Who is Oscar Paul Dirlewanger? World War II cannot be described without mentioning the name of this brutal killer. He crippled a huge number of fates, killed thousands of children and tortured hundreds of people. Only those who were considered hopeless were sent to his service: the most notorious, cruel and merciless criminals. It was believed that the service under his command was a corrective measure, but in reality it even more incited hatred in prisoners. Oscar Paul Dirlewanger, whose death was just, committed a lot of evil, but no evil can be committed alone. How did mankind allow the freedom of action of this killer, how could it allow him to do his dark deeds and kill hundreds of innocent people around the world? Is there any excuse for him, and is there any way to avoid such internal degradation?
The beginning of a military career
Oscar Paul Dirlewanger was born into the family of a small trader in the fall of 1895 in Würzburg. Already in 1913, the boy received a certificate of secondary education. In the same year he enters into military service, for a period of one year, in a machine-gun company. In its composition, he participated in the invasions of Belgium and France during the First World War. During the hostilities on the Western Front, the young man was wounded several times. He received the rank of lieutenant, as well as the Iron Cross - a German military award. Being part of a machine gun company, participated in the occupation of Ukraine in 1918. After a truce was concluded, the regiment under the command of Dirlewanger was returned to Germany.
Learning Attempts
Oscar Paul Dirlewanger, whose biography was just beginning, in 1919 became a member of one of the freacors - the patriotic movement in Germany. Over the next two years, he took an active part in street battles to suppress pro-communist sentiments in the Ruhr, Saxony, Thuringia. In battles he was distinguished by special cruelty and ruthlessness. Along with these events, Oscar studied in Mannheim at a higher commercial school, from where he was expelled after some time due to the spread of anti-Semitic ideas. Despite this, in 1922 he defended his doctoral dissertation in Frankfurt am Main in order to obtain a doctorate in social and political sciences. The work revealed the basics and principles of planning in the national economy in case of war. In the fall of 1922 he was a member of the National Socialist German Workers Party and was successful. After a while, he was expelled from the party due to a gross violation of the disarmament law, but in 1926 he was again included in the list of its members.
Peaceful life
From 1922 to 1928, Oscar led a quiet peaceful life. He was a volunteer, and also moved from place to place in various banking institutions in Stuttgart. From 1928 to 1931, he held the position of manager at one of Erfurt's textile factories. Until 1932 he worked in the tax system. He lost his job in banking institutions due to reasonable charges of embezzlement, and at the textile factory Oscar was engaged in financial fraud. To avoid the court, he concluded an agreement with the owner of the enterprise and compensated him for the damage.
As we know, Oscar Dirlewanger received the Iron Cross. In addition, he was known as a brave and straightforward person, but everyone knew that he had many shortcomings. Despite this, wherever he worked, he managed to establish contacts with the leadership, subjugate others and force others to achieve their goals.
Jail
In 1933, the National Socialists came to power, who appointed Dirlewanger the managing department for employment and labor in Heilbronn. At first, Oscar took a low position, but soon became the boss. While in this post, he was the first to report on the employment of members of the SA who were his wards. Despite such success and promotion, he was involved in various intrigues and unpleasant situations. In 1934, he was sent to prison for 2 years for raping a 13-year-old girl. Because of this case, he was deprived of his awards, academic degree and military rank, as well as membership in German parties. The imprisonment took place in Ludwigsburg, where Paul unsuccessfully tried to somehow appeal his sentence. After 2 years, he leaves prison, but soon gets there again on a similar matter.
While in a concentration camp, he recalls his friend Gottlob Berger, who then worked in the SS and was a close associate of Himmler. Gottlob does everything possible to free his friend, ignoring the two convictions for the violence and Oscar's explicit drunkenness. Liberated Paul joins the Spanish foreign legion, which is participating in the war in Spain, defending the side of General Franco. In the years 1937-1939 he served in a tank unit called the Beekeeper. Returning from the war, a wounded and awarded Spanish cross, Dirlewanger is trying to restore his name. He still seeks a review of the case, and he is acquitted for the lack of direct evidence. The acquittal was so drained of a finger that at first at the university in Frankfurt he was even refused to restore his degree. As a result, she is returned to Oscar, as well as renewed in the membership of the NSDAP. After that, Berger convened a special commission, which was to decide the further fate of Dirlewanger. He explained that such people survive only while in military service, and suggested that prisoners and poachers be trained to defend their homeland. As a result, Dirlewanger was appointed manager for the preparation of these categories of people for the soldier’s business.
The Oranienburg Poaching Team
The education created by Oscar was renamed the Special SS Dirlewanger Special Battalion in the fall. Only the most capable, active and cruel fighters were selected there. In the summer of 1940, only 84 people were part of the battalion, but already in the autumn of the same year - 300 people. It was replenished at the expense of prisoners who decided to exchange a limp life for aggression and submission to power.
