Joachim Peiper is remembered today as convicted war criminal who was responsible for the bloody
massacre of US army prisoners of war in the Malmedy Massacre.
During the Second World War, he was rather senior and served Heinrich Himmler as an adjutant,
and he was seen as a valued member of the SS.
He personally saw the mass murder that was implemented by Himmler inside of the concentration
camps, and he also served as a tank commander on the Eastern and Western Front, and his
battle group Kampfgruppe Peiper became notorious for their involvement in war crimes against
prisoners of war and civilians.
After the Second World War, he was brought to trial, and was investigated for his war
crimes, however he was sentenced to death but this was commuted to time in prison based
on how the US soldiers treated him during his interrogation and imprisonment.
Because of this it was viewed that he escaped justice in the post war trials, especially
for his slaughter of American soldiers, but in France his location was discovered in the
1970s, and he was brutally slaughtered by anti-Nazis.
So join us today as we look at the ‘Brutal post war execution of Joachim Peiper,’ and
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Joachim Peiper was born in Berlin on the 30th January 1915, and was from a middle class
family.
His father was a soldier in the German Army, and his father also took part in the Freikorp
movement, and was angry at the fact Germany had lost the First World War.
At the age of 11, Joachim became a Boy Scout and through this he became interested in pursuing
a career in the military.
His elder brother joined the SS and later became a guard inside a concentration camp,
seeing action also in Poland where he was killed.
However, Joachim was 18 when he joined the Hitler Youth.
He volunteered for the SS and then joined the Cavalry SS, and he was promoted a number
of times.
His reputation caught the attention of Heinrich Himmler, and to Himmler Peiper was an ideal
Aryan, and someone who personified the master race promoted by the Nazis.
He was sent on a military leadership course, and received positive reviews from his instructors,
however psychologists noted he had a negative attitude, and wished to impress others with
his personal relationship to Himmler.
He continued to serve inside of the SS training to be am officer, and whilst at school he
was also taught the Nazi Antisemitic values they promoted to devastating effect.
He served a tour of duty with a tank division, and Himmler saw him as a promising SS leader.
He then served as a staff officer inside of the anteroom of the Ss main office in Berlin,
and his friendship with Himmler flourished, and he was considered a favourite assistant.
Peiper was always present where Himmler went in official capacities.
When the Nazis invaded Poland in September 1939, Peiper travelled on the personal train
of Himmler, and he was also party to meetings with Hitler when the furrier travelled with
Rommel and other Wehrmacht and SS generals.
Peiper personally saw the brutal executions and savagery of the German officers who carried
out mass executions of the polish population, and he was noted to have been a witness to
these.
He also witnessed the Action T4 poison gas killings of disabled and mentally ill people
inside a psychiatric hospital.
Together with Himmler, Peiper travelled and conducted many inspections of concentration
camps in Nazi Germany, and he was involved in arranging the deportation of the Jews from
cities such as Warsaw and Lublin.
As they continued their concentration camp tour, they witnessed more euthanasia and executions.
As Germany invaded France, Peiper became a platoon leader of a tank division.
He was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class, and later awarded the Iron Class 1st class,
and he scored many victories.
He was then told of the impending operation of the Soviet Union, and he had 4 months to
prepare Waffen SS soldiers of Kampfgruppe Peiper for conflict with the Red Army.
He continued with Himmler to travel occupied lands, observing the ghettos instilled during
the occupations of Poland, and he witnessed first hand the brutality of German soldiers.
He was present in June 1941 for a conference in which Himmler debated the plans for killing
30 million slavs in Europe and Russia, and when the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union
began, Peiper was personally there to inspect the work of the Einsatzgruppen, who were executing
thousands of civilians by gunshot.
He rejoined the fight on the Eastern Front, and Peiper wrote of close combat fighting
with the soviets, and he was known for war crimes himself.
Upon entering a village on the Eastern Front, Peiper and his men discovered 25 Germans killed
by Partisans and Soviets, and for this he ordered the burning down of the whole village
and for all of the inhabitants of the village to be shot dead.
His unit was known as the Blowtorch battalion for their slaughter of two Soviet villages
where all the inhabitants were shot and killed, with the village scorched and burned.
