. He
patiently and selflessly encouraged many others during the final decade of his life, and it gave him great pleasure
to know younger men and women who would carry on the work that was so dear to his heart. He is remembered
with admiration and appreciation.