The SS Dirlewanger Brigade

The Dirlewanger Brigade was an anti-partisan unit of the Nazi army, reporting directly to Heinrich Himmler. The first members of the brigade were mostly poachers released from prisons and concentration camps, believed to possess the necessary skills for hunting down and capturing partisan fighters in their camps on the Eastern Front.

Their numbers quickly grew with others eager for a way out of imprisonment, including men convicted of burglary, assault, murder, and rape. Under the leadership of Oskar Dirlewanger, a convicted rapist and alcoholic, they were allowed to act without fear of repercussions, even for their most atrocious behaviour.

This group was used for its special "talents" to suppress the Jewish uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto, resulting in the estimated killing of 35,000 men, women, and children in a single day. Even by Nazi standards, the brigade was considered excessively violent, leading to an investigation of its activities. The Nazi hierarchy was keen to distance themselves from the brigade's conduct, eventually exiling many of its members to Belarus.

Based on archives from Germany, Poland, and Russia, The SS Dirlewanger Brigade offers an unprecedented look at one of the darkest chapters of World War II.