The head of the unit is Gottlob Berger, who in every possible way covers up the misconduct of his comrade. Soon this formation was sent to Poland to restore order and fight against partisans. Here Oscar has to follow the orders of Friedrich Krueger, because of which many disagreements arise between them. Soon the brigade will be relocated to Belarus. In the winter of 1942 she was declared a volunteer formation, which was subordinate to the SS. She receives permission to recruit foreign volunteers, and in the summer of 1942 Hitler himself decides to increase the number of battalions to two. The recruitment comes from among Russian and Ukrainian soldiers, as well as from German soldiers who are serving sentences for misconduct. It is interesting that only those violators were involved in Dirlewanger’s service, whose actions were equated with criminal crimes in peacetime. Ordinary violations, such as sleep in the workplace or failure to fulfill an order, were not considered sufficient reason to be sent to the Oscar team. Working with him was a corrective measure for notorious violators who, after serving, could return to his regular position. From this it becomes clear why the Dirlewanger team consisted of the most cruel and immoral soldiers. However, the second battalion was not assembled.
Getting the right to own symbols
In 1942, the Oscar team participated in a number of operations to suppress the activities of partisans. In the summer, they work on Operation Adler under the command of Erich Zelewski, who was commander of the SS troops and police in central Russia. In the fall, partisan hunters (Dirlewanger brigade) conduct operations Regatta and Frida. In the winter of 1942, the Oscar team totals 300 people, and also owns 5 mortars, 22 machine guns, 11 trucks and 2 anti-tank guns. By the winter of 1943, it already numbers 700 people, of which 300 are Soviet soldiers. In February, the unit receives the right to wear its own symbols. The symbol of the SS division “Dirlewanger” is the buttonhole with the image of a hand grenade and 2 crossed carbines.
II battalion
In the spring of 1943, finally, a second battalion was formed, after which the unit received the name "Sonderkommandy SS Dirlewanger". The team consisted almost entirely of convicted poachers. Usually Dirlewanger himself led his soldiers into battle, and Kurt Weiss trusted the planning of the attack. In the summer of 1943, a battle takes place near Lake Pelik, which leads to a significant reduction in the number of brigades. In December 1943, Oscar Paul Dirlewanger received one of the highest awards of the Reich - the German Golden Cross, as a gratitude for his services. At the same time, the authorities decide on the need to expand the team to 3 battalions. Before this, the brigade fights with the partisans as part of the armies “North” and “Center” and suffers significant losses. They had to be restored at the expense of newly arrived prisoners. By 1944, the Dirlewanger brigade consisted of 1,200 people. At this time, Soviet soldiers were no longer attracted to it, but only prisoners or poachers, as well as political criminals.
Khatyn tragedy
Khatyn is a small village on the territory of Belarus, which was wiped off the face of the earth in March 1943. It was the revenge of the punitive detachment of Dirlewanger for the killing of their soldiers. It all started with the fact that partisans slept in the village, who quickly left it and moved towards the Pleshchenitsy. A lorry with German soldiers drove towards them, heading for the Minsk airfield. Along the way, they met a woman who was questioned about the partisans in the area. She replied that she had not seen anyone. Literally after 200 meters the team was ambushed by partisans. In battle, the German soldiers lost three of their comrades and the head of the detachment of Hans Wölke. One of the team members suspected that the woman specifically gave them the wrong information. In order to get even with her, the soldiers called the Dirlewanger brigade. Together they returned to the place where they met a woman. On the spot, 26 innocent women were shot; the rest were captivated. Khatyn’s tragedy occurred due to the fact that the military was furious that G. Wolke, the champion of the Olympic Games and a person personally acquainted with Hitler, was killed. The military did not stop at killing women. The next day, they drove all the villagers into the barn, upholstered it with gasoline and set it on fire. Those who tried to escape were shot on the spot. The village consisted of many families who raised 7-9 kids. The Germans burned 149 people, of whom 75 were children under 16 years old.
In the winter of 1966, the Khatyn memorial complex was created, which became the symbol of all the destroyed villages in Belarus during the Second World War. The complex occupies approximately 50 hectares of land, and in its center stands a 6-meter bronze sculpture - a man with a dead child in his arms.
Bagration
In the summer of 1944, Operation Bagration was launched after the Soviet offensive on the Center army. As a result of this battle, our soldiers won, and the small remains of the Center army retreated to Poland. Nazi war criminals led by Dirlewanger took part in several rear-guard battles and retreated without significant losses.
Warsaw
A little later, the special SS battalion "Dirlewanger" together with the Kaminsky team participated in the suppression of the uprising in Warsaw. As a result, Oscar receives the title of Oberführer of the SS reserve. Grupenfuhrer Reinfart was very impressed with the courage of Oscar and recommended for the award of the Knight's Cross, which he received in September 1944. He also received a gilded badge for the wound received in Warsaw, because it was already the eleventh in his military career. It is worth noting that the suppression of the Warsaw uprising cost dearly to the Dirlewanger team, which after that consisted of only 648 people.
