DIETRICH, JOSEF
Dietrich, Josef
(May 28, 1892–April 21, 1966)
German Waffen-SS General
A
coarse, two-fisted brawler by nature,
“Sepp” Dietrich owed his high rank
more to friendship with Adolf Hitler
than to his abilities. He was nonetheless an in-
spirational fighter who curried devotion, loy-
alty, and ferocity in his justly feared troops.
This former butcher’s apprentice was also
Hitler’s favorite and most trusted general.
Josef Dietrich was born in Hawangen,
Bavaria, on May 28, 1892, the illegitimate son
of a German servant girl. He grew up into a
stocky, powerfully built street fighter, quick to
take offense and quicker still to use his fists.
After passing through a series of menial jobs,
including butcher’s apprentice, he joined the
Germany army in 1911, rising to the rank of
master sergeant in the artillery. By 1918, he
had been decorated for bravery and was
among a handful of soldiers manning the 25
tanks of Germany’s embryonic panzer force.
After the war, Dietrich functioned briefly as a
policeman in his native Bavaria but was soon
embroiled in street fighting occasioned by the
rise of right-wing paramilitary outfits. In 1923,
he joined the Nazi party, where his appetite
for violence brought him to the attention of
Adolf Hitler. Hitler, the charismatic dema-
gogue, and Dietrich, the burly street tough,
formed an immediate and deeply abiding
friendship.
The future Führer openly expressed admi-
ration for Dietrich’s “mixture of cunning, ruth-
lessness, and hardness.” Dietrich initially
served as Hitler’s bodyguard and chauffeur,
but in 1933 he became tasked with raising the
first element of the dreaded SS (Schutz-
staffeln,or protection squads)—which was
known as the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hit-
ler—as a praetorian guard. These were ruth-
less men, sworn to blind obedience of Hitler
and steeped in Nazi ideology. Dietrich neatly
encapsulated their attitude—and his own—
when he declared, “Human life matters little
to the SS.” He clearly demonstrated this creed
in 1934, during the so-called Night of the Long
Knives, whereby the rival SA Nazi faction was
arrested and executed in jail by the SS. Hitler
consequently rewarded Dietrich by promot-
ing him up the party hierarchy, once his elite
organization was expanded into a purely mili-
tary force, the Waffen-SS. By 1939, the Leib-
standartehad grown tenfold from 120 men
into a full regimental combat team. When
World War II broke out in September 1939,
Hitler entrusted Dietrich to lead his hand-
picked killers into combat.
Dietrich had thus far acquired a reputation
for being brutish and unintelligent, but he
soon proved himself an exceptional combat
commander. He accompanied his men with
distinction during the attack on Poland, and
Hitler was impressed by their performance.
The SS troops also committed some of the
very first atrocities of the war against Jews,
and Gen. Johannes Blaskowitzwanted to
have Dietrich arrested as a war criminal. But
in light of their combat success, the Leibstan-
darte was expanded to a kampfgruppe(com-
bat group) in time for the May 1940 invasion
of France. Dietrich and his men acquitted
themselves with fanatical bravery, so the
Führer authorized expansion of his command
to a lavishly equipped brigade. Hard fighting
in Greece, Yugoslavia, and Russia brought the
SS additional laurels, as well as its reputation
for outright brutality. In August 1941, during
the occupation of Kharkov, Dietrich learned
that the Soviets had tortured and killed seven
of his SS men. Over the ensuing three days, he
summarily executed more than 4,000 captive
Russians in retaliation. The professional offi-
cers of the Wehrmacht remained aghast by
such behavior, but because these actions
were sanctioned by Hitler, criticism remained
muted. In June 1942, the Leibstandarte was
taken out of line and refitted in France as an