Benno von Arent 1898 – 1956

Biography

Benno von Arent was born on June 19, 1898, in Görlitz, a city in eastern Germany. He would go on to have a significant presence in German public life during the twentieth century, serving in roles that reflected the political complexity and upheaval of his era.

Throughout his adult years, von Arent held positions both as a politician and as an officer in the SS, the paramilitary organization central to Nazi Germany’s regime. His career thus intertwined with some of the most consequential and controversial chapters of modern European history.

Von Arent lived through decades of profound change in Germany—from the final years of the Imperial period through the Weimar Republic, the Nazi era, and into the postwar reconstruction that followed. He passed away on October 14, 1956, in Bonn, the capital of West Germany, having witnessed the transformation of his nation across multiple political systems and the aftermath of the Second World War.