Sepp Dietrich..did he have a family?

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T.R.Searle
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Sepp Dietrich..did he have a family?

#1

Post by T.R.Searle » 30 Aug 2002, 01:22

Did SS-Oberstgruppenfüuhrer Joseph (Sepp) Dietrich have a wife or children?Also what year did he die?

T.R.Searle :)

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Michael Miller
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"Sepp" Dietrich- Family Man

#2

Post by Michael Miller » 30 Aug 2002, 03:12

Here are a few details on "Sepp" Dietrich's private and public life.

Best wishes,
~ Mike Miller / ABR




Josef (“Sepp”) Dietrich
SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer
und Panzer-Generaloberst der Waffen-SS /
Preußischen Staatsrat / M.d.R.


Born: 28. May 1892 in Hawangen near Memmingen /
Allgäu / Bayern.
Died: 21. April 1966, of a heart attack at his home in Ludwigsburg; buried in the Neuer Friedhof, Ludwigsburg.

NSDAP-Nr.: 89 015
(Joined 1. May 1928)
SS-Nr.: 1 177
(Joined 5. May 1928)

Promotions:
SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer und
Panzer-Generaloberst der Waffen-SS: 1. August 1944
(mit RDA vom 20. April 1942)
General der Waffen-SS: March 1940
(mit RDA vom 1. July 1934)
SS-Obergruppenführer: 1. July 1934
SS-Gruppenführer: 18. December 1931
SS-Oberführer: 10. October 1930
SS-Standartenführer: 18. September 1929
SS-Sturmbannführer: 1. August 1928
SS-Sturmführer: 1. June 1928
SS-Anwärter: 5. May 1928
Hauptmann der Landespolizei: 1924
Oberleutnant der Landespolizei: 1923
Leutnant der Landespolizei: October 1919
Vizewachtmeister:
Unteroffizier:

