Karl Brandt and his wife Anni were members of Hitler's inner circle at Berchtesgaden where Hitler maintained his private residence known as the Berghof.
This very exclusive group functioned as Hitler's de facto family circle.
It included Eva Braun, Albert Speer, his wife Margarete, Theodor Morell, Martin Bormann, Hitler's photographer Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler's adjutants and his secretaries.
Brandt and Hitler's chief architect Albert Speer were good friends as the two shared technocratic dispositions about their work.
Brandt looked at killing "useless eaters" and the handicapped as a means to an end, namely since it was in the interest of public health.
Similarly, Speer viewed the use of concentration camp labor for his defense and building projects in much the same way.
As members of this inner circle, the Brandts had a residence near the Berghof and spent considerable time there when Hitler was present.
 In his memoirs, Speer described the numbing lifestyle of Hitler's inner circle, forced to stay up most of the night listening to the insomniac Nazi leader's repetitive monologues or to an unvarying selection of music.
 Despite Brandt's closeness to Hitler, the dictator was furious when he learned shortly before the end of the war that the doctor had sent Anni and their son toward the American lines in hopes of evading capture by the Russians.
Only the intervention of Heinrich Himmler, Speer, and the direct order of Admiral Doenitz after Brandt had been captured by the Gestapo and sent to Kiel in the war's closing days, saved him from execution.
Karl Brandt and his wife Anni were members of Hitler's inner circle at Berchtesgaden where Hitler maintained his private residence known as the Berghof. This very exclusive group functioned as Hitler's de facto family circle. It included Eva Braun, Albert Speer, his wife Margarete, Theodor Morell, Martin Bormann, Hitler's photographer Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler's adjutants and his secretaries. Brandt and Hitler's chief architect Albert Speer were good friends as the two shared technocratic dispositions about their work. Brandt looked at killing "useless eaters" and the handicapped as a means to an end, namely since it was in the interest of public health. Similarly, Speer viewed the use of concentration camp labor for his defense and building projects in much the same way. As members of this inner circle, the Brandts had a residence near the Berghof and spent considerable time there when Hitler was present.  In his memoirs, Speer described the numbing lifestyle of Hitler's inner circle, forced to stay up most of the night listening to the insomniac Nazi leader's repetitive monologues or to an unvarying selection of music.  Despite Brandt's closeness to Hitler, the dictator was furious when he learned shortly before the end of the war that the doctor had sent Anni and their son toward the American lines in hopes of evading capture by the Russians. Only the intervention of Heinrich Himmler, Speer, and the direct order of Admiral Doenitz after Brandt had been captured by the Gestapo and sent to Kiel in the war's closing days, saved him from execution.
Karl Brandt