Theodor Eicke
Encyclopedia
Theodor Eicke was a SS Obergruppenführer
(German General
), commander of the SS-Division (mot) 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. Together with SS-Obersturmbannführer
Michael Lippert
, Eicke executed SA
Chief Ernst Röhm
following the Night of the Long Knives
.
, was born in Hudingen (Hampont)
, near Château-Salins
(then in the German province of Elsass-Lothringen
) into a lower middle-class family. The youngest of 11 children, he did not do well in school and dropped out at the age of 17 before graduation. He joined the 23rd Bavaria
n Infantry Regiment as a volunteer; later on, in World War I
, he took the office of paymaster
for the 3rd — and, from 1916 on, the 22nd Bavarian Infantry Regiment. He won the Iron Cross
, Second Class in 1914 for bravery.
Eicke resigned from his position of army paymaster in 1919. He began studying in his wife's hometown of Ilmenau
. However, he dropped out of school again in 1920 intending to pursue a police career. He initially worked as an informer and later as a regular policeman. His career in the police came to an end because of his fervent hatred for the Weimar Republic
and his repeated participation in violent political demonstrations. He finally managed to find work in 1923 at IG Farben
in Ludwigshafen, soon rising to the rank of leader of the company's internal intelligence service.
mirrored those of the Nazi Party and he joined Ernst Röhm
's SA
on 1 December 1928. He left the SA in August 1930 for the SS
, where he quickly rose in rank after recruiting new members and building up the SS organization in the Bavarian palatinate. In 1931, Eicke was promoted to the rank of SS-Standartenführer
(Colonel
) by Heinrich Himmler
.
His political activities caught the attention of his employer and in early 1932 he was laid off by IG Farben. At the same time, he was caught preparing bomb attacks on political enemies in Bavaria
for which he received a two year prison sentence in July 1932. However, due to protection received from Franz Gürtner
, who would later serve as minister of justice under Adolf Hitler
, he was able to flee to Italy
on orders from Heinrich Himmler
, where he took over responsibility for a camp for exiled SS members.
Eicke then returned to Germany in March 1933 following Hitler's rise to power
. Eicke had political quarrels with Gauleiter
Joseph Bürckel, who had him arrested and he spent several months in a mental asylum. Heinrich Himmler
eventually had him released in June 1933. After promotion to an Oberführer
, Eicke was made commandant of the Dachau concentration camp on June 26, after complaints and criminal proceedings against former commandant SS-Sturmbannführer
Hilmar Wäckerle
following the murder of several detainees under the "guise of punishment".
Promoted on 30 January 1934 to SS-Brigadeführer
(equivalent to Major-general in the Waffen-SS), Eicke as commander of Dachau began new reforms. He reorganized the SS camp, establishing new guarding provisions
, which included rigid disciple, total obedience to orders, and tightening disciplinary and punishment regulations
for detainees, which were adopted by all concentration camps of the Third Reich on 1 January 1934. Eicke detested weakness and instructed his men that any SS man with a soft heart should "...retire at once to a monastery".
Eicke's anti-semitism
and anti-bolshevism as well as his insistence on unconditional obedience towards him as the camp's commander as well as the SS and Hitler made an impression on Himmler. In May 1934, he was appointed Concentration Camps Inspector
, a position which he began working in on 4 July 1934. Although technically responsible to the SS-Hauptamt
, Eicke in fact reported directly to Himmler.
Eicke also was involved in the Night of the Long Knives
at the end of June 1934; together with hand-chosen members of the Dachau concentration camp guards (SS-TV), he assisted Sepp Dietrich
's SS-Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler to imprison SA commanders on June 30. To show his obedience to Himmler and Hitler, Eicke (together with his adjutant, Michael Lippert
) shot Ernst Röhm
on 1 July 1934. Eicke was promoted to SS-Gruppenführer
. As a result of the Night of the Long Knives, the remaining SA-run camps were taken over by the SS.
In his role as the Concentration Camps Inspector, Eicke began a large reorganisation of the camps in 1935, which consisted of the dismantling of the smaller camps. Dachau remained, then Sachsenhausen concentration camp
opened in summer 1936, Buchenwald in summer 1937 and Ravensbrück (near Lichtenburg
) in May 1939. There were other new camps in Austria, such as Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
, opened in 1938. All SS camps' regulations, both for guards and prisoners, followed the Dachau camp model.
