Austria 13.03.1938 - SS-units???

[Balsi]

HI,

I got a question about a man, serving in the SS/Waffen-SS. He got the KVK and the Austria-Medal 13.03.1938. He fought in Poland 1939 and after war he sentenced to death but later (1955) came free.


We dont know he was member of Leibstandarte or SS-VT. So I wantedt to know which SS-Units took part while the annexioan of Austria and later came to Poland. Maybe Leibstarte?

His name was Willibald Schretz.

Thanks a lot.

[Georg_S]

Hello Balsi,

I have been doing a search om Google
without luck, and it´s strange because
if he was sentenced to death atleast
soem page would have his name listed.
Are you sure about the spelling and
do you pherhaps know his final rank in the SS.

SS-Verfügungstruppe and Leibstandarte participated in
the Anschluss. Maybe some small parts of the
SS-TV as well, have inmind that SS-Totenkopf Sta. participated
in the anschluss of the Sudetenland.

Best reg.

Georg

[Balsi]

hanks Georg,

his last SS-rank I dont know.. the question I got is from his grandchild.. so I think the spelling is right.

I lookes at the site from the Amsterdam University about war crimes.. but don`t found his name.

His grandchild told me that he was Unterscharführer but I dont think so.

Greeting from berlin

Robert

[ohrdruf]

In the early morning of 13 March 1938, Himmler arrived at Hotel Metropol Vienna with:
(a) Gestapo and SD officials
(b) members of the SS under arms and
(c) the Austrian Legion raised in Germany.

The Metropol was soon the first seat of the Stapo-Leitstelle in Austria. On 19 March 1938, Himmler reported to Hitler on the initial "cleansing measures" he had undertaken - these were primarily to rid the country of undesirables in the Austrian Army.

The liklihood is that the subject of your enquiry earned his death-sentence while part of this group. Whether murders committed in an annexed country pre-war can be considered "war crimes" is doubtful, Germany was never at war with Austria. The most likely basis for a prosecution would seem to be the Austrian penal code.

Source: Published diaries of Generalleutnant Gerhard Engel, Hitler's Army ADC 1938-1943, footnote added by Institut fuer Zeitgeschichte to entry for 13.3.1938.

[Dan E. Moe]

What was the Austrian legion?

Regards,
Dan

[Phil Nix]

The Austrian Legion was formed from SS Sammelstelle which was part of Partei-Fluchtlings Hilfswerke under the office of Stellvertreter des Führers. Thisd office was run by SS Gruppenführer Alfred Rodenbucher and was to help and assimilate Austrian Nazis who had fled their own country to avoid prosecution The Sammelstelle was specifically to help those who wanted to join the SS and it was also under Rodenbucher. The Austrian legion was for training those who had been accepted into the SS and it was under SS Oberführer Richard Kaaserer.
Philmil

[Dan E. Moe]

Thanks Philmil!

Did they wear any kind of national insignia?

Regards,
Dan

[Timo]

Were the Austrians from II./SS 'Deutschland' (former Hilfswerk Schleissheim) part of this force?

[Phil Nix]

As far as I know no special insignia was worn. The Austrians in Deutschland would probably have come through the Austrian Legion although not everyone had to join. A small point the commander Kaaserer was arrested and was brought before an SS Court in August 1943 for using excessive brutality in training SS recruits not a good recommendation for a training officer
Philmil

[tigre]

Hello to all ; a complement..........................................

Die Österreichische Legion.

The Austrian Legion (Österreichische Legion), was a formation that was constituted in 1933 in the German Reich from the escaped Austrian National Socialists. In its previous history, the legion carried out a campaign of terror of the Nazi party of Austria in the first half of 1933. Precisely as of January 1933 the Austrian National Socialists intensified their confrontation with the government through a campaign of demonstrations, acts of terrorism and sabotage. After intense and unsuccessful efforts to still reach an agreement with the NSDAP and facing continued violence the Dollfuss government was forced to ban the party. After the official ban of the NSDAP, the party tried to adapt its organizational structures to the conditions of illegality and only those who really feared repressions in Austria because of their National Socialist activities would be admitted into the German Reich. The departure of the brown management personnel was followed by a broad stream of refugees, who were by no means only inspired by nationalistic thoughts, but often crossed the border in search of better living conditions.

As a result of the above, around six thousand party members crossed the border (including Adolf Eichmann). All that refugee male belonging to the SA or SS, or who was in military age, was initially quartered in Lechfeld, Bavaria. The term "Austrian Legion" was already in the Austrian media in the summer of 1933 and there it was sent indiscriminately to the Austrian members of the armed refugee associations in Germany.

The "Austrian Legion", particularly in the years 1933/34, was active in the field of tension between the different rival factions of the party and state authorities. He also played an active role in activities such as organizing escape routes to Bavaria; Internal organizational structure and military training in Lechfeld and other camps; resolution of internal conflict and disciplinary and repressive measures against illegal members of the legion or alleged "traitors"; support for Bavarian SA units in terrorist "criminal expeditions", financing of the "Legion"; smuggling of Nazi propaganda material, weapons and explosives across the Austrian border; Border conflicts and other armed conflicts.

The payment and rationing of the legion was not a priority, so many recruits developed their activities in civilian clothes and uniforms adapted to the needs were not assigned until March 1934. Later the legion underwent changes in its denomination and passed to be called first "Hilfswerk Osterreich" (Auxiliary Force Austria) and then "Hilfswerk Schleissheim" .............

