page_title: Sepp Dietrich
section_title: In the Weimar Republic
hierarchical_section_title: Sepp Dietrich / Interwar period / In the Weimar Republic
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. 5.8.1936 Olympia 1936 Im Rahmen des modernen Fünfkampfes kam heute im Olympia-Schwimmstadion in Anwesenheit des Führers das 300m Freistilschwimmen zum Austrag. Der Führer mit dem Kommandierenden General des III. Armeekorps v. Witzleben und dem SS Obergruppenführer Joseph Dietrich beim Verlassen des Schwimmstadions.
context_page_description: Josef "Sepp" Dietrich was a German politician and SS commander during the Nazi era. He joined the Nazi Party in 1928 and was elected to the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic in 1930. Prior to 1929, Dietrich was Adolf Hitler's chauffeur and bodyguard. He received rapid promotions in the SS after his participation in the extrajudicial executions of political opponents during the 1934 purge known as the Night of the Long Knives.
  Despite having no formal staff officer training, Dietrich was, along with Paul Hausser, the highest-ranking officer in the Waffen-SS, the military branch of the SS. Reaching the rank of Oberst-Gruppenführer, he commanded units up to army level during World War II. As commanding officer of the 6th Panzer Army during the Battle of the Bulge, Dietrich bore responsibility for the Malmedy massacre, the murder of U.S. prisoners of war in December 1944.
  After the war, Dietrich was convicted of war crimes at the Malmedy massacre trial, conducted by the U.S. military tribunal, and later in West Germany for his involvement in the 1934 purge.
context_section_description: After the Great War ended, Dietrich worked at several jobs, including policeman and customs officer. He joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in 1928, got a job at Eher Verlag, the NSDAP publisher, and became commander of Hitler's Schutzstaffel (SS) bodyguard. His NSDAP number was 89,015 and his SS number was 1,117. Dietrich had been introduced to Nazism by Christian Weber, who had been his employer at the Tankstelle-Blau-Bock filling station in Munich. He accompanied Hitler on his tours around Germany. Later Hitler arranged other jobs, including various SS posts, and let him live in the Reich Chancellery. On 5 January 1930 Dietrich was elected to the Reichstag as a delegate for Lower Bavaria.
  By 1931 he had become SS-Gruppenführer. When the Nazi Party seized power in 1933, he rose swiftly through the hierarchy. He became the commander of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) and member of the Prussian state council. As one of Hitler's intimates, Dietrich was often able to disregard his SS superior, Heinrich Himmler, at one time even banning Himmler from the Leibstandarte barracks. The LSSAH eventually grew into an elite division of the Waffen-SS. Although the unit was nominally under Himmler, Dietrich was the real commander and handled day-to-day administration.
  In the summer of 1934 Dietrich played a key role in the Night of the Long Knives. Hitler, along with Dietrich and a unit from the Leibstandarte, travelled to Bad Wiessee to personally oversee Ernst Röhm's arrest on 30 June. Later at around 17:00 hours, Dietrich received orders from Hitler for the Leibstandarte to form an "execution squad" and go to Stadelheim prison where certain Sturmabteilung (SA) leaders were being held. There in the prison courtyard, the Leibstandarte firing squad shot five SA generals and an SA colonel. Additional SA personnel identified by the regime as traitors were shot in Berlin by a unit of the Leibstandarte after Hitler told him to take six men and go to the Ministry of Justice to shoot certain SA leaders. Shortly thereafter, Dietrich was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer. Dietrich's role later earned him a 19-month sentence from a postwar court.
caption: Hitler with Dietrich in Berlin during the 1936 Summer Olympics
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