Eicke's reorganizations and the introduction of forced labour made the camps one of the SS's most powerful tools; this earned him the enmity of (among others) Reinhard Heydrich
, who had already unsuccessfully attempted to take control of the Dachau concentration camp in his position as chief of the SD
. Eicke prevailed with support from Himmler. When, in 1940, the Concentration Camps Inspectorate
(CCI) was turned into Amt D of the SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt
under Oswald Pohl
, he assured that the command structure he had introduced would not fall to the jurisdiction of the Gestapo
and SD. The CCI and later Amt D were subordinate to the SD and Gestapo only in regards to who was admitted to the camps and who was released. However, what happened inside the camps was under the command of Amt D.
The success of the Totenkopf's sister formations the SS-Infanterie-Regiment (mot) Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler and the three Standarten of the SS-Verfügungstruppe led to Hitler
approving Himmler's recommendation for the creation of three Waffen SS-divisions in October 1939.
Eicke's Totenkopf units were to form SS-Division Totenkopf and Eicke was given command. Totenkopf was to become one of the most effective German fighting formations on the Eastern Front, often serving as "Hitler's firemen", rushed to the scene of Soviet breakthroughs. His career now deviated from Concentration Camps and he was not involved with the camp service after 1940. His replacement as Inspector of Concentration Camps was Richard Glücks
who answered to Oswald Pohl in the SS Office of Economics and Administration.
During the course of the war, Eicke and his division became known for unmatched brutality and several war crime
s, including the murder of British POW
s in Le Paradis
in 1940, the murder of captured Soviet soldiers and the plundering and pillaging of several Soviet villages. The Totenkopf continued to show an unmatched ferocity, during the advance in 1941 as well as the summer offensive in 1942, the conquest of Kharkov, the Demyansk Pocket
, and the defense of Warsaw and Budapest
in early 1945.
in the Allgemeine SS
and also General in the Waffen-SS). While performing a battlefield reconnaissance during the opening stages of the Third Battle of Kharkov
, his Fieseler Fi 156 Storch was shot down by Soviet troops
1 kilometer southwest of Artelnoje (near Lozovaya). An assault group from the division recovered the bodies of Eicke, the pilot and SS-Hauptsturmführer Friedrich from enemy territory.
Eicke was portrayed in the Axis press as a hero, and soon after his death one of the Totenkopf's infantry regiments received the honorific cuff-title
Theodor Eicke.
on 26 December 1914. They had two children, Irma (born 5 April 1916) and Hermann (born 4 May 1920).
Obergruppenführer
Obergruppenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA and until 1942 it was the highest SS rank inferior only to Reichsführer-SS...
(German General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
), commander of the SS-Division (mot) Totenkopf of 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 one of the key figures in the establishment of concentration camps in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. His Nazi Party number was 114,901 and his SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
number was 2,921. Together with SS-Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...
Michael Lippert
Michael Lippert
Michel Hans Lippert or Michael Lippert was an SS Standartenführer, Police officer and a German soldier who served in both World War I and World War II. During World War II. Lippert commanded several concentration camps, including Sachsenhausen, before becoming a commander of the SS-Freiwilligen...
, Eicke executed SA
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
Chief Ernst Röhm
Ernst Röhm
Ernst Julius Röhm, was a German officer in the Bavarian Army and later an early Nazi leader. He was a co-founder of the Sturmabteilung , the Nazi Party militia, and later was its commander...
following the Night of the Long Knives
Night of the Long Knives
The Night of the Long Knives , sometimes called "Operation Hummingbird " or in Germany the "Röhm-Putsch," was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political murders...
.
Early Life — World War I
Eicke, the son of a station masterStation master
The station master was the person in charge of railway stations, in the United Kingdom and some other countries, before the modern age. He would manage the other station employees and would have responsibility for safety and the efficient running of the station...
, was born in Hudingen (Hampont)
Hampont
Hampont is a commune in the Moselle department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.-History:The Nazi SS-Obergruppenführer Theodor Eicke was born here in 1892....
, near Château-Salins
Château-Salins
Château-Salins is a commune in the Moselle department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.-See also:*Communes of the Moselle department...
(then in the German province of Elsass-Lothringen
Alsace-Lorraine
The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after it annexed most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east...