Hundreds were killed in Peiper’s actions, and it was stated he himself was eager to
execute the order to burn villages.
His group were known for their terror and he was proud of this reputation.
Peiper became used as a propaganda hero for his leadership inside of the Waffen-SS, and
he was also used in Italy with Kampfgrupper Peiper fighting.
However on the 19th September 1943, Partisan guerrillas of the Italian Resistance Movement
killed one soldier and captured two close to Boves in north west Italy.
During a firefight with partisans, the Germans failed to rescue the men, and after this Kampfgrupper
Peiper were in control of the roads in and out of the village, and Peiper ordered the
partisans that he would destroy the village if they did not release the SS men.
The local priest negotiated the release of the prisoners, and the body of the SS soldier
killed earlier, however Peiper despite getting his wish then ordered his men to kill 24 men
in the village and they also killed a woman, looting and burning her house in the process.
Peiper’s combat experience continued during the Battle of Normandy, and he had been withdrawn
following a short stint on the Eastern Front and was sent to Belgium.
He was involved in training the new recruits, and the difficult training for Kampfgrupper
Peiper even resulted in 5 men being shot dead for not being of the standard required.
Following Operation Overlord, he was based around Pas de Calais, but was rarely used
on the frontlines.
He did suffer a nervous breakdown and was relieved from command on the 2nd August 1944
and went into hospital for treatment.
He returned to the front lines in time for the Battle of the Bulge and the counter offensive,
that saw the American army dig in against the Germans.
He commanded Kampfgrupper Peiper which was the best equipped battle group with the huge
tiger II tanks.
He tried to captured bridges over the rivers, but Peiper during this operation was noted
for conducting a number of massacres.
In particular he and his soldiers were responsible for the Malmedy massacre.
His armoured units were confronted by a lightly armed convoy of American vehicles at the Baugnez
crossroads, and they quickly surrendered to the Germans.
However the American troops had been gathered in a field near the crossroads, and furious
because of the delay caused by the skirmish, Joachim Peiper had his men execute and massacre
84 American soldiers, with their corpses left in the snow for weeks for the Americans to
find.
More murder came in other Belgian towns and villages, and eventually Kampfgrupper Peiper
were cut off and isolated.
This led to Peiper and his men abandoning their tanks and retreating.
However after the war, Joachim Peiper was sentenced to death for his involvement in
the Malmedy Massacre and other atrocities conducted by the unit under his command.
At trial he complained that he was tortured for information and for confessions, and that
this had been obtained through inappropriate interrogation.
Because of this, Peiper’s death sentence which would have saw him hanged was then commuted
to time in prison, and over the next decade all of those imprisoned in the trial had been
freed from their time in prison.
Peiper’s death sentence initially was commuted to 35 years imprisonment, and then was commuted
further and he was released in December 1956 from Landsberg prison.
By 1956 and his release, he was a bitter man who had personally had his most high profile
days behind him, rubbing shoulders with Hitler and Himmler.
He went on to work for Volkswagen in a dealership in sales, and stated in a post war interview.
‘I was a Nazi and I remain one.
The Germany of today is no longer a great nation, it has become a province of Europe.
That is why at the first opportunity I shall settle elsewhere, in France no doubt.
I don’t care for Frenchmen but I love France.’
New court proceedings emerged in 1968, with Peiper accused of killing Italian Civilians.
However the court ruled that there was insufficient evidence for any formal charges to go ahead.
During the winter of 1970, Joachim Peiper now around 55 moved to a small house he and
his wife had built in Traves.
The French Authorities had granted him permission to live there knowing full well who he was
and his background, and he was allowed to live.
The family were not particularly well off, but as his children were grown up, Peiper
and his wife lived comfortably.
They had a sufficient amount of land too, and wished to live quietly not to attract
any attention.
Their house was rather modest, with trees and a barbed wire fence securing Peiper’s
land.
Despite the Peiper’s living a quiet life and keeping themselves to themselves, they
did have some friends inside of the village, but a hate campaign began in June 1976.
On the 21st June, leaflets were distributed throughout Traves, saying ‘People of Travel,
a war criminal, SS Peiper is amongst us,’ and it then talked about the need to expel
him from France, and this was then picked up by national newspapers.