The regiment is enlarged, and then reorganized into a second probe brigade, which in a couple of months becomes an assault brigade. The size of the team is 4 thousand people, of which 200 were poachers, 600 were convicted political criminals, 200 were convicted from the Wehrmacht, and 1,200 were ordinary prisoners. A small part of the brigade was composed of Soviet communists and socialists, who agreed to be members of the team in the hope of desertion, and then to join the Red Army.
Slovakia
In October of the same year, SS Oberfuhrer Dirlewanger led his brigade to Slovakia to crush another rebellion. At the end of 1994, the cavalier of the German Cross and the brigadefuhrer SS Fritz Schmedes, who takes the place of a tactical officer, became a member of the brigade. Already in December of the same year, He was removed from business by Himmler due to a refusal to carry out orders that, in his opinion, were meaningless. The removal of Schmedes was a significant lesson for the rest of the team, who could decide on such disobedience in the future. The brigade at that time included two regiments under the command of Erich Buchmann and Ewald Ehlers. Each of them included two battalions and two artillery batteries. The last half of December, the brigade fought in Hungary. After a two-week stay of a huge team at the forefront, it is sent to Slovakia for a complete reorganization due to the fact that many soldiers deserted from the battlefield.
At the same time, ordinary residents of the city received a huge number of complaints about the people of the Oscars, who are accused of robbery, violence and cruelty. Incredibly, some members of the team had to be kept in ordinary cellars under a strong lock, because in the wild they became simply uncontrollable and astonished even their close comrades by the stiffness.
In the winter of 1945, the brigade under the command of Dirlewanger returned to the front, as the situation in Silesia on the Oder River sharply intensified. Initially, the authorities made a decision on a possible increase in the number of brigades in order for it to become a division. But before that, she takes part in the battles near Guben. Soon, Oscar receives an order to reorganize the team, and just a day after that, Oscar Paul Dirlewanger is seriously injured, because of which he is sent to the rear for a comprehensive treatment. This was the twelfth wound he received during the war. It was the last for him. Paul got it because he decided to lead a counterattack on his own. After recovery, Oscar never returned to the front. Schmedes, who remained the commander of the brigade until the last days of the war, took his place. When the war ended, the number of the Shmedes team was approximately 6 thousand people.
The war in Silesia continued. As we already know, the brigade was supposed to become a division, but new units were never created. Instead , the SS division was replenished with conventional army units. Also, it included former cadets from the Braunschweig School. A significant part of the people was recruited all from the same concentration camps, as well as from Auschwitz, in which the preparation of people for service at Oberführer Dirlewanger continued for a long time.
Division breakdown
In March 1945, the front was broken through by Soviet soldiers, so the troops under the command of Shmedes began a retreat to northeast Silesia. At the same time, there were more and more deserters every day. Schmedes and his associates tried to reorganize the division in April, but to their surprise they found that there was nothing to reorganize, because the division had literally collapsed. And this is not an exaggeration, because in some regiments there were only 20-30 people left.
Finally, the last gathering of all members of the division took place at the end of April, but it did not give the desired results, but only worsened the general situation. Schmedes decided to take at least the remaining people to the Elbe, where in May 1945 he resignedly surrendered to American soldiers. The execution of the punitive division "Dirlewanger" occurred very rapidly. Civilians and military personnel, service personnel and captured Soviet soldiers were also killed. It is interesting that Buchman and Schmedes have never been prosecuted for all crimes committed. Moreover, they led an open and calm life even after they were released by the German authorities from the prisoner of war camp. Weiss decided to surrender voluntarily to the British, to whom he transmitted important documents of the Wehrmacht. Having gained some confidence, he deftly escaped from the camp in March 1945 and no one else saw him. Known for its brutality, the SS division broke up in the spring of 1945.
Death
Oscar Paul was undergoing treatment in the city of Althausen. There he was in the hospital until on the first day of the summer of 1945, French soldiers brought him to the city prison, which was guarded by Polish soldiers who had heard about the atrocities of the Oberführer. He did not have to be long prisoners, since he died from terrible beatings after 4 days. Despite this, the exact circumstances of the death of this cruel man were not known to anyone. There were many rumors that he was seen in different cities around the world. But in 1960, researchers found his grave and, after analyzing, were able to identify his remains. This put an end to various rumors.
In 1981, a documentary novel by Ales Adamovich was published, in which it was possible to read that Oscar Paul Dirlewanger had died in Latin America, and after that his remains were transported to Germany, where they were interred in his hometown of Würzburg. However, this is a mistake, because Oscar passed away in Baden-Württemberg. In the fall of 1960, the remains of Oscar Paul were exhumed by order of the prosecutors of the city of Ravensburg. A little later it was finally proved that they belong precisely to Dirlewanger.
Summing up the article, it should be said that Oscar Paul Dirlewanger created a name for himself on the corpses of other people. His example in history shows how far human cruelty can go and how close each person is to animal aggression. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to develop, move forward, build a right future, because we can never be completely sure that all the worst is behind us. Each person must be conscious, active and fair so that society, starting with kids, develops according to a certain path, which leads to the flourishing of science, knowledge and goodness!