) into a lower middle-class family. The youngest of 11 children, he did not do well in school and dropped out at the age of 17 before graduation. He joined the 23rd Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n Infantry Regiment as a volunteer; later on, in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he took the office of paymaster
Paymaster
A paymaster often is, but is not required to be, a lawyer . When dealing with commission payments on contracts dealing with large amounts of money , most banks in the United States are very wary of handling such large amounts of money...
for the 3rd — and, from 1916 on, the 22nd Bavarian Infantry Regiment. He won the Iron Cross
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....
, Second Class in 1914 for bravery.
Eicke resigned from his position of army paymaster in 1919. He began studying in his wife's hometown of Ilmenau
Ilmenau
Ilmenau is a town located in the district of Ilm-Kreis, Thuringia, Germany.Ilmenau is situated in the valley of the Ilm river, at an altitude of 431 metres above sea level, and is the biggest town in Ilm-Kreis district, with 6,200 students studying at the Technische Universität Ilmenau. The...
. However, he dropped out of school again in 1920 intending to pursue a police career. He initially worked as an informer and later as a regular policeman. His career in the police came to an end because of his fervent hatred for the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
and his repeated participation in violent political demonstrations. He finally managed to find work in 1923 at IG Farben
IG Farben
I.G. Farbenindustrie AG was a German chemical industry conglomerate. Its name is taken from Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG . The company was formed in 1925 from a number of major companies that had been working together closely since World War I...
in Ludwigshafen, soon rising to the rank of leader of the company's internal intelligence service.
Rise of the Nazi Party
Eicke's views on the Weimar RepublicWeimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
mirrored those of the Nazi Party and he joined Ernst Röhm
Ernst Röhm
Ernst Julius Röhm, was a German officer in the Bavarian Army and later an early Nazi leader. He was a co-founder of the Sturmabteilung , the Nazi Party militia, and later was its commander...
's SA
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
on 1 December 1928. He left the SA in August 1930 for the SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
, where he quickly rose in rank after recruiting new members and building up the SS organization in the Bavarian palatinate. In 1931, Eicke was promoted to the rank of SS-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...
(Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
) by Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich 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...
.
His political activities caught the attention of his employer and in early 1932 he was laid off by IG Farben. At the same time, he was caught preparing bomb attacks on political enemies in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
for which he received a two year prison sentence in July 1932. However, due to protection received from Franz Gürtner
Franz Gürtner
Franz Gürtner was a German Minister of Justice in Adolf Hitler's cabinet, responsible for coordinating jurisprudence in the Third Reich. Detesting the cruel ways of the Gestapo and SA in dealing with prisoners of war, he protested unsuccessfully to Hitler, nevertheless staying on in the cabinet,...
, who would later serve as minister of justice under Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, he was able to flee to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
on orders from Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich 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...
, where he took over responsibility for a camp for exiled SS members.
SS and concentration camps
Hitler's rise to power
Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in Germany in September 1919 when Hitler joined the political party that was known as the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei . This political party was formed and developed during the post-World War I era...
. Eicke had political quarrels with Gauleiter
Gauleiter
A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau.-Creation and Early Usage:...
Joseph Bürckel, who had him arrested and he spent several months in a mental asylum. Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich 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...
eventually had him released in June 1933. After promotion to an Oberführer
Oberführer
Oberführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party dating back to 1921. Translated as “Senior Leader”, an Oberführer was typically a Nazi Party member in charge of a group of paramilitary units in a particular geographical region...
, Eicke was made commandant of the Dachau concentration camp on June 26, after complaints and criminal proceedings against former commandant SS-Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...
Hilmar Wäckerle
Hilmar Wäckerle
Hilmar Wäckerle was a German soldier in both the German Imperial Army and the Waffen-SS and the first commandant of Dachau concentration camp.-War service:...
following the murder of several detainees under the "guise of punishment".
Promoted on 30 January 1934 to SS-Brigadeführer
Brigadeführer
SS-Brigadeführer was an SS rank that was used in Nazi Germany between the years of 1932 and 1945. Brigadeführer was also an SA rank....
