Sepp Dietrich

Josef Dietrich with the rank of SS-Colonel-Group Leader at the award of the diamonds for the Knight's Cross (1944)

Josef "Sepp" Dietrich - also Joseph Dietrich - (* May 28, 1892 in Hawangen ; † April 21, 1966 in Ludwigsburg ) was initially commander of Adolf Hitler's bodyguard ( Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler ) and later SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer and Colonel- General of the Waffen SS . This made Dietrich the highest-ranking officer in the Waffen SS alongside Paul Hausser . After the war, he was sentenced to imprisonment for being partly responsible for the Malmedy massacre and for his role in murders in connection with the so-called Röhm putsch .

Life

Dietrich's parents were farm workers in poor conditions. He was the eldest son of Pelagius Dietrich and had two brothers and three sisters. After attending elementary school for eight years, he wandered through Austria and Italy . Most recently, Dietrich was in Switzerland , where he began an apprenticeship in the hotel business in Zurich , which he successfully completed.

He was drafted into the Bavarian Army in 1911 and served there in the 4th field artillery regiment "König" in Augsburg . He was released after just a few weeks because he fell from his horse during training and was seriously injured. He then returned to his family and worked as an errand boy for a baker.

Dietrich reported to the field artillery at the beginning of the war in 1914 and was deployed with interruptions on the Western Front and in 1917 in the Twelfth Isonzo Battle and then in a storm battalion. He was wounded three times. From spring 1918 he was with the Bavarian Sturmpanzerwagen-Division 13 , one of the first German armored units . Dietrich was used as a gun leader of a captured Mark IV tank . For bravery, he was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross .

After the First World War

After the First World War , Dietrich headed the soldiers' council of Bavarian Sturmpanzerkampfwagen-Department 13 from November 1918. He was discharged from the Bavarian Army in 1919 as Vice Sergeant . He moved to Munich and participated as a sergeant in a volunteer corps at the suppression of the Bavarian Soviet Republic in part. In 1920 Dietrich joined the Bavarian State Police as chief sergeant ; at the same time he became a member of the Bund Oberland . In 1921 he took leave to work with the first battalion of the Freikorps Oberland a . a. to take part in the storming of the Annaberg in Upper Silesia , in which he distinguished himself through extraordinary bravery. Because of his alleged participation in the Hitler-Ludendorff putsch in Munich on November 9, 1923 - apart from his own statements, there is no evidence available - Dietrich had to leave the police service in 1924 and lived from various occupations.

Joined the NSDAP and SS

Through his acquaintance with Christian Weber , in whose gas station Dietrich was employed as a garage foreman, he worked for the NSDAP from 1925. He became a member of the NSDAP on May 1, 1928 ( membership number 89.015) and only a little later, on May 5, 1928, he joined the SS (SS number 1177). He was initially a travel agent at the Nazi party publisher Eher . In Munich Dietrich set up the 1st SS standard and there led “Sturm 1” (later the “SS Traditionssturm”) until June 1928. On June 1, 1928, he was appointed SS-Sturmführer .

From August 1928, Dietrich often met with Adolf Hitler and soon became part of his inner circle due to “his honesty, his absolute reliability and his rough charm”. From November 18, 1929 with the rank of SS-Standartenführer he was commander of the SS Brigade Bavaria and from 1930 leader of the SS-Obergruppe Süd. On July 11, 1930 he was appointed SS-Oberführer . During the Stennes Putsch in 1931, he showed absolute loyalty to Hitler. He was therefore given the rank of SS group leader on December 18, 1931 and was entrusted with the management of the SS upper section "North" (Hamburg). In the 1930 Reichstag election , Dietrich became a member of the Reichstag for the NSDAP. Even after the transfer of power to the National Socialists , he retained his mandate until the end of the war in 1945 in the then functionless Reichstag .

time of the nationalsocialism

Dietrich with his second wife Ursula, née Moninger (1942)

After Hitler's appointment as Reich Chancellor, Dietrich was appointed “the Führer’s personal companion” on March 17, 1933. He took over the protection of Hitler as a full-time head of the "Staff Guard Berlin" in the Reich Chancellery . As early as February 1932, he had taken over Hitler's personal protection as head of the SS escort command Der Führer .