There was outrage across France that the man who had inflicted such massacre and suffering
was allowed to settle in France, and within a free days all of the national and international
media were running stories, and along the walls and road surfaces in the local area
swastikas, ss runes and Peiper’s name were painted.
Peiper complained to the police, and they said they would guard his property during
the day, but not at night, and the West German embassy in Paris advised him to leave.
However he conducted an interview with a newspaper at the time, 2 days after the leaflets were
distributed and said when asked about his past as a Nazi, ‘’This is a ridiculous
question, I was young and idealistic against Bolshevism, I do not understand why people
keep dragging up history.
As the Italians say, coffee is cold, its time for reconciliation in Europe.
I was not political, I was never a member of the Nazi Party, I was a soldier.’
In July threats emerged against Peiper’s life and his property and he was sent letters
and was subject to telephone calls saying his house would be burned down, and his dogs
killed.
There was no threat to kill him, but during this time his wife left for her own safety.
Peiper felt like his house had become an entrenched camp, and things became rather tense.
Peiper said he was not worried as he did not believe those making threats would carry out
anything substantial, and he was armed with a cold 38 revolver and a 22 calibre rifle
to defend himself.
He was even given a shotgun to further bolster his arsenal, and these were loaded at all
times.
On Bastille Day the 14th July 1976, the attack upon Peiper’s house came.
In the earl hours, sirens were heard and flames were coming from Peiper’s house.
The local fire brigade arrived and found their pump was not working, which slowed the efforts
to extinguish the fire, and when it was eventually put out they found the charred remains of
a body inside of the study.
The remains of Joachim Peiper had shrunk to around 60 cms long due to how intense the
fire was, and it was said they were barely recognisable as to belong to a human.
His identity was confirmed, and under his body the police found a fire damaged rifle
with a case in the chamber, and nearby was the revolver with 5 rounds that had been fired
from the cylinder.
A further 13 unfired rounds were found from the rifle in the axe room, and on the terrace
they found 3 shot gun cartridges from the one given to him, that had been fired and
had a strong smell of powder.
By looking in the garden, there were traces of shot near an oak tree around 10 metres
from the house, and its believed that PEiper tried to shoot those who attacked his house.
Both of his dogs had been wounded and there were bullets found in the kennel.
Forensics confirmed a number of things, that Joachim Peiper had tried to save some clothes
belonging to his wife by throwing them out of the house and onto the veranda, and Peiper’s
watch was found also on his body.
This had stopped at 1am, with the clock in the house stoping 7 minutes later.
Experts in arson stated that, the fire had began at the back of the house near the road,
and had taken hold very quickly.
It was started by Molotov cocktails, and the remains of one was found nearby outside the
house, with Peiper’s house being firebombed.
It was also found that the wire fence between the garden and the meadow had been cut with
wirecutters and that from this Peiper had spotted the attackers and shot at them.
He shot all three weapons at them, and there was no evidence of other weapons being fired
towards the house.
It’s believed that Peiper shot his shotgun from the terrace to put off the attackers,
and as the fire engulfed his house, he entered the house again to save important papers and
some of his wives clothes.
After throwing these out of the window, he then tried to defend himself by firing other
weapons, however was overcome by the smoke and then collapsed dying inside the fire.
After the death of Joachim Peiper, an anti nazi group named the Avengers emerged reporting
to the London Times that they were responsible, and shortly after Peiper’s charred house
was a brief tourist attraction, with local people wishing to catch a glimpse of the burned
out house of the former SS officer.
Joachim Peiper was a brutal and savage leader within the Waffen-SS who was responsible for
the deaths of thousands in war crimes and atrocities.
He was highly linked to the leadership of the SS and he personally saw the crimes of
genocide committed by the Nazis inside of concentration camps.
His death came 30 years after the Second World War had come to an end, and many viewed it
as reprisal for the crimes he had ordered and committed during the earlier decades.
However one thing does strike a chord, and its that the most reasonable cause of action
with Peiper after the Second World War would have resulted in his execution for war crimes
during the subsequent war crimes trials.
This is what most probably would have happened, if those guards had not tortured him and beaten
him during the interrogation.
The burning of Peiper during Bastille Day 1976 was a shocking even none the less.
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