(equivalent to Major-general in the Waffen-SS), Eicke as commander of Dachau began new reforms. He reorganized the SS camp, establishing new guarding provisions
Postenpflicht
The Postenpflicht was part of a written order for SS guards in Nazi concentration camps regarding the use of firearms. It required SS guards to shoot prisoners who tried to escape or engage in resistance and to do so without verbal warning or a warning shot. The order stated that failure to shoot...
, which included rigid disciple, total obedience to orders, and tightening disciplinary and punishment regulations
Lagerordnung
The Lagerordnung was the "Disciplinary and Penal Code", first written for Dachau concentration camp, which became the uniform code at all SS concentration camps in the Third Reich on January 1, 1934. Also known as the Strafkatalog , it detailed the regulations for prisoners...
for detainees, which were adopted by all concentration camps of the Third Reich on 1 January 1934. Eicke detested weakness and instructed his men that any SS man with a soft heart should "...retire at once to a monastery".
Eicke's anti-semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
and anti-bolshevism as well as his insistence on unconditional obedience towards him as the camp's commander as well as the SS and Hitler made an impression on Himmler. In May 1934, he was appointed Concentration Camps Inspector
Concentration Camps Inspectorate
The Concentration Camps Inspectorate was the central SS administrative and managerial authority for the concentration camps of the Third Reich. Created by Theodor Eicke, it was originally known as the "General Inspection of the Enhanced SS-Totenkopfstandarten, after Eicke's position in the SS...
, a position which he began working in on 4 July 1934. Although technically responsible to the SS-Hauptamt
SS-Hauptamt
The SS-Hauptamt was the central command office of the German Schutzstaffel in Nazi Germany until 1940.-Formation:...
, Eicke in fact reported directly to Himmler.
Night of the Long Knives
The Night of the Long Knives , sometimes called "Operation Hummingbird " or in Germany the "Röhm-Putsch," was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political murders...
at the end of June 1934; together with hand-chosen members of the Dachau concentration camp guards (SS-TV), he assisted Sepp Dietrich
Sepp Dietrich
Josef "Sepp" Dietrich was a German SS General. He was one of Nazi Germany's most decorated soldiers and commanded formations up to Army level during World War II. Prior to 1929 he was Adolf Hitler's chauffeur and bodyguard but received rapid promotion after his participation in the murder of...
's SS-Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler to imprison SA commanders on June 30. To show his obedience to Himmler and Hitler, Eicke (together with his adjutant, Michael Lippert
Michael Lippert
Michel Hans Lippert or Michael Lippert was an SS Standartenführer, Police officer and a German soldier who served in both World War I and World War II. During World War II. Lippert commanded several concentration camps, including Sachsenhausen, before becoming a commander of the SS-Freiwilligen...
) shot Ernst Röhm
Ernst Röhm
Ernst Julius Röhm, was a German officer in the Bavarian Army and later an early Nazi leader. He was a co-founder of the Sturmabteilung , the Nazi Party militia, and later was its commander...
on 1 July 1934. Eicke was promoted to SS-Gruppenführer
Gruppenführer
Gruppenführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party, first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA.-SS rank:...
. As a result of the Night of the Long Knives, the remaining SA-run camps were taken over by the SS.
In his role as the Concentration Camps Inspector, Eicke began a large reorganisation of the camps in 1935, which consisted of the dismantling of the smaller camps. Dachau remained, then Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
opened in summer 1936, Buchenwald in summer 1937 and Ravensbrück (near Lichtenburg
Lichtenburg
Lichtenburg is a proper noun referring to:*Lichtenburg, a city in the North West Province of South Africa*Lichtenburg, a Nazi concentration camp in eastern Germany...
) in May 1939. There were other new camps in Austria, such as Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Mauthausen Concentration Camp grew to become a large group of Nazi concentration camps that was built around the villages of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper Austria, roughly east of the city of Linz.Initially a single camp at Mauthausen, it expanded over time and by the summer of 1940, the...
, opened in 1938. All SS camps' regulations, both for guards and prisoners, followed the Dachau camp model.
Eicke's reorganizations and the introduction of forced labour made the camps one of the SS's most powerful tools; this earned him the enmity of (among others) Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
, who had already unsuccessfully attempted to take control of the Dachau concentration camp in his position as chief of the SD
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
. Eicke prevailed with support from Himmler. When, in 1940, the Concentration Camps Inspectorate
Concentration Camps Inspectorate
The Concentration Camps Inspectorate was the central SS administrative and managerial authority for the concentration camps of the Third Reich. Created by Theodor Eicke, it was originally known as the "General Inspection of the Enhanced SS-Totenkopfstandarten, after Eicke's position in the SS...
