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Dr. Karl Rudolf Werner 's An Ambitious Man Essay

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The riots and increased tensions in Denmark called for some changes in its Nazi representatives. The Germans pressured the Danish government to remove Prime Minister Vilhelm Buhl, the Social Democrat who succeeded Thorvald Stauning, and installed the pro-German Foreign Minister Erik Scavenius in his place. The commander of the German military in Denmark, General Erich Ludke, was seen as too lenient and was replaced by General Hermann von Hanneken, whose job was to take a tougher stance on the Danish resistance movement. Renthe-Fink was also replaced with SS-Obergruppenführer Werner Best, who was personally handpicked by Heinrich Himmler in November 1942 to be the new plenipotentiary. Best’s role in the failed deportations is significant but his motives and actions are unclear and often called into question.
Dr. Karl Rudolf Werner Best was an ambitious man. Born in 1903, he earned a doctorate in law from the University of Heidelberg in 1927 and became a judge in 1929 in the Hessian court. He was fired in in December 1931 for his connection to the Boxheim Documents, which were made in a failed effort to overthrow the Weimar Republic. In 1930 he joined the Nazi Party and worked closely with SS-Reichsführer Himmler and the head of the security police, Reinhard Heydrich. He worked his way up to a few senior positions in the Gestapo, eventually serving as head of the Administration and Law department of the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt or

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