The Himmler Brothers.
From left, Ernst, Heinrich and Gebhard (Junior) Himmler in prewar SS uniform. According to Ernst's grand-daughter Katrin (in her book, "The Himmler Brothers") Ernst (the youngest) and Gebhard joined the SS in 1933. Ernst was, relatively speaking, politically inactive; he enjoyed a prosperous career as a senior engineer in the German radio service, and generally enjoyed the perks of a member of the Nazi "aristocracy". He was killed (or possibly committed suicide) in the final battle in Berlin in 1945 while serving with the radio service Volkssturm unit. His reserve commission with the LSSAH does not seem to have been activated at any point. Gebhard Jr. was idolised as well as envied by Heinrich in view, as much as anything else, of his WW1 record. According to Katrin Himmler, he did not speak much of it in the family, but he appears to have received the EK II following involvement in an artillery attack that virtually wiped out his unit; and the EK I following the capture of a British artillery observation section in No Man's Land by a patrol led by him. Gebhard had a complex Nazi career, in WWII, involving a stint in the Heer at the beginning of WW2(during which he received the 1939 Clasp to his EK II), lengthy service as, in effect the chief executive of the Reich guild of engineers, and a period as a civil servant (and protege of Dr. Fritz Todt) in the Ministry for Education. He ended the war with the SS rank of Oberfuhrer, and a job as an inspector of Waffen-SS troops. He was awarded the War Merit Cross, First and Second Class, in the course of the war. Gebhard was, apparently, perpetually dissatisfied by the reluctance of brother Heinrich to promote him to the SS rank to which he thought himself qualified - understandable, I think, as Heinrich would have been sensitive to possible allegations of nepotism by political rivals. Oh well. There's no pleasing some people ... Best regards, JR.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://ww2incolor.com/gallery/german-leadership/45145/the-himmler-brothers.