Oskar Dirlewanger

Oskar Dirlewanger

Oskar Paul Dirlewanger (26 September 1895 – 7 June 1945) was a German military officer and the founder and commander of the Nazi SS infamous penal unit "Dirlewanger" during World War II. Dirlewanger's name is closely linked to some of the worst crimes of the war. He also fought in World War I as well as in the post-WWI conflicts, and in the Spanish Civil War. He died after WWII while in Allied custody, apparently beaten to death by his guards.

He was invariably described as an extremely notorious figure by historians and researchers, including as "a psychopathic killer and child molester" by Steven Zaloga, as "violently sadistic" by Richard Rhodes, as "an expert in extermination and a devotee of sadism and necrophilia" by J. Bowyer Bell, and as "a sadist and necrophiliac" by Bryan Mark Rigg. World War II historian Chris Bishop called him the "most evil man in the SS." According to Timothy Snyder, "in all the theaters of the Second World War, few could compete in cruelty with Oskar Dirlewanger."