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The killing of Jochen Peiper

Peiper is sentenced to hang.
But why did they change their minds and set him free after 11 years in prison?

 
When he came back to Himmler’s personal staff, Peiper resumed his function. In October 1940 he accompanied his boss to Madrid where the latter had to meet with Franco. After passing through Metz, they stopped in Dax where Himmler met with the commander of the SS division Totenkopf, Theodor Eicke. It is after this trip that on 14 November 1940, Peiper was appointed first adjutant of Himmler.[27]

At the beginning of the next year Himmler went for an inspection circuit of the Nazi concentration camps and was accompanied by his first adjutant, Peiper. On 14 January 1941, they visited Ravensbrück; on 21 they were in Dachau.[28] In March 1941, together with Karl Wolff and Fritz Bracht, they went to Auschwitz.[29] It was during this visit that Himmler instructed Höss to build the Birkenau concentration camp, but no precise information was yet given as to its final location.[30] During this period the idea of the "Final Solution" was taking form and it seems unlikely that in his capacity as first adjutant that Peiper would not have known something about it. To sustain this theory one needs to remember that during a trial in the 1960s it was demonstrated that Werner Grothmann (Peiper’s successor as first adjutant) was fully aware of the details of the genocide.[27]

The fact that Peiper approved of Himmler can maybe be found in a letter of his spouse to Hedwig Potthast, Himmler’s mistress:

"You know how much he loves, adores and admires KH"

In fact KH was an acronym for König Heinrich (King Heinrich), which also tells much about the advanced stage of familiarity of Sigurd Peiper with the circle of Himmler’s close relations.[31]
Heinrich Himmler and Jochen Peiper with officers of the Waffen-SS Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, Greece, 1941.

It was February 1941 that Himmler informed his subordinate of the plan to invade the Soviet Union.[28] The following months were devoted to preparing the SS for this war in the east. Himmler and his entourage travelled to Norway, Austria, Poland and the Balkans, in Greece.[32] These travels included a visit to the Lodz Ghetto about which 30 years later Peiper stated an account:

It was a macabre image: we saw how the Jewish Ghetto police, who wore hats without rims and were armed with wooden clubs, inconsiderately made room for us. The Jewish elders also presented Himmler with a bouquet of flowers


and more at.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Peiper#Back_to_Himmler.E2.80.99s_personal_staff


Waffen SS units were batter equipped and brain washed units of fanatics, they were in main stream of nazi propaganda which called them elite and as I see it is still working ... -I wonder if it is right to call them elite ? There were many units which deserved much more to call them elite. most of waffen SS operations ended as complete disaster and it is quite normal because they were commanded by party leaders who got promotions thank to theirs devotion to Hitler (and that was also Peiper way)
 
so if somebody voluntary and in grown up age joined this organization - that was scum of worse sort
I know that in waffen ss there were many kids and (at the end f war) enlisted by force but Peiper was in SS from very early stage of this criminal organization and he exactly knew what they were doing.

I tink this is to simple stated. In the pre- and early waryears most of the soldiers in the Waffen SS didn't know about atrocities commited (or yet to commit) by their fellow (Waffen) SS units. Of course a lot of them turned willing participants when ordered to the atrocities even if they didn't know they had to when enlisting in the SS. But they didn't enlist because of the atrocities. I don't think even despite. I think they didn't know.
 
I know that were exceptions(as always ;) Nazi propaganda was very good in case of efficiency of brain wash - but not all were able to join SS so all of them had to be antisemitic and wanted to join main stream of nazi point of view, genocide started before war, - no excuse for me
and back to Peiper - he knew and approved everything what his master (Himmler) was doing
 
But why did they change their minds and set him free after 11 years in prison?
- probably we never have this information
I suppose that it was some kind of trade ....
 
..Peiper - he knew and approved everything what his master (Himmler) was doing

Germans tend to do what their commanders tell them without thinking for themselves.
Brit POW Airey Neave says when he was captured in WW2 he asked a German officer why they hated Jews, and the officer replied "Because the Fuhrer tells us to".
Even today, it's almost impossible to find a German wargamer who'll discuss WW2 because the German Government doesn't want them to talk about it.
For example I asked a German guy in the Wargames Player Club and a German guy in FGM to tell me what Germans think about war films such as The Longest Day, Bridge at Remagen, Enemy at the Gates, Saving Private Ryan etc, but they both refused to discuss them, the WPC guy said "we're not allowed to talk about the Third Reich in the forum", and the FGM guy wriggled out of it by saying something like "Er...I don't think I've seen any of those films"..
 
Indeed that could be politics - in the 1950's there were years of darkness behind iron curtain and high tension between USA and USSR so they freed a lot of Nazis on both sides of curtain.
 
Even today, it's almost impossible to find a German wargamer who'll discuss WW2 because the German Government doesn't want them to talk about it.

it is a very hot iron here in Germany. And depending on what kind of job you're in it can be very dangerous for your career to let anyone know you're actually interested in WW2 or playing wargames centering on WW2. I should know...
 
it is a very hot iron here in Germany. And depending on what kind of job you're in it can be very dangerous for your career to let anyone know you're actually interested in WW2 or playing wargames centering on WW2. I should know...

