Early Life
Becker was born on 12 August 1902 in Neuruppin, Brandenburg.
In August 1920, he joined the Army and was assigned to the 5th Infantry Regiment at Angermunde. In 1928, he was promoted to Stabsfeldwebel (warrant officer) in the 2nd Artillery Regiment at Szczecin. At the end of his service in 1933, he joined the SS and met Wilhelm Bittrich and Hermann Prieß. According to his personnel file, he joined his service on 1 January 1934 and on 17 June 1934 was appointed adjutant of the 74th SS-Standarte. In 1935, Becker was transferred to the SS Totenkopf association "Bavaria" as the commander of the recruit training company, and was responsible for the unit's transport. In 1937, Becker was promoted to Sturmbannführer (Storm Unit Leader/major) and in 1938 to Obersturmbannführer (Senior Storm Unit Leader/lieutenant colonel). Becker's unit was involved in the Anschluss of Austria and the occupation of the Sudetenland.
Read more about this topic: Hellmuth Becker
Famous quotes related to early life:
“Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians ...”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)