MILITARY PERSONNEL

Oskar Dirlewanger

1895 - 1945

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Oskar Paul Dirlewanger (26 September 1895 – c. 7 June 1945) was a German military officer, convicted child molester, and war criminal. He is best known for commanding the Dirlewanger Brigade, a penal military unit of the Waffen-SS which served in World War II. Dirlewanger's unit is often considered the most notorious Waffen-SS unit, committing some of the conflict's most infamous atrocities, with Dirlewanger himself regarded as perhaps Nazi Germany's "most extreme executioner", engaging in constant acts of violence, rape, and murder. He died after the war while in Allied custody. Dirlewanger had an impressive career as a junior officer during World War I. He further fought in the post-World War I conflicts in Germany as a minor commander in the Freikorps militia movement, with the troops he led then also characterized by excessive violence, and participated in the Spanish Civil War. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in 34 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 32 in 2024). Oskar Dirlewanger is the 274th most popular military personnel (down from 203rd in 2024), the 686th most popular biography from Germany (down from 502nd in 2019) and the 58th most popular German Military Personnel.

Oskar Dirlewanger was a Nazi officer in the SS who is most famous for his command of the SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger, a unit of the Waffen-SS that was responsible for mass killings, punitive expeditions, and the destruction of Warsaw.

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Among MILITARY PERSONNELS

Among military personnels, Oskar Dirlewanger ranks 274 out of 2,058. Before him are Wilhelm Burgdorf, Han Xin, Sejanus, Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Lothar Rendulic, and Karl Wolff. After him are Robert Nivelle, Otto Carius, Otto Günsche, Johannes Blaskowitz, J. E. B. Stuart, and Marcus Claudius Marcellus.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1895, Oskar Dirlewanger ranks 47. Before him are Folke Bernadotte, Lij Iyasu of Ethiopia, Vladimir Propp, László Moholy-Nagy, Wilhelm Burgdorf, and Vasily Blokhin. After him are Stanley Rous, Jürgen Stroop, Richard Barthelmess, Babe Ruth, Dorothea Lange, and Augusto César Sandino. Among people deceased in 1945, Oskar Dirlewanger ranks 58. Before him are Theodore Dreiser, Franz Werfel, Robert H. Goddard, Karl-Otto Koch, Wilhelm Burgdorf, and Tadamichi Kuribayashi. After him are Heinrich Wölfflin, Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Ludwig Stumpfegger, Vladimir Vernadsky, Pavlo Skoropadskyi, and Felix Salten.

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In Germany

Among people born in Germany, Oskar Dirlewanger ranks 686 out of 7,253. Before him are Erwin Neher (1944), Felix Hoffmann (1868), Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805), Karl Wolff (1900), Ottmar Hitzfeld (1949), and Dietrich Eckart (1868). After him are Georg Büchner (1813), Otto Carius (1922), Simon Marius (1573), Arno Breker (1900), Hans Holbein the Elder (1465), and Otto Günsche (1917).

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Among MILITARY PERSONNELS In Germany

Among military personnels born in Germany, Oskar Dirlewanger ranks 58. Before him are Wilhelm Mohnke (1911), Kurt Student (1890), Erhard Milch (1892), Karl-Otto Koch (1897), Wilhelm Burgdorf (1895), and Karl Wolff (1900). After him are Otto Carius (1922), Otto Günsche (1917), Hasso von Manteuffel (1897), Reinhard Gehlen (1902), Werner Mölders (1913), and Hugo Sperrle (1885).

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