Oskar Dirlewanger
The history of the Dirlewanger Brigade is inextricably linked to the life of its commander, Oskar Dirlewanger. After winning the Iron Cross first and second class while serving in the Imperial German Army during World War I, Dirlewanger joined the Freikorps and took part in street fighting against communist revolutionaries. When the revolution failed, he returned to university and obtained a PhD in political science. Dirlewanger joined the NSDAP in 1923 but was expelled and forced to reapply. After completing his PhD, Dirlewanger became a teacher. In 1934, he was convicted of sexually assaulting a female minor. He lost his position and was banned from teaching. After serving a two-year jail sentence, Dirlewanger was released. Soon after, he was again accused of sexual assault. He was interned in a concentration camp. Desperate, Dirlewanger contacted Gottlob Berger, an old Freikorps comrade who was working closely with Heinrich Himmler, the Reichsführer-SS. Berger secured his friend's release and an appointment to the Legión Cóndor, a German volunteer unit which fought in the Spanish Civil War for Franco's Falange Española. Dirlewanger was wounded three times. After returning to Germany in 1939, Dirlewanger was enlisted in the Allgemeine SS with the rank of SS-Untersturmführer. Berger created an elite partisan-hunting military unit (which would include some men convicted of poaching).
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