Oskar Paul Dirlewanger (26 September 1895 – ) was a German military officer, mass murderer and war criminal. He commanded the Dirlewanger Brigade, a penal military unit of the Waffen-SS which served in World War II. Dirlewanger's unit is often considered the most notorious Waffen-SS unit, committing some of the conflict's worst atrocities, with Dirlewanger himself regarded as perhaps Nazi Germany's "most extreme executioner", engaging in frequent acts of violence, rape, and murder. He died after the war while in Allied custody.
Dirlewanger had an impressive career as a junior officer during World War I. He fought in the post-World War I conflicts in Germany as a minor commander in the Freikorps militia movement, with the troops he led then also characterized by excessive violence, and participated in the Spanish Civil War. Through his service with the Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War, he was politically rehabilitated despite his criminal record, allowing his return to favor within the Nazi Party. He was a habitual offender, convicted in interwar Germany for illegal weapons possession and a sexual offense involving a minor; the latter conviction was annulled in 1940. During World War II, he was appointed and headed a special Waffen-SS unit that was officially named after him and was composed for the most part of conscripted convicts and other prisoners.
Serving mostly in Poland and Belarus, he has been closely linked to many atrocities, being responsible for the deaths of at least tens of thousands. In Belarus alone, Dirlewanger may have been responsible for around 120,000 killed and 200 villages destroyed. In Warsaw, he was responsible for up to 30,000 killed, most of them non-combatants. His methods included rape and torture, and he personally kept numerous women as his sex slaves. He also repeatedly engaged in systematic looting, amassing stolen property for personal use. His unit is considered to have committed the worst crimes of the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising, alongside the Kaminski Brigade, though Timothy Snyder described the behavior of Dirlewanger as being even worse. Besides brutality to civilians and captured enemy combatants, Dirlewanger was ruthless to his men, whom he would beat and kill if they displeased him. His unit is further regarded as the war's most infamous in Belarus, as well as Poland, and arguably the worst military force in modern European history based in terms of criminality and cruelty.
Dirlewanger deserted in April 1945. He was captured by French authorities in June and then died shortly afterward while in Allied custody. Although postwar rumors claimed that he had survived and fled abroad to Egypt, these were later disproven following the exhumation and forensic identification of his remains in 1960, which confirmed that he died in 1945.
Early life Oskar Dirlewanger was the son of August Dirlewanger, an attorney and a merchant, and Pauline Dirlewanger (née Herrlinger). Dirlewanger's paternal grandfather worked in Stuttgart as a surgeon and vaccinator, and his maternal grandfather as a primary school teacher. The Dirlewanger family was of Swabian origin.Cooper M. The Phantom War: The German struggle against Soviet partisans, 1941–1944. L., 1979. p. 88. In December 1893, August and Pauline married in Esslingen am Neckar on December and shortly before the birth of their first daughter, they moved to Würzburg. Their first daughter, Mathilde Dirlewanger was born on 7 June 1894. On 26 September 1895, the second child of the family, Oskar Paul Dirlewanger was born. Three years later on 28 December 1898, their second daughter, Elfriede Dirlewanger was born.
On 1 July 1901, August Dirlewanger resigned from his merchant career and became a commercial proxy. This required him to move to Stuttgart and the family followed him there in October. On 9 December 1901, Pauline gave birth to the fourth child, Paul Dirlewanger. In the same year, Oskar began attending elementary school there and in 1903 he attended a preparatory class called Vorklasse. In Stuttgart, he also later attended the Realgymnasium there. In 1906, the Dirlewanger family moved back to Esslingen am Neckar where they lived in an apartment building located at Kesselwasen 16. In May 1906, he attended the Esslinger Gymnasium (known today as the Georgii-Gymnasium) and later, moved to the Schelztor-Oberrealschule in 1910. On 16 September 1910, Dirlewanger was registered as a "trial" student due to his not outstanding grades on three subjects. This status was later revoked on 17 November 1910 when he had improved in the ninth grade.
He completed his Abitur and received his matriculation examination certificate on 30 June 1913. His results were as follows: +GradeSubject(s)Very Good (7)History in German LiteratureGood (6)History, GeographySatisfactory (5)Philosophy, French, Religion, Physics, Analysis and ChemistryAdequate (4)Geometry, English, Natural Science, Drawing His result on the matriculation examination placed him 11th out of 29 students. After passing the examination, Dirlewanger stated that he planned to study law, and his certificate listed "administrative lawyer" as his career preference.
He never married and he stood tall. His religion was noted as Evangelical Christian.
World War I Dirlewanger enlisted in the Württemberg Army on 1 October 1913, and served as a machine gunner in the "König Karl" Grenadier Regiment 123, a part of the XIII (Royal Württemberg) Corps and as a one-year volunteer.Personalakte Oskar Dirlewanger. Washington, D.C.: NARA A 3343, Records of SS Officers from the Berlin Document Center (Die Höhere SS-und Polizeiführer Russland Mitte die Verleihung des Deutschen Kreuzes in Gold die SS-Obersturmbannführer Dr. Dirlewanger, 9. August 1943, Roll SSO-154. With the outbreak of World War I on 2 August 1914, Dirlewanger's unit, as part of Crown Prince Wilhelm's 5th Army, was sent to the Western Front, where he initially took part in the Battle of the Ardennes and later fought in France and Luxembourg.
