Abstract: A method and a control device for braking a variable speed vector controlled induction machine are driven by a pulse width modulation (PWM) inverter, in which the q-current component and the d-current component of the stator current are controlled independently from one another in accordance with a first reference signal (iq*) and a second reference signal (id*), respectively. For braking, high frequency components are superimposed on the second reference signal (id*), and the root-mean-square (rms) value (id rms) and the average value (id av) of the resultant second reference signal are controlled independently from one another such that the field requirements are met by the average value and high machine losses are produced by the rms value.