Oskar Dirlewanger
Oskar Dirlewanger | |
|---|---|
Dirlewanger in 1944 | |
| Birth name | Oskar Paul Dirlewanger |
| Nickname(s) | The Butcher of Poland and Belarus,
The Khatyn Butcher, The Warsaw Butcher |
| Born | 26 September 1895 Würzburg, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire |
| Died | 7 June 1945 (aged 49) Altshausen, Baden-Württemberg, Allied-occupied Germany |
| Allegiance | German Empire Nazi Germany (1913-1945) |
| Branch | Imperial German Army (1913-1919),
Freikorps (1919-1921), Waffen-SS (1939-1945) |
| Years of service | 1913-1945 |
| Rank | SS-Standartenfuhrer (Colonel), SS-Oberfuhrer (Colonel/Brigadier General) |
| Unit | Dirlewanger Brigade |
| Commands | Dirlewanger Brigade |
Oskar Paul Dirlewanger (26 September 1895 – c. 7 June 1945) was a German Nazi Military officer in the SS’s Waffen-SS Nazi army during World War 2 from 1939-1945 and a violent veteran a former infantry soldier who in the Imperial German Army (1913-1919) and a former military officer in the Freikorps (1919-1921) who commanded a Armoured Train (1921). He is a Nazi SS-Oberfuhrer from 1943-1945 (equivalent to a Colonel or Brigadier General) while serving Heinrich Himmler’s SS paramilitary forces from 1939-1945 from a Lieutenant in 1939 to a Colonel/Brigadier General in 1945 . He was responsible for murder and sexually assault along with his infantry regiment/brigade during World War 2 . His crimes inspired the 1985 movie character Major (SS-Sturmbannfuhrer) Walter Stein Come and See .
He was considered the most evil German Nazi Military Officer even all the other Nazis who were shocked by his actions such as he and his infantry Brigade troops murdered and raped man women and children in Poland and Belarus from 1940-1944 . However his crimes made General Heinz Wilhelm Guderian create a myth that the Wehrmacht’s Nazi Army had never got involved in the Holocaust . Dirlewanger was also an old friend of Gottlob Berger from the 1910’s until 1945 .