Dietrich took on a prominent role in the shooting of the SA leadership during the "Röhm Putsch": Dietrich followed on the night of June 29th to 30th with members of the first and second rifle companies of the staff guard named for this mission as the SS Sonderkommando Bavaria, where he was supposed to accompany Hitler to Bad Wiessee to arrest the SA leadership . Since the delegation of the SS special command was delayed, Hitler decided at short notice to travel to Wiessee , accompanied only by a command from the Bavarian Political Police . Instead, Dietrich and his people took part in securing the city against a possible SA uprising after their arrival in Munich. On the orders of Hitler, Dietrich organized in the early evening of June 30th together with his adjutant Josias zu Waldeck and Pyrmont the shooting of six of the SA leaders arrested in Wiessee and Munich by members of the Leibstandarte in the Munich-Stadelheim prison . These were Dietrich's close friend August Schneidhuber as well as Hans Hayn , Edmund Heines , Hans Adam von Heydebreck , Wilhelm Schmid and Hans Erwin von Spreti-Weilbach . From June 30 to July 2, 1934 , Dietrich's deputies Jürgen Wagner and Siegfried Taubert had at least fourteen other SA members executed on the premises of the Lichterfelde Cadet Institute near Berlin . A few days later, Hitler promoted Dietrich to SS-Obergruppenführer with effect from July 1, 1934 .

In September 1933 the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler was formed from the “SS Sonderkommando” . Officially, the Leibstandarte was subordinate to Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler , but in fact Dietrich was able to act largely independently of Himmler's control. As a result, there were increasing conflicts with the SS leadership, despite the close personal relationship with Hitler. Under Dietrich's command, the Leibstandarte moved into the Sudetenland in March 1938 after the Anschluss in Austria and after the Munich Agreement in October 1938 . A few months later, Dietrich's unit was involved in the occupation of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939 .

Second World War

Josef Dietrich in Metz . Photo from September 1940.

In the initial phase of World War II , Dietrich commanded his unit as a motorized infantry regiment during the conquest of Poland in September 1939 and the Netherlands, Belgium and France in 1940 . Already during the attack on Poland, Dietrich set subordinate soldiers of the Waffen-SS on fire as they marched through villages and also violated existing martial law during the western campaign . a. by putting on civilian clothes or uniforms of the enemy. As part of these campaigns, Dietrichs Leibstandarte also took part in the murder of Polish Jews and the shooting of British prisoners of war in the Wormhout massacre . In April and May 1941 his unit took part in the Balkan campaign.

Before the start of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, Dietrich's association was expanded into a motorized division that fought as part of Panzer Group 1 in Army Group South . She was involved in the Battle of Uman , the crossing over the Dnieper and the conquest of Rostov . At the end of the year he received the Oak Leaves for the Knight's Cross and was highlighted by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels as an outstanding National Socialist troop leader. In January 1942 Dietrich returned to the German Reich on convalescence leave to heal frostbite on his foot. Meanwhile, he married Ursula Moninger for the second time. On April 20, 1942, Hitler's birthday, he was promoted to SS-Colonel-Group Leader and Colonel- General of the Waffen-SS at Heinrich Himmler's suggestion as the “longest-serving tank general”. For Dietrich's 50th birthday on May 28, 1942, Hitler gave him a personal endowment of 100,000 Reichsmarks . According to Clark, his appointment as SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer and Colonel-General of the Waffen-SS took place in August 1944, but retrospectively. His military successes were exploited by Nazi propaganda and Dietrich was presented as a “victorious commander” and a prime example of the National Socialist ideal of fighters and leaders.

The Leibstandarte has meanwhile been converted in the West and returned to the Eastern Front in December 1942, now renamed the 1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" . In March 1943, Dietrich's division recaptured the city of Kharkov as part of the SS Panzer Corps under SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser ( third battle for Kharkov ). The SS men, initially trained only as guard soldiers, became known under his leadership for war crimes and their warfare, which led to high losses, but also brought about military success. From July 27, 1943 to August 23, 1944 he commanded the 1st SS Panzer Corps.