Career:
Attended Volksschule in Kempten / Allgäu: - 1907, then employed as tractor driver. Traveled to Italy, Sweden, and Austria, then to Switzerland where he became an apprentice in a Zurich hotel: 1907 - 1911. Entered Royal Bavarian Army as volunteer in 2.Batterie / 4.Bayerische Feld-Artillerie-Regiment “König” (Augsburg): 18. October 1911 - 17. November 1911 (invalided out due to fall from a horse). Employed as errand boy in a bakery, Kempten: 1911 - 1914. Reentered service as Kriegsfreiwilliger, assigned to Bayerischen Reserve-Feld-Artillerie-Regiment 6: 6. August 1914 - (on Western Front from October 1914. Wounded in lower left leg by shrapnel and received lance wound over left eye on the Ypres Front): November 1914. Hospitalized: November 1914 - January 1915. Training at Artillerieschule in Sonthofen / Bayern: January 1915. Assigned to 7.Königlich Bayerischen Feld-Artillerie-Regiment “Prinzregent Leopold” in 1.Bayerische Division: 1915 - 1916. Again wounded (on the Somme; partially buried by a shell explosion and injured in right side of head by a shell splinter): late-1915 or early-1916. Assigned to Infanteriegeschütz-Batterie 10: November 1916 - Autumn 1917. Assigned to I.Bataillon / Infanterie-Regiment 8: 1917 -. Assigned to Sturmbataillon 2: 1917 -.Assigned to Bayerische Sturmpanzerkampfwagen-Abteilung 13 (in Berlin-Schöneburg): 19. February 1918 - 11. November 1918 (assigned to a tank nicknamed “Moritz” [first tank action near St. Quentin, 21. March 1918; “Moritz” was destroyed on 31. May 1918, Dietrich and his crew moving on to a British tank). Chairman of Sturmpanzerkampfwagen-Abteilung 13 Soldatenrat (Soldiers’ Council): 9. November 1918 -. Returned to service with Bayerische Feld-Artillerie-Regiment 7: 20. November 1918 -. Discharged from Bavarian Army as Vizewachtmeister: 26. March 1919. Returned to München: 4. April 1919. Joined Bavarian Landespolizei, assigned as Wachtmeister in command of Aufklärungs-Zug / Landespolizeigruppe 1 (a police armored car platoon based in Oberschleißheim near München): 24. February 1920 (1. October 1919 according to Dietrich’s application to the Bavarian War Archvies for a certificate of military serice to back up his 1963 claim for annuity insurance) - . Took leave from Bavarian Landespolizei to service with the Freikorps Oberland and assigned to 2.Kompanie / I.Bataillon (also known as Sturmbataillon or Sturmflug “Teja”; participated in liberation of Upper Silesia from Polish insurgents, May 1921 [he was in Upper Silesia until at least mid-October 1921] and possibly participated in the München Putsch of 9. November 1923 [unconfirmed]): 1920 - 1926. Left Bavarian Landespolizei: 1927. Briefly employed as clerk in the Austria Tobacco Compnay, then in the customs service, as garage manager of the Tankstelle-Blau-Bock (Blue Buck filling station, owned by future SS-Brigadeführer Christian Weber), and as forwarding agent with a large Bavarian publishing company: 1927 - 1930. Joined NSDAP; 1. May 1928. Joined SS, assigned as Führer of SS Sturm 1 (München): 5. May 1928 - June 1928. Führer of 1.SS-Standarte (Base: München): 1. August 1928 - 18. September 1929. SS Führer for Oberbayern and Führer of SS Brigade “Bayern”: September 1929 - July 1930. Führer of Hitler’s unofficial bodyguard unit (nucleus of the future Leibstandarte): 1929 - 29. February 1932. Member of the Reichstag (Deputy at various times for Wahlkreis 24 [Oberbayern/Schwaben], Wahlkreis 5 [Frankfürt/Oder], and Wahlkreis 25 [Niederbayern]): 1930 - May 1945. Führer of SS-Abschnitt I (HQ: München): 11. July 1930 - 31. October 1930. Führer of SS Oberführerbereich “Süd” (designated SS-Brigade “Süd” in 1931/1932, the SS-Gruppe “Süd” on 1. July 1932): 31. October 1930 - 1. October 1932. Führer of SS-Abschnitt IV (HQ: Braunschweig): 11. July 1931 - 1. August 1931. Führer of the SS Begleit-Kommando “Der Führer”: 29. February 1932 - 17. March 1933. Führer of SS-Gruppe “Nord” (HQ: Hamburg/Altona): 1. October 1932 - 19. April 1933. Führer of SS Stabswache “Berlin” (with the expansion of SS Begleit-Kommando “Der Führer”; (initial strenth: 117 men; first HQ: Kaiserin Augusta Viktoria Barracks on Friesenstraße, Berlin-Kreuzberg; HQ later moved to Berlin-Lichterfelde): 17. March 1933 - 2. August 1933. Führer z.b.V. (special duties officer) to the Reichsführer-SS: 20. March 1933 - 1. October 1933. Führer of the Gruppenstab SS Sonderkommando Berlin (consisting of SS Sonderkommando Berlin, Zossen, and Jüterbog; redesignated “Adolf Hitler-Standarte” on 3. September 1933; to the “Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler” on 9. November 1933; and to “Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler” on 13. April 1934): 2. August 1933 - 4. June 1943 (his command was expanded to Brigade strength in August 1940, then to a Division on 9. May 1941; redesignated a Panzer-Grenadier-Division with an assigned Panzer-Abteilung on 9. September 1942). Führer of SS Gruppe “Ost” (HQ: Berlin; redesignated SS-Oberabschnitt “Ost” on 16. November 1933 and SS-Oberabschnitt “Spree” on 14. November 1939): 24. November 1933 (backdated to 1. October 1933) - 8. May 1945 (duties performed by substitutes Paul Moder, then Max Schneller, throughout the war while Dietrich held Waffen-SS commands). Member of the Presse Staatsrat (State Press Council under Reichsleiter Max Amann): 1934 -. Member of the Lebensborn Society: (1. December 1937) -. Kommandierender General of SS-Panzer-Korps “Leibstandarte”: 27. July 1943 - 9. August 1944. Dispatched to Italy to oversee disarmament of the Italian Army: August 1943 - early-September 1943 (SS-Panzer-Korps duties held by subordinates during this brief period). Oberbefehlshaber of 5.Panzer-Armee: 9. August 1944 - 11. September 1944. Oberbefehlshaber of 6.SS-Panzer-Armee (known as 6.Panzer-Armee until 31. January 1945, when "SS-" was added): 14. September 1944 - 8. May 1945. Ratsherr of the City of Berlin: . Reichsehrenrichter (honorary judge) of the Obersten Ehren- und Disziplinarhof der DAF (Supreme Honor and Discipline Court of the German Labor Front):.