(CCI) was turned into Amt D of the SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt
SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt
The SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt was responsible for managing the finances, supply systems and business projects for the Allgemeine-SS...
under Oswald Pohl
Oswald Pohl
Oswald Pohl was a Nazi official and member of the SS , involved in the mass murders of Jews in concentration camps, the so-called Final Solution.-Early years:...
, he assured that the command structure he had introduced would not fall to the jurisdiction of the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
and SD. The CCI and later Amt D were subordinate to the SD and Gestapo only in regards to who was admitted to the camps and who was released. However, what happened inside the camps was under the command of Amt D.
Totenkopf Division
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
approving Himmler's recommendation for the creation of three Waffen SS-divisions in October 1939.
Eicke's Totenkopf units were to form SS-Division Totenkopf and Eicke was given command. Totenkopf was to become one of the most effective German fighting formations on the Eastern Front, often serving as "Hitler's firemen", rushed to the scene of Soviet breakthroughs. His career now deviated from Concentration Camps and he was not involved with the camp service after 1940. His replacement as Inspector of Concentration Camps was Richard Glücks
Richard Glücks
Richard Glücks was a high-ranking Nazi official. He attained the rank of a SS-Gruppenführer and a Generalleutnant of the Waffen-SS and from 1939 until the end of World War II was the head of Amt D: Konzentrationslagerwesen of the WVHA; the highest-ranking Concentration Camps Inspector in Nazi...
who answered to Oswald Pohl in the SS Office of Economics and Administration.
During the course of the war, Eicke and his division became known for unmatched brutality and several war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s, including the murder of British POW
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
s in Le Paradis
Le Paradis massacre
The Le Paradis massacre was a war crime committed by members of the 14th Company, SS Division Totenkopf, under the command of Hauptsturmführer Fritz Knöchlein...
in 1940, the murder of captured Soviet soldiers and the plundering and pillaging of several Soviet villages. The Totenkopf continued to show an unmatched ferocity, during the advance in 1941 as well as the summer offensive in 1942, the conquest of Kharkov, the Demyansk Pocket
Demyansk Pocket
The Demyansk Pocket was the name given for the encirclement of German troops by the Red Army around Demyansk , south of Leningrad, during World War II on the Eastern Front. The pocket existed mainly from 8 February-21 April 1942. A much smaller pocket was simultaneously surrounded in Kholm, about ...
, and the defense of Warsaw and Budapest
Battle of Budapest
The Siege of Budapest centered on the Hungarian capital city of Budapest. It was fought towards the end of World War II in Europe, during the Soviet Budapest Offensive. The siege started when Budapest, defended by Hungarian and German troops, was first encircled on 29 December 1944 by the Red Army...
in early 1945.
Death
Eicke was killed on 26 February 1943, several months after being promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer (equivalent to generalGeneral
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
in the Allgemeine SS
Allgemeine SS
The Allgemeine SS was the most numerous branch of the Schutzstaffel paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany. It was managed by the SS-Hauptamt...
and also General in the Waffen-SS). While performing a battlefield reconnaissance during the opening stages of the Third Battle of Kharkov
Third Battle of Kharkov
The Third Battle of Kharkov was a series of offensive operations on the Eastern Front of World War II, undertaken by the German Army Group South against the Red Army, around the city of Kharkov , between 19 February and 15 March 1943...
, his Fieseler Fi 156 Storch was shot down by Soviet troops
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
1 kilometer southwest of Artelnoje (near Lozovaya). An assault group from the division recovered the bodies of Eicke, the pilot and SS-Hauptsturmführer Friedrich from enemy territory.
Eicke was portrayed in the Axis press as a hero, and soon after his death one of the Totenkopf's infantry regiments received the honorific cuff-title
Cuff title
A cuff title is a form of insignia placed on the sleeve, near the cuff of German military and paramilitary uniforms, most commonly seen in the Second World War but also seen postwar....
Theodor Eicke.
Personal life
Eicke married Bertha Schwebelon 26 December 1914. They had two children, Irma (born 5 April 1916) and Hermann (born 4 May 1920).