Dietrich (left) in January 1945

From June 1944 on, his unit was deployed near Caen during the Allied invasion of Normandy . In August 1944 Dietrich was awarded the diamonds for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. In September 1944 he became commander in chief of the 6th Panzer Army , which included four SS Panzer divisions of the Waffen SS and which, along with two other armies, was deployed in the Ardennes offensive from December 15, 1944 .

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel prepared an armistice with the Allies in the West in 1944 . In order to avoid problems with the Waffen-SS, he approached Dietrich in July 1944. Dietrich is said to have replied "You are our Commander-in-Chief, we are going with you!"

With his army he supported the German troops enclosed by the Red Army during the Battle of Budapest after the failure of the Battle of the Bulge . At the end of the war, Dietrich joined the 6th SS Panzer Army in early April 1945 as the military “city commander” of the Battle of Vienna .

During this time, after the white flag had been hoisted at St. Stephen's Cathedral , he gave the order to shoot it to rubble in retaliation for this “betrayal”. Armed Forces Captain Gerhard Klinkicht refused to carry out this order for moral reasons and thus saved St. Stephen's Cathedral from total destruction.

Dietrich surrendered on May 8, 1945 with the remnants of his army to the American General George S. Patton .

After the end of the war

Josef Dietrich in Allied custody (around 1946)

Dietrich was sentenced to death in absentia in the Soviet Union for war crimes committed by members of his SS Panzer Division in 1943 in Kharkov . On July 16, 1946, he was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Malmedy Trial , in which the shooting of over 70 American prisoners of war by a unit of the Waffen SS was negotiated. As early as 1955, he was pardoned on probation and released from the Landsberg War Crimes Prison in October of this year , after his sentence had already been commuted to 25 years in 1951. While in detention, his much younger wife separated from him and given up his name. He could therefore not return to his home in Karlsruhe . He found a job with an advertising agency in Ludwigsburg.

His crimes in connection with the Röhm affair were brought up before the jury court in Munich in 1957 . On May 14, 1957 Dietrich was sentenced to a prison term of 18 months for aiding and abetting manslaughter , of which he served six months from August 1958 to February 1959 in the Landsberg correctional facility before he was released early because of a heart condition.

In September 1960 he went on a hunting trip in Burgenland , Austria , against which locals protested. Interior Minister Josef Afritsch ( Federal Government Raab III ) declared Dietrich to be an undesirable person for causing public nuisance and ordered him to leave by police officers.

Dietrich remained a staunch supporter of National Socialism throughout his life and was involved in the mutual aid community of members of the former Waffen-SS (HIAG). He died of a heart attack in 1966 . About 5,000 people attended his funeral, mostly from the ranks of the Waffen SS. The funeral speech was held by the former SS-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Bittrich .

Ratings

The American historians Allbritton and Mitcham judge: "As a staunch supporter of Hitler and a high-ranking SS leader, Sepp Dietrich was undoubtedly personally guilty." Dietrich was "not a first-rate military leader": "As a troop commander, Dietrich did not understand certain strategic principles that a professionally trained person would Officer would have understood. "

Klaus A. Lankheit wrote in 1998 about Dietrich: “The popular Sepp D. was extremely popular with the soldiers, but was judged less favorably by the trained staff officers because he often replaced deficient military knowledge with bravado. He carried out Hitler's instructions ruthlessly, even against better judgment in later years of the war. Even if in later years of the war he showed understanding for the criticism of oppositional Wehrmacht officers of Hitler's warfare, he was not able to grasp his involvement in the crimes of the regime and his co-responsibility ”.

Awards

First World War and the interwar period

• Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
• Bavarian Military Merit Order III. class
• Austrian medal for bravery
• Silesian eagle II and I stages in 1919
• Chariot commemorative badge in 1921

Awards in the time of National Socialism

• Golden party badge of the NSDAP
• Ehrenwinkel the old fighters
• SS ring of honor (skull ring )
• Blood Order of the NSDAP
• Medal in memory of March 13, 1938
• Medal in memory of October 1, 1938
• Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class
• Wound badge (1939) in silver
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with oak leaves, swords and diamonds
  • Knight's Cross on July 4th 1940
  • Oak leaves on December 31, 1941 (41st award)
  • Swords on March 14, 1943 (26th award)
  • Diamonds on August 6, 1944 (16th award)
• Medal Winter Battle in the East 1941/42
• Crimean shield
• Pilot badge (honorary)
• Panzer Badge

