Hilmar Wäckerle
Encyclopedia
Hilmar Wäckerle was a German
soldier in both the German Imperial Army and the Waffen-SS
and the first commandant of Dachau concentration camp.
notary public
, Wäckerle was sent to the Bavarian Army
officer school at the age of 14 in order to pursue his chosen career. Having completed his three years as a cadet he was assigned to the Bavarian Infantry Battalion in August 1917 and by the following year was a Sergeant on the Western Front
. Seriously wounded in September 1918 he was not able to return to the front before the armistice and as such his chance to matriculate and become an officer was lost.
he joined the anti-communist Freikorps Oberland
and was an early member of the Nazi Party. Wäckerle was present during the Beer Hall Putsch
as well as the January 1924 assassination attempt on Franz Josef Heinz, the prime minister of the French
-administered Saar
. After his graduation aged 25 Wäckerle scaled back his direct involvement in Nazi politics to become manager of a cattle ranch. However he rejoined the Nazi Party in 1925 following its reorganisation and regularly attended party rallies whilst also helping to draft Nazi agricultural policy. He also signed up with the SS volunteer regiment based in Kempten.
taking his place.
and finally got to be an officer with this group, serving in the Netherlands
and the Soviet Union
. His service was spent with the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking
. He had reached the rank of Standartenführer
by the time he was killed in action near Lviv
in 1941.
Following his death Wäckerle's widow Elfriede was expected to devote her life to mourning her husband but instead she moved in
with a man named Johann Herzog. Outraged by this break from protocol, Himmler personally had Herzog sent to a concentration camp where he was denied any contact with Elfriede Wäckerle.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
soldier in both the German Imperial Army and the Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
and the first commandant of Dachau concentration camp.
War service
The son of a MunichMunich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
notary public
Notary public
A notary public in the common law world is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with estates, deeds, powers-of-attorney, and foreign and international business...
, Wäckerle was sent to the Bavarian Army
Bavarian army
The Bavarian Army was the army of the Electorate and then Kingdom of Bavaria. It existed from 1682 as the standing army of Bavaria until the merger of the military sovereignty of Bavaria into that of the German State in 1919...
officer school at the age of 14 in order to pursue his chosen career. Having completed his three years as a cadet he was assigned to the Bavarian Infantry Battalion in August 1917 and by the following year was a Sergeant on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
. Seriously wounded in September 1918 he was not able to return to the front before the armistice and as such his chance to matriculate and become an officer was lost.
Political involvement
Unable to continue in the army, Wäckerle enrolled in the Technical University Munich to study agricuture. Like his classmate Heinrich HimmlerHeinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
he joined the anti-communist Freikorps Oberland
Freikorps Oberland
The Freikorps Oberland was a free corps in the early years of the Weimar Republic, fighting against Communist and Polish insurgents...
and was an early member of the Nazi Party. Wäckerle was present during the Beer Hall Putsch
Beer Hall Putsch
The Beer Hall Putsch was a failed attempt at revolution that occurred between the evening of 8 November and the early afternoon of 9 November 1923, when Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, Generalquartiermeister Erich Ludendorff, and other heads of the Kampfbund unsuccessfully tried to seize power...
as well as the January 1924 assassination attempt on Franz Josef Heinz, the prime minister of the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
-administered Saar
Saar (League of Nations)
The Territory of the Saar Basin , also referred as the Saar or Saargebiet, was a region of Germany that was occupied and governed by Britain and France from 1920 to 1935 under a League of Nations mandate, with the occupation originally being under the auspices of the Treaty of Versailles...
. After his graduation aged 25 Wäckerle scaled back his direct involvement in Nazi politics to become manager of a cattle ranch. However he rejoined the Nazi Party in 1925 following its reorganisation and regularly attended party rallies whilst also helping to draft Nazi agricultural policy. He also signed up with the SS volunteer regiment based in Kempten.
Dachau
In 1933 he was picked by his old ally Himmler to be commandant of the newly established Dachau concentration camp. Under orders from Himmler he established 'special' rules for dealing with prisoners that instituted terror as a way of life at the camp. His initiatives included execution of prisoners for 'violent insubordination' and 'incitement to disobedience'. He left the post a few months later with Theodor EickeTheodor Eicke
Theodor Eicke was a SS Obergruppenführer , commander of the SS-Division Totenkopf of the Waffen-SS and one of the key figures in the establishment of concentration camps in Nazi Germany. His Nazi Party number was 114,901 and his SS number was 2,921...
taking his place.
Waffen-SS
He was an early member of the units that became the Waffen-SSWaffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
and finally got to be an officer with this group, serving in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. His service was spent with the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking
5th SS Panzer Division Wiking
The 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking was one of the elite Panzer divisions of the thirty eight Waffen SS divisions. It was recruited from foreign volunteers, from Scandinavia, Finland, Estonia, The Netherlands, and Belgium under the command of German officers...
. He had reached the rank of Standartenführer
Standartenführer
Standartenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in the so-called Nazi combat-organisations: SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK...
by the time he was killed in action near Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
in 1941.
Following his death Wäckerle's widow Elfriede was expected to devote her life to mourning her husband but instead she moved in
Cohabitation
Cohabitation usually refers to an arrangement whereby two people decide to live together on a long-term or permanent basis in an emotionally and/or sexually intimate relationship. The term is most frequently applied to couples who are not married...
with a man named Johann Herzog. Outraged by this break from protocol, Himmler personally had Herzog sent to a concentration camp where he was denied any contact with Elfriede Wäckerle.