While serving on the Western Front, Dirlewanger was wounded several times, as a result of which he became "40 percent disabled."Klausch H.-P. Antifaschisten in SS-Uniform. Schicksal und Widerstand der deutschen politischen KZ-Häftlinge, Zuchthaus- und Wehrmachtgefangenen in der SS-Sonderformation Dirlewanger / Herausgegeben vom Dokumentations- und Informationszentrum Emslandlager. Bd. 6. Bremen: Edition Temmen, 1993. — S. 35. — 592 S. He received the Iron Cross 2nd Class and 1st Class, having been wounded six times, and finished the war with the rank of lieutenant, in charge of a company on the Eastern Front. According to his German biographer Knut Stang, Dirlewanger's WWI frontline experiences and their violence and barbarism determined his later life and "terror warfare" methods, in addition to his amoral personality shaped by sexual sadism and alcoholism.
On 22 August 1914, Dirlewanger was wounded twice during the Battle of the Ardennes. He was shot in the foot and sabred in the chest. The next day, he was wounded again when shrapnel struck his head. For his combat service, Dirlewanger was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class on 28 August 1914. He spent nearly four months recuperating from his wounds in field hospitals. On 14 April 1915, he was promoted to the rank of Leutnant and served as a platoon leader until 30 November 1916. On 7 September 1915, he was wounded again, suffering a gunshot wound to the hand and a bayonet injury to the right leg. On 4 October 1915, he was awarded the Württemberg Bravery Medal in Gold. He once again spent five months in several military hospitals at Trier and Esslingen recuperating from his recent wounds. On 13 July 1916, he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class.
Since December 1916, Dirlewanger served on the staff of the 7th Infantry Division. From January to March 1917, he served back at the frontline as the commander of the assault company of the 7th Infantry Division before moving to take command of the 2nd Machine-gun Company of the 123rd Infantry Regiment. He would lead this unit until October 1918. On 30 April 1918, he was shot in the left shoulder. By this time, the unit was in southern Russia and served in the occupation of Ukraine. At the cessation of hostilities, his battalion was supposed to be interned in Romania, but Dirlewanger decided to return his unit to Germany, and led 600 men from his company and other battalion units home.Ingrao, p. 50 They departed Romania 26 November 1918 and arrived in Germany on 28 December 1918. He ended the war as an Oberleutnant der Reserve and, in June 1919 his service was assessed as very positive. Historian French MacLean described Dirlewanger as having "an outstanding military record in World War I" and that his service "was indeed an impressive military record for a junior officer".
Interwar period By the end of World War I, Dirlewanger was described in one police report as "a mentally unstable, violent fanatic and alcoholic, who had the habit of erupting into violence under the influence of drugs." The fact that he had succeeded, even after the ceasefire, in fighting his way back from the front in Romania to Germany with his men became for him the defining experience. Henceforth, he adopted an unrestrained mode of life, characterised by contempt for the laws and rules of civil society.
Freikorps In 1919, Dirlewanger joined various Freikorps paramilitary militias (Epp, Haas, Sprésser and Holz) and fought against German communists in Thuringia, Ruhr, and Saxony, and against Polish insurgents in Upper Silesia. (for which he was awarded Order of the Upper Silesian Eagle II). He participated in the suppression of the German Revolution of 1918–19 with the Freikorps in multiple German cities in 1920 and 1921. At the same time, he studied at the Higher Commercial School in Mannheim, but was expelled from it for antisemitism.Hellmuth Auerbach. Die Einheit Dirlewanger. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt GmbH, 1962, S. 251 In 1919, Oberleutnant Dirlewanger formed a temporary defence platoon and fought as its leader against communists in various parts of the Weimar Republic. In that same year, he had suppressed several strikes in the town of Backnang, Kornwestheim, Untertürkheim, Aalen, and Schorndorf, and a year later in Heidenheim, as well as Communist revolts in Stuttgart and Esslingen. By 13 March 1920, now as a member of the Freikorps Haas, Dirlewanger served as the commander of an armoured train (Geschützter Zug Dirlewanger) in Stuttgart.
Later, he commanded an armed formation of students which was set up by him under the Württemberg "Highway Watch". Whatever troops he led were also characterized by excessive violence.
On Easter Sunday 1921, Dirlewanger commanded an armoured train that moved towards Sangerhausen, which had been occupied by the Communist Party of Germany militia group of Max Hoelz in one of their raids intended to inspire worker uprisings. An attack by Dirlewanger failed, and the enemy militiamen succeeded in cutting off his force. After the latter was reinforced by pro-government troops during the night, the Communists withdrew from the town. During this operation, Dirlewanger was grazed on the head by a gunshot April 21, 1921. The results of this skirmish was 1 killed and 29 wounded of Dirlewanger force; Hoelz force had 20 killed and 70 injured. After the skirmish, he ordered a violent crackdown that saw hundreds imprisoned, many often severely tortured, including some that were uninvolved in any communist activities. After the Nazi Party gained power, Dirlewanger was celebrated as the town's "liberator from the Red terrorists" and received its honorary citizenship in 1935.
Career, NSDAP and Sturmabteilung