See also

• List of generals of the Waffen SS

literature

• Robert Wistrich and Hermann Weiß : Who was who in the Third Reich . Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1993, ISBN 3-596-24373-4 .
• Michael Schadewitz: Between the knight's cross and the gallows. Skorzeny's secret company Greif in Hitler's Ardennes offensive 1944/45 . Helios-Verlag, Aachen 2007, ISBN 978-3-938208-48-9 .
• William T. Allbritton and Samuel W. Mitcham Jr .: SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer and Colonel-General of the Waffen-SS Joseph (Sepp) Dietrich. In: Gerd R. Ueberschär (ed.): Hitler's military elite. From the beginning of the war to the end of the world war. Volume 2, Primus Verlag, Darmstadt 1998, ISBN 3-89678-089-1 , ISBN 3-534-12678-5 (Scientific Book Society), pp. 37-44; the same article in: Gerd R. Ueberschär (Ed.): Hitler's military elite. 68 CVs (2 volumes in one). Primus, 2nd edition, Darmstadt 2011, ISBN 978-3-89678-727-9 , pp. 308-315.
• Christopher Clark: Josef "Sepp" Dietrich - Landsknecht in the service of Hitler. In: Ronald Smelser , Enrico Syring (ed.): The SS: Elite under the skull. Schöningh, Paderborn 2003, ISBN 3-506-78562-1 .
• Tuviah Friedman : Josef "Sepp" Dietrich: Document collection (compiled by T. Friedman), Institute of Documentation in Israel for the Investigation of Nazi War Crimes, Haifa 1997.
• Klaus A. Lankheit: Dietrich, Sepp (Joseph) . In: Biographisches Lexikon zum Third Reich . S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 3-10-091052-4 , p. 88 f.

Web links

Commons : Josef Dietrich  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Sepp Dietrich in the catalog of the German National Library
• Newspaper article about Sepp Dietrich in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
• Sepp Dietrich in the database of members of the Reichstag
• Dietrich, Sepp (PDF; 983 kB) in the directory of digitized holdings of the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich (ZS 0450), hearing of witnesses in May and September 1950.

References and comments

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Klaus A. Lankheit: Dietrich, Sepp (Joseph) . In: Biographisches Lexikon zum Third Reich , Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 88 f.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} William T. Allbritton / Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr: SS-Oberstgruppenführer and Colonel General of the Waffen-SS Joseph (Sepp) Dietrich . In: Gerd R. Ueberschär (ed.): Hitler's military elite. 68 CVs . Primus, 2nd edition, Darmstadt 2011, p. 308.
3. ↑ Christopher Clark: Josef "Sepp" Dietrich - Landsknecht in the service of Hitler. In: Ronald Smelser, Enrico Syring (ed.): The SS: Elite under the skull. Paderborn, 2000, p. 119.
4. ↑ Gerd R. Ueberschär (Ed.): Hitler's military elite. Primus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 978-3-89678-727-9 , p. 309.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Klaus Cachay, Steffen Bahlke, Helmut Mehl: Real athletes - good soldiers. The sports socialization of National Socialism as reflected in field post letters . Beltz Juventa, Weinheim, Munich, 2000, p. 350.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Christopher Clark: Josef “Sepp” Dietrich - Landsknecht in the service of Hitler. In: Ronald Smelser, Enrico Syring (ed.): The SS: Elite under the skull. Paderborn, 2000, p. 120.
7. ↑ Note: The rank "SS-Sturmführer" was renamed in October 1935 to "SS-Untersturmführer". (see also seniority lists of the SS )
8. ^ ^{A b c} Christopher Clark: Josef "Sepp" Dietrich - Landsknecht in the service of Hitler. In: Ronald Smelser, Enrico Syring (ed.): The SS: Elite under the skull. Paderborn, 2000, p. 121.
9. ↑ ^{a b} Christopher Clark: Josef “Sepp” Dietrich - Landsknecht in the service of Hitler. In: Ronald Smelser, Enrico Syring (ed.): The SS: Elite under the skull. Paderborn, 2000, p. 122.
10. ^ ^{A b c} Christopher Clark: Josef "Sepp" Dietrich - Landsknecht in the service of Hitler. In: Ronald Smelser, Enrico Syring (ed.): The SS: Elite under the skull. Paderborn, 2000, p. 123.
11. ↑ Christopher Clark: Josef "Sepp" Dietrich - Landsknecht in the service of Hitler. In: Ronald Smelser, Enrico Syring (ed.): The SS: Elite under the skull. Paderborn, 2000, p. 127.
12. ^ William T. Allbritton / Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr: SS-Oberstgruppenführer and Colonel General of the Waffen-SS Joseph (Sepp) Dietrich . In: Gerd R. Ueberschär (ed.): Hitler's military elite. 68 CVs , p. 310.
13. ^ William T. Allbritton / Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr: SS-Oberstgruppenführer and Colonel General of the Waffen-SS Joseph (Sepp) Dietrich , p. 310.
14. ↑ ^{a b} Ernst Klee: The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich . Who was what before and after 1945. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 2nd edition 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 , p. 110.
15. ↑ Gerd R. Ueberschär , Winfried Vogel : Serving and earning. Hitler's gifts to his elites. Frankfurt 1999, ISBN 3-10-086002-0 .
16. ↑ cf. Christopher Clark : Josef "Sepp" Dietrich - Landsknecht in the service of Hitler. In: Ronald Smelser, Enrico Syring (ed.): The SS: Elite under the skull. Paderborn, 2000, p. 123 and Klaus A. Lankheit: Dietrich, Sepp (Joseph) . In: Biographisches Lexikon zum Third Reich , Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 88 f.
17. ↑ Christopher Clark: Josef "Sepp" Dietrich - Landsknecht in the service of Hitler. In: Ronald Smelser, Enrico Syring (ed.): The SS: Elite under the skull. Paderborn, 2000, p. 125 f.
18. ^ William T. Allbritton / Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr: SS-Oberstgruppenführer and Colonel General of the Waffen-SS Joseph (Sepp) Dietrich , p. 310 f.
19. ^ William T. Allbritton / Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr: SS-Oberstgruppenführer and Colonel General of the Waffen-SS Joseph (Sepp) Dietrich , p. 311 u. P. 313.
20. ^ House of History Baden-Württemberg (ed.): Erwin Rommel. History and Myth of Braun Buchverlag, Karlsruhe 2009.
21. ↑ Manfred Rommel: 1944 - the year of the decision Hohenheim Verlag, Stuttgart 2010. The wording is somewhat different according to the book of the House of History Baden-Württemberg. Rommel asked whether Dietrich would also carry out the orders “if they contradicted those of Hitler.” Dietrich: “You, Field Marshal, are my Commander-in-Chief; I only obey you, whatever you want to plan. "
22. ↑ Christopher Clark: Josef "Sepp" Dietrich - Landsknecht in the service of Hitler. In: Ronald Smelser, Enrico Syring (ed.): The SS: Elite under the skull. Paderborn, 2000, p. 124.
23. ↑ Gerhard Klinkicht, in: Our St. Stephen's Cathedral, online , queried November 1, 2018.
24. ^ William T. Allbritton / Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr: SS-Oberstgruppenführer and Colonel General of the Waffen-SS Joseph (Sepp) Dietrich , p. 312.
25. ↑ ^{a b} William T. Allbritton / Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr: SS-Oberstgruppenführer and Colonel General of the Waffen-SS Joseph (Sepp) Dietrich , p. 313.
26. ↑ ^{a b} Christopher Clark: Josef “Sepp” Dietrich - Landsknecht in the service of Hitler. In: Ronald Smelser, Enrico Syring (ed.): The SS: Elite under the skull. Paderborn, 2000, p. 129.
27. ^ War criminals march "Nazi Germany is resurrected" , stuttgarter-zeitung.de, September 21, 2012.
28. ↑ see also article (pdf) in Paris Match
29. ^ William T. Allbritton / Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr: SS-Oberstgruppenführer and Colonel General of the Waffen-SS Joseph (Sepp) Dietrich , p. 312 f.
30. ↑ Quoted by Klaus A. Lankheit: Dietrich, Sepp (Joseph) . In: Biographisches Lexikon zum Third Reich , Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 88 f.
31. ↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939-1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 444.