Dates of rank
- SS-MannMann (military rank)Mann , was a paramilitary rank used by several Nazi Party paramilitary organizations between 1925 and 1945. The rank is most often associated with the SS, and also as a rank of the SA where Mann was the lowest enlisted rank and was the equivalent of a Private.In 1938, with the rise of the...
: 29 July 1930 - SS-TruppführerTruppführerTruppführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1930 as a rank of the Sturmabteilung , or Nazi Stormtroopers...
: August 1930 - SS-SturmführerSturmführerSturmführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party which began as a title used by the Sturmabteilung in 1925 and became an actual SA rank in 1928...
: 11 November 1930 - SS-SturmbannführerSturmbannführerSturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...
: 30 January 1931 - SS-StandartenführerStandartenführerStandartenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in the so-called Nazi combat-organisations: SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK...
: 11 November 1931 - SS-OberführerOberführerOberführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party dating back to 1921. Translated as “Senior Leader”, an Oberführer was typically a Nazi Party member in charge of a group of paramilitary units in a particular geographical region...
: 26 October 1932 - SS-BrigadeführerBrigadeführerSS-Brigadeführer was an SS rank that was used in Nazi Germany between the years of 1932 and 1945. Brigadeführer was also an SA rank....
: 30 January 1934 - SS-GruppenführerGruppenführerGruppenführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party, first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA.-SS rank:...
: 11 July 1934 und Generaleutnant der Waffen-SS: September 1941 - SS-ObergruppenführerObergruppenführerObergruppenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA and until 1942 it was the highest SS rank inferior only to Reichsführer-SS...
und General der Waffen-SS: 20 April 1942
Notable decorations
- Eastern Front MedalEastern Front MedalThe Eastern Front Medal, , more commonly known as the Ostmedaille was instituted on May 26, 1942 to mark service on the German Eastern Front during the period November 15, 1941 to April 15, 1942...
(1942) - Iron CrossIron CrossThe Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....
Second and First (1940) Classes - Clasp to the Iron CrossClasp to the Iron CrossThe Clasp to the Iron Cross was a metal medal clasp displayed on the uniforms of German Wehrmacht personnel who had been awarded the Iron Cross in World War I. It was displayed on the uniforms of many high ranking officers during World War II as most had also served in World War I...
Second Class (1940) - SS-Honour Ring
- Knight's Cross of the Iron CrossKnight's Cross of the Iron CrossThe Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was a grade of the 1939 version of the 1813 created Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II...
(1941) - Oak LeavesKnight's Cross of the Iron CrossThe Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was a grade of the 1939 version of the 1813 created Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II...
(1942) - Wound BadgeWound BadgeWound Badge was a German military award for wounded or frost-bitten soldiers of Imperial German Army in World War I, the Reichswehr between the wars, and the Wehrmacht, SS and the auxiliary service organizations during the Second World War. After March 1943, due to the increasing number of Allied...
in Silver - Cross of HonorCross of HonorThe Cross of Honor, also known as the Honor Cross or, popularly, the Hindenburg Cross, was a commemorative medal inaugurated on July 13, 1934 by Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg for those soldiers of Imperial Germany who fought in World War I...
(1934) - Golden Party BadgeGolden Party BadgeThe Golden Party Badge was a special badge of the Nazi Party. The first 100,000 members who had joined and had uninterrupted service in the Party were given the right to wear it...
(1940) - Bavarian Military Merit CrossMilitary Merit Cross (Bavaria)The Bavarian Military Merit Cross was that kingdom's main decoration for bravery and military merit for enlisted soldiers...
2nd Class (?) - Braunschweig War Merit Cross Second Class
- Mentioned in the WehrmachtberichtWehrmachtberichtThe Wehrmachtbericht was a daily radio report on the Großdeutscher Rundfunk of Nazi Germany, published by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht regarding the military situation on all fronts of World War II....
on 21 October 1942
See also
- Glossary of Nazi Germany
- List of Nazi Party leaders and officials
- List of SS personnel
- LagerordnungLagerordnungThe Lagerordnung was the "Disciplinary and Penal Code", first written for Dachau concentration camp, which became the uniform code at all SS concentration camps in the Third Reich on January 1, 1934. Also known as the Strafkatalog , it detailed the regulations for prisoners...