His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. His men were also responsible for killing numerous Belgium civilians and other POWs during their advance.Īfter the war, Joachim Peiper was tried and convicted of war crimes, and sentenced to death by hanging on 16 July 1946. Most notably Peiper’s men executed 84 defenceless American prisoners of war (POW) at the Baugnez crossroads near Malmédy. But of course, it was his role as commander of the 1st SS Panzer Division, one of the spearheads of the German’s surprise winter offensive through the Ardennes region of Belgium, which brought Jochen Peiper his lasting infamy. He saw plenty of fighting on the Eastern Front, France and Italy where he revelled in his role as commander of the so-called Blowtorch Battalion, notorious for burning villages and killing the inhabitants regardless of their status as civilian non-combatants. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords for extreme bravery and outstanding military leadership.

It seems clear from Parker’s meticulous research that the affection was mutual.Ī member of the Waffen SS or fighting SS, Peiper was keen to give up his cosy desk job and see some action as part of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. A comrade remarked that Peiper was one of the few people who seemed to genuinely like the cold, humourless, rabidly anti-Semitic Himmler.

He would witness mass executions and an experimental gassing while accompanying his boss on SS business trips across the Nazi’s growing empire. By the outbreak of war, Peiper was the Reichsführer’s constant companion and faithful adjutant. Quick to join the fledgling Schutzstaffel or SS, Peiper applied to become an SS Officer Cadet in 1934 at the suggestion of Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler. Handsome, intelligent and capable, Jochen Peiper had something of the matinee idol look about him. Instead, he would