Sources: http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/ss-unifor ... -669917-2/
SS Das Reich: The History of the Second SS Division, 1939–45. Gregory L. Mattson
Uniforms of the SS Vol 3. SS-Verfüngungstruppe 1933-1939.
Private Sales List-SS Standarte Deutschland

Cheers. Raúl M .

[Frech]

Literature in german:

Hans Schafranek, Söldner für den Anschluss - Die österreichische Legion 1933 - 1938, Wien 2011, approx. 500 pages.

Contains the history of the Legion, members lists and short bios of the leaders.

Regards

Christian

[tigre]

Hello to all ; thanks Christian . A little more..........................................

Kloster-Lechfeld.

According to Eichmann, Kloster-Lechfeld was a large army camp from the days of the First World War, there were many barracks and a monastery and a brewery nearby. The Bavarian state police were in charge of our training. A full battalion of the SS and many men of the SA were also stationed there. We were given instruction, basically infantry and engineers; the engineers were given shock training as stormtroopers, specializing in street combat. He also recalled that a particular punishment (later forbidden) was to crawl over bushes and gravel ...............

Already in the year of 1934, the "Hilfswerk Schleissheim" was involved in an international controversy, since the government of Benito Mussolini, at the request of the government of Austria demanded the dissolution of all Austrian NSDAP organizations operating in German territory. Determined to preserve Austrian independence both governments (Italy and Austria) were quite concerned about the activities of the "Hilfswerk Schleissheim" and their open support for the Anschlüss (political unification of the German-speaking peoples) with Germany. As at that time Nazi Germany still did not have a great relative power within Europe and at the same time the Italian Dictator was not aligned with Hitler's policy, he was forced to give in to those demands. However, in order not to enter into conflict with its neighbors and at the same time not to dissolve the "Hilfswerk Schleissheim", the simple arbitration of granting German citizenship to the members of that organization was resorted ...........

Sources: http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/ss-unifor ... -669917-2/
SS Das Reich: The History of the Second SS Division, 1939–45. Gregory L. Mattson
Uniforms of the SS Vol 3. SS-Verfüngungstruppe 1933-1939.
Private Sales List-SS Standarte Deutschland

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; a little more..........................................

SS-Hilfwerklager (HWL) Schleißheim.

During the winter of 1933/34 the Austrian Legion moved from Lechfeld to the Prittlbach training grounds, to the auxiliary camp of Schleißheim (Dachau) on the outskirts of Munich and close to the Dachau detention camp. There, according to Eichmann, they stayed outside the Dachau camp in huge hangars built of steel and concrete that had previously been used to store ammunition; the future SS slept in triple decker bunks. The Austrians began to receive military instruction by instructors of the Police and the LAH from March 1934 onwards. After the conclusion of the Parteitag celebrations in September 1934, the legion was officially integrated into the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT) as the Second Battalion of SS-Standarte 1 / VT, then SS-Deutschland (II./ SS-Deutschland). The first commander of the battalion was SS-Obersturmbannführer Ranft.

Sources: http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/ss-unifor ... -669917-2/
SS Das Reich: The History of the Second SS Division, 1939–45. Gregory L. Mattson
Uniforms of the SS Vol 3. SS-Verfüngstruppe 1933-1939.
Waffen-SS Photo Album - SS Standarte 'Deutschland". Historical Media, LLC.
Nazi Hunter: The Wiesenthal File. Escrito por Alan Levy
Strafvollzugslager Der SS- Und Polizei: Himmler’s Wartime Institutions for the Detention of Waffen-SS and Polizei Criminals. Stuart B. T. Emmett

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; a little more..........................................

The II./ SS-Deutschland.

As of April 1935, the SS-Obersturmbannführer Ranft was relieved by who would be the second to assume command of the battalion, the SS-Sturmbannführer Carl-Maria Demelhuber. In September of 1935 during the party's day (Parteitag der Freiheit) the regiment received the honorary tittle of "Deutschland" (Germany). In October 1935 the battalion, together with the I. Batallón and the 13th and 14th Companies, moved to the Königsbrück Training ground near Dresden. In September 1936 Carl-Maria Demelhuber left the battalion and took over the SS-Sturmbannführer Wilhelm Bittrich. It was this battalion that after the annexation of Austria constituted the core of the new Regiment SS-Der Führer. At the end of April 1938 the I. / SS-Der Führer (former II./ SS-Deutschland) was billeted in the Radetzky barracks in Vienna under the command of SS-Sturmbannführer Wilhelm Bittrich. Men of this I. Battalion were selected to form then the other battalions of the regiment.................

Sources: http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/ss-unifor ... -669917-2/
SS Das Reich: The History of the Second SS Division, 1939–45. Gregory L. Mattson
Uniforms of the SS Vol 3. SS-Verfüngstruppe 1933-1939.
Waffen-SS Photo Album - SS Standarte 'Deutschland". Historical Media, LLC.
Nazi Hunter: The Wiesenthal File. Escrito por Alan Levy
Strafvollzugslager Der SS- Und Polizei: Himmler’s Wartime Institutions for the Detention of Waffen-SS and Polizei Criminals. Stuart B. T. Emmett
https://encheres.catawiki.eu/kavels/583 ... -1967-1982

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more..........................................

Die Österreichische Legion.

Sources: http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/ss-unifor ... -669917-2/

Cheers. Raúl M .