Oskar Dirlewanger



Oskar Dirlewanger (26 September 1895 – 7 June 1945) was a German military officer (SS-Oberführer) and war criminal who served as the founder and commander of the Nazi SS penal unit "Dirlewanger" during World War II. His name is closely linked to some of the worst crimes of the war, carrying out multiple horrendous war crimes including torture, rape, pillaging, wanton murder of civilians, extortion, arson, and even possibly cannibalism if some rumors are true. He was also a violent alcoholic and was prone to multiple violent outbursts brought upon by his alcoholism.

He also fought in World War I, the post-World War I conflicts, and the Spanish Civil War. He died after World War II while in Allied custody, apparently beaten to death by his guards, though lack of evidence has led to theories of him escaping.

Dirlewanger is invariably described as an extremely cruel person by historians and researchers, including as "a psychopathic killer and child molester" by Steven Zaloga, "violently sadistic" by Richard Rhodes, "an expert in extermination and a devotee of sadism and necrophilia" by J. Bowyer Bell, and "a sadist and necrophiliac" by Bryan Mark Rigg. According to Timothy Snyder, "in all the theaters of the Second World War, few could compete in cruelty with Dirlewanger