Postwar Prosecution:
Accompanied by his wife, Dietrich surrendered to U.S. Army forces under General George Patton at Kufstein, Austria on 9. May 1945. Held at Kufstein for several days, then transferred to Augsburg on 15. May 1945. First interrogated on 1. June 1945 (by U.S. Army Captains Hans Wallenberg and Ernst Langendorf) and again on 11. June 1945 (by Lieutenant Rolf Wartenberg). Transferred to Wiesbaden, 13. July 1945. Transferred to Oberursel and held there for five weeks until 5. November 1945, then sent to Nürnberg until 16. March 1946. Transferred to Dachau, 16. March 1946. Interned at Schwabisch Hall, 6. April 1946 - 25. April 1946. Formally arrested/charged by the U.S. Counter-Intelligence Corps (CIC) as war criminal on 16. April 1946. Stripped of POW status, 9. May 1946. Tried by U.S. Military Tribunal at Dachau (United States of America vs. Valentin Bersin et al, Case No. 6-24 [the “Malmédy Case”]), 16. May 1946 - . Sentenced to life imprisonment (later commuted to 25 years’ imprisonment) on 16. July 1946. Submitted his fourth parole application, 18. July 1955 and finally released on parole from Landsberg Prison, based on the recommendation of a combined Allied-German clemency board, on 22. October 1955. Arrested again in August 1956 and charged by Landgericht München I on 14. May 1957 for his role in the slaughter of SA leaders on 30. June / 1. July 1934. Defended by Dr. Alfred Seidl (defender of Rudolf Hess at Nürnberg and relative- probably brother- of Dietrich’s ex-wife), he was sentenced to 19 months’ imprisonment by a München court for being an accessory to premeditated murder. Tried as codefendant was former SS-Standartenführer Michael Lippert, who had been Theodor Eicke’s accomplice in the murder of Ernst Röhm. His lawyer in this case was. He was released due to a heart condition and circulation problems in his legs, 2. February 1959.

Decorations & Awards:
~ Ritterkreuz des Eisernes Kreuzes: 5. July 1940 as SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS, Kommandeur, Leibstandarte SS "Adolf Hitler", Western Campaign.
~ Eichenlaub: 31. December 1941 (Nr. 41) as SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS, Kommandeur, SS-Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" (mot.), Eastern Front
~ Schwertern: 16. March 1943 (Nr. 26), as Kommandeur, SS-Panzer- Grenadier-Division "Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler” (for recapture of Kharkov)
~ Brillanten: 6. August 1944 (Nr. 16) as Kommandierender-General, I.SS- Panzer-Korps "Leibstandarte", Normandy Front
1939 Spange zum 1914 Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse: 27. October 1939
1939 Spange zum 1914 Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse: 25. September 1939
1914 Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse: [date unknown]
1914 Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse: 14. November 1917
Medaille “Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42”
Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938 mit Spange “Prager Burg”
Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 13. März 1938
Gemeinsames Flugzgeugführer- und Beobachter-Abzeichen in Gold mit Brillanten (Combined Pilot's and Observer's Badge in Gold with Diamonds; honorary award)
Panzerwagenabzeichen, 1918 in Silber
Bayerische Militär-Verdienst-Kreuz III. Klasse mit Krone und Schwerter:
5. July 1918 as Unteroffizier
Tapferkeitsmedaille (Bravery Medal of Austria, WW I)
Bayerische Dienstauszeichnung III. Klasse (for 9 years’ service)
Schlesischer Adlerorden I. und II. Klasse mit Schwertern: 1921
Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung III. Klasse (12 years)
Goldenes Parteiabzeichen: 1933
Blutorden (Nr. 10): 11. June 1934
Deutsche-Olympiaehrenzeichen II. Klasse
Dienstauzeichnungen der NSDAP in Silber und Bronze
SS-Dienstauszeichnungen
Reichssportabzeichen in Gold
SA-Sportabzeichen in Gold
Ehrendegen des RF SS
Totenkopfring der SS
SS-Zivilabzeichen Nr. 7
Ehrenwinkel für Altekämpfer
Julleuchter
Grand Officer Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy
Grand Officer Cross of the Order of St. Mauritius & St. Lazarus (Italy)
Grand Officer Cross of the Italian Military Order of Savoy
Grand Officer Cross of the Order “Coronei Romaniei” (Romania)(?)