If I was a German citizen and people there said "why are you interested in the Third Reich?", I'd tell them the truth and say- "Because Hitler and the Nazis were mad men and we can study them and see how they destroyed Germany."
 
Actually, there's paranoia in Britain too, there are almost a million people here who vote for the extreme right-wing British National Party, the vast majority are ordinary decent citizens who love Britain and hate the nazis, but they get called "nazis and fascists" by left-wingers.
 
EoG, I admit to being a little surprised to hear that Germany (55 yrs later) is still so paranoid about its role in WWII as to be prejudiced against anyone who might dare to just want to discuss it.
That sounds a tad too close to the attitude that kinda got it in trouble in the first place doesn't it?.

Believe me, we're VERY paranoid about WW2 - or why do you think Germany is the first country to pay millions for some backwater place being devastated by natural disasters or whatever? It's becasue we lost the bloody war and everyone still thnisk we have to atone for that. And it isn't exactly a problem being interested in WW2 but you best not make any positive comments regarding Germany's role (and especially the soldiers) in the war.

And - what else? - every SS member is a vile criminal, no matter if he was only drafted, didn't even fire a single shot or wasn't even a German. Plus: World War 2 was the biggest evil that ever befell humankind and we're responsible for everything. *sarcasm over*
 
Thats a sad story Earl... I really do sympathise. The thing is every family would have been touched by WW2 in Germany... no doubt even some of your relatives were involved in the fighting or had stories to tell but due to the prejudice against them those stories so often went untold.
 
The fact that the Pope was called up into the Hitler Youth doesn't bother any sensible person-

popeA.jpg
 
Thats a sad story Earl... I really do sympathise. The thing is every family would have been touched by WW2 in Germany... no doubt even some of your relatives were involved in the fighting or had stories to tell but due to the prejudice against them those stories so often went untold.

Exactly. Not many actually want to talk about ther war - some becasue they don't want to tell of the horrors they've seen, some because they feel guilty. Other because you have to get the feeling everything you did was bad and a mistake because you believed in lies. I think most of our grandfathers felt embarassed that they believed they were doing the right thing. And then there is the prejudice, yes...
 
At least for the first years Hitler kept his promises ,he gave back to Germans their lost national pride the life of the average German became better and from then on
it was very difficult for Germans not to believe him.A great part of guilt goes to the rest of the international community cause by imposing such harsh terms after WWI
led the whole German nation to Hitler's arms.
Even during the war and when the majority of the High ranking German officers had realised that Germany had lost the war the persistance of unconditional surrender of Germany by the Allies forced even the non NAZIS to keep fighting as effectivelly they were fighting for their homeland.
A great part of guilt goes also to the Allied powers cause either by their actions or by their denial to act they led half of the Europe to the arms of Stalin and his gang.
The result of all this can be seen even till now just by looking the former Warsaw pact countries which are still strugling to find their way even 20 years from the fall of Communism.
 
I think those among us who studied history and especially the history of war through the ages know that war crimes and attrocities have always been part of it. And that history is always written by the victors. If for example the crusades would have brought a Christian Middle East we would all be convinced it was a good thing. What I mean to say is that every nation has black pages in their books. The Germans have the bad luck that their pages are somewhat more recent. But given time other chapters will follow and their past will fade away.

And about Peiper? Personally I think he was a fine and brave officier who was made a scapegoat for being a symbol of the Waffen SS. If Malmedy really happened, then it was just another horrible outburst in a long series of similair crimes commited by both sides.
 
If Malmedy really happened, then it was just another horrible outburst in a long series of similair crimes commited by both sides.
first - don't neglect facts - Malmedy really happened there are no doubt about it !!!! I think you better start study history and start with history of Nazi genocides !
 
And I think I should have known better than to start a discussion with you. Every side commited war crimes. The Polish are no exception. I know these things, you see, because I don't only study GERMAN war crimes.
 
The true facts of what happened at Malmedy have been blurred by time.
This Jewish website raises some interesting points-

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/ww2/malmedy2.html

1- Surprisingly, nobody even knows for sure how many Americans were killed, it ranges from 85 to 125.
2- One report says the Americans were under guard and decided to make a run for it and ignored German orders to halt, thereby provoking the Germans to fire at them.
3- 43 got clean away, so it looks like it wasn't a systematic well-planned 'massacre' at all, but simply the Germans firing at escaping troops.
4- No doubt Allied propaganda promoted the incident as a "massacre".
5- Earlier that day, Peiper had motored past the captured Americans and cheerfully called out to them "It's a long way to Tipperary!"
6- 73 Germans stood trial for the incident and none were hung, they were all eventually released from prison.
7- A Congressional investigation revealed there had been 'misconduct' by members of the US prosecuting team.

Incidentally the Geneva Convention states- If a prisoner of war attempts to escape, arms may only be used against him to prevent his escape as an extreme measure and after a warning has been given.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/geneva_convention.htm
 
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