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Oskar Dirlewanger

Oskar Dirlewanger
Dirlewanger in 1944
Nickname(s)
Born26 September 1895
Würzburg, Bavaria, German Empire
Diedc. 7 June 1945(1945-06-07) (aged 49)
Altshausen, Baden-Württemberg, Allied-occupied Germany
AllegianceGerman Empire
Nazi Germany
Service / branch
Years of service
  • 1913–1919
  • 1919–1921
  • 1937–1939
  • 1940–1945
Rank SS-Oberführer (Colonel/Brigadier)
Commands Dirlewanger Brigade
Battles / wars
Awards
Alma materGoethe University Frankfurt
Signature

Oskar Dirlewanger (26 September 1895 – c. 7 June 1945) was a German SS commander and habitual offender,[1] convicted for rape of children and other crimes.[2] He is known for committing numerous war crimes and atrocities in German-occupied territories during World War II. Dirlewanger was the founder and commander of the SS penal unit, the Dirlewanger Brigade,[3] considered to be the most brutal and notorious Waffen-SS unit.[4][5] His unit epitomized the expansion of the war of terror in its most brutal form within the SS, and with Dirlewanger himself regarded as perhaps the Nazi regime's "most extreme executioner,"[6] indulging himself in sadistic acts of violence, rape and murder.[7]

While serving in Poland and Belarus, Dirlewanger has been closely linked to many atrocities, with his unit being responsible for the deaths of at least "tens of thousands" in Poland and the Soviet Union.[4] His methods included rape and torture,[8] and he personally kept numerous women as his sex slaves.[9] According to historian Christian Ingrao, Dirlewanger's unit committed the worst atrocities of the Second World War,[10] while the historian Timothy Snyder stated that they committed more atrocities than any other.[11] In Belarus alone, he was responsible for up to 200 villages destroyed and over 120,000 people killed.[12][13] His unit is also noted to have committed the worst crimes of the Warsaw Uprising, alongside the notorious and brutal Kaminski Brigade,[14][15][16] with his unit's behavior and conduct reported as having been far worse.[17][18] Dirlewanger's brutality was not limited to civilians and enemy combatants, as he was ruthless to his men, whom he would beat and shoot dead if they displeased him.[19] His unit is regarded as the most infamous Waffen-SS unit in both Poland and Belarus,[17] and arguably the worst military unit in modern European history based in terms of criminality and cruelty.[20]

Dirlewanger had an impressive career as a junior officer during World War I,[21] and further fought in the post-World War I conflicts, being a part of the Freikorps, with the troops he led then also characterized by excessive violence,[22] and the Spanish Civil War.[23] He reportedly died after World War II while in the custody of the Western Allies.

According to the historian Timothy Snyder, "in all the theaters of the Second World War, few could compete in cruelty with Oskar Dirlewanger."[24] He has also been described as the "most evil man in the SS" and as "perhaps the most sadistic of all commanders of World War II."[5] Military historian Tim Heath states Dirlewanger to be "a man whom many describe as one of the most evil and depraved figures not only within the Nazi Third Reich, but throughout history itself",[25] while the military historian Nash Douglas similarly stated that Dirlewanger was "one of the most heinous criminals in military history".[20] The Canadian historian Alexandra Richie noted how the murder "of partisans and civilians was carried out on a grand scale in Byelorussia" but said that "one person who stood out even in that terrible time was Oskar Dirlewanger" and labeled Dirlewanger as "the very face of evil".[26]

  1. ^ Kay, Alex J. (2021). Empire of Destruction: A History of Nazi Mass Killing. Yale University Press. p. 271. ISBN 978-0-300-26253-7.
  2. ^ Heath, Tim (2023). Sex Under the Swastika: Erotica, Scandal and the Occult in Hitler's Third Reich. Pen and Sword History. p. 81. ISBN 978-1-5267-9145-0.
  3. ^ Goldsworthy, Terrence (2006). A sociological and criminological approach to understanding evil: a case study of Waffen-SS actions on the Eastern front during World War II 1941-1945 (PhD thesis). Bond University. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  4. ^ a b MacLean, French L. (1998). The Cruel Hunters: SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger Hitler's Most Notorious Anti-Partisan Unit. Schiffer Military History. pp. 12–13. ISBN 978-0764304835.
  5. ^ a b Bishop, Chris (2003). SS: Hell on the Western Front. Staplehurst: Spellmount. p. 92. ISBN 1-86227-185-2.
  6. ^ Stang, Knut (2004). "Oskar Dirlewanger: Protagonist der Terrorkriegsführung". In Mallmann, Klaus-Michael (ed.). Karrieren der Gewalt: Nationalsozialistische Täterbiographien (in German). Darmstadt, Germany: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft. p. 77. ISBN 3-534-16654-X.
  7. ^ Stang, Knut (2004). "Oskar Dirlewanger: Protagonist der Terrorkriegsführung". In Mallmann, Klaus-Michael (ed.). Karrieren der Gewalt: Nationalsozialistische Täterbiographien (in German). Darmstadt, Germany: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft. pp. 81–82. ISBN 3-534-16654-X.
  8. ^ Smesler, Ronald; Davies II, Edward J. (2008). The Myth of the Eastern Front: The Nazi-Soviet War in American Popular Culture. Cambridge University Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-521-83365-3.
  9. ^ Kuberski, Hubert (2009). "Kryminaliści w mundurach. Powstanie i operacje pacyfikacyjne SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger na terenach Polski i Białorusi (1940–1944)". Glaukopis. 15: 174. ISSN 1730-3419.
  10. ^ Schlagdenhauffen, Régis, ed. (2018). Queer in Europe During the Second World War. Council of Europe Publishing. p. 32. ISBN 978-92-871-8464-1.
  11. ^ Snyder, Timothy (2010). Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. Basic Books. p. 241. ISBN 978-0-465-00239-9.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference :9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference :7 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Lukas, Richard C. (1986). Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation 1939-1944. University Press of Kentucky. p. 199. ISBN 0-8131-1566-3.
  15. ^ Bönisch, Georg; Frohn, Axel; Siepmann, Christian; Wiegrefe, Klaus (20 July 2008). "Ein braver Schwabe". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  16. ^ Biskupska, Jadwiga (2022). Survivors: Warsaw under Nazi Occupation. Cambridge (GB): Cambridge University Press. p. 268. ISBN 978-1-316-51558-7.
  17. ^ a b Snyder, Timothy (2010). Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. Basic Books. p. 303. ISBN 978-0-465-00239-9.
  18. ^ Cawthorne, Nigel (2012). The Story of the SS: Hitler's Infamous Legions of Death. New York: Chartwell Books. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-7858-2714-6.
  19. ^ Stein, George H (1984). The Waffen SS. Cornell University Press. p. 268. ISBN 0-8014-9275-0.
  20. ^ a b Nash, Douglas E. (2023). The Defeat of the Damned: The Destruction of the Dirlewanger Brigade at the Battle of Ipolysag, December 1944. Havertown, PA: Casemate Publishers. pp. xi–xii. ISBN 978-1-63624-211-8. OCLC 1346537306.
  21. ^ MacLean, French L. (1998). The Cruel Hunters: SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger Hitler's Most Notorious Anti-Partisan Unit. Schiffer Military History. pp. 21–22. ISBN 978-0764304835.
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference Longerich1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ Müller, Sven Oliver; Torp, Cornelius, eds. (2011). Imperial Germany Revisited: Continuing Debates and New Perspectives. Berghahn Books. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-85745-252-8.
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference snyder was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ Richie, Alexandra (2013). Warsaw 1944: Hitler, Himmler, and the Warsaw Uprising. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 44–45. ISBN 978-0-374-28655-2.
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