Notes:
* Son of the master packer Palagius Dietrich and his wife Kreszentia (died 1948).
* Religion: Catholic.
* Foreign language proficiency: Italian.
* Married on 17. February 1921 to Barbara (“Betti”) Seidl (born 24. April 1896; NSDAP-Nr. 233 700). Divorced, April 1937. The same year, Dietrich became involved with the 22-year-old daughter of his friend Heinrich Moninger, a famous brewer in Karlsruhe. This was Ursula Moninger (born 26. March 1915 / died 1983), who had married future SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei Karl-Heinrich Brenner in 1935. Dietrich and Frau Moninger-Brenner had a son, Wolf-Dieter Dietrich, who was born out of wedlock in Karlsruhe in 1939). On 19. January 1942, Dietrich married Ursula. A second son, Lutz, was born in Karlruhe on 20. March 1943 (Heinrich Himmler was his godfather). His third son, Götz-Hubertus, was born in Karlsruhe on 23. November 1944 (also with Himmler as godfather).
* For his 50th birthday- 28. May 1942- Dietrich received from Adolf Hitler a tax-free check for 100.000 Reichsmark.
* Talented race car driver and an avid hunter.
* Described by his one-time employer, Reichsleiter Max Amann, as “ill-mannered and brutal, but a hard worker who paid his men well.”
* Dietrich’s funeral in Ludwigsburg was attended by some 7,000 people, most of them veterans of the Waffen-SS and Wehrmacht. He was eulogized by former SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Wilhelm Bittrich, the same man who not much earlier, on 29. June 1966, had stated: “I once spent an hour and a half trying to explain a situation to Sepp Dietrich with the aid of a map. It was quite useless. He understood nothing at all” (though Bittrich later retracted the statement).
* Height: 5 ft., 7 in. (170 cm).


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T.R.Searle
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#3

Post by T.R.Searle » 30 Aug 2002, 03:21

Thanx very much that was a very good amount of information :mrgreen: .

I just have a few questions.

-Where did you get this information,was it one peice of information or alot compliled together,if it was one peice was there a site with other members of the SS like this with all of that information.

-And how did he get in if he was 5.7 and the minimum requirement was 5.9?

T.R.Searle :)

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Michael Miller
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Sources

#4

Post by Michael Miller » 30 Aug 2002, 14:44

Sources:

Messenger, Charles:
"Sepp Dietrich: Hitler's Gladiator" (1988)

Yerger, Mark C.:
"Waffen-SS Commanders: Augsberger to Kreutz" (1997)

National Archives & Records Administration, College Park, MD:
SS record of Josef Dietrich on microfilm


As one of the earliest and leading members of the SS, "Sepp" would have had no problem bypassing the height requirement- if anyone gave him any trouble about it, he could probably just have it lowered to 5',7".

Best wishes,
~ Mike Miller / ABR

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T.R.Searle
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#5

Post by T.R.Searle » 30 Aug 2002, 15:37

Thanx very much :mrgreen:

T.R.Searle :)

Timo
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#6

Post by Timo » 31 Aug 2002, 12:43

Mike, you wrote:
His lawyer in this case was.
Who was?

Regards,
Timo

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Michael Miller
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Thanks, Timo...

#7

Post by Michael Miller » 31 Aug 2002, 16:03

Thanks for catching that sentence fragment, Timo- I need to fix it.

The lawyer was Dr. jur. Alfred Seidl.

Best wishes,
~ Mike

Timo
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#8

Post by Timo » 31 Aug 2002, 16:21

Thanks. I was just curious :)

Matt
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Sepp Dietrich

#9

Post by Matt » 01 Sep 2002, 17:03

Thanks Michael - very interesting.

Is Dietrich a common German name?
There was a prominent Australian footballer (Carl Dietrich) and I have wondered of a connection.

Regards
Matt

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Jeremy Dixon
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#10

Post by Jeremy Dixon » 31 Dec 2007, 17:24

He is a photo of sepp Dietrich with his two daughters
Attachments
Dietrichkeep.jpg.jpg
Dietrichkeep.jpg.jpg (14.53 KiB) Viewed 13400 times

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coburg22
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#11

Post by coburg22 » 31 Dec 2007, 19:47

Hello,

I thought Dietrich did not have any daughters, only three sons.

Best James

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Michael Miller
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#12

Post by Michael Miller » 31 Dec 2007, 19:48

Correct, no daughters- only sons.

~ Mike

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Deutsch Boy
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#13

Post by Deutsch Boy » 31 Dec 2007, 22:12

trbooks wrote:He is a photo of sepp Dietrich with his two daughters
Can anyone identify these girls then? There is another photo of Dietrich with two girls, maybe the same ones at a younger age (although I find it unlikely); it has been posted on the forum before, but here it is.
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Dietrich Again.JPG
Dietrich Again.JPG (38.21 KiB) Viewed 13321 times

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Reader3000
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#14

Post by Reader3000 » 31 Dec 2007, 23:00

Could be from the Bormann or Goebbels family.

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Michael Miller
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#15

Post by Michael Miller » 31 Dec 2007, 23:19

I think I see a Bormann family resemblance in these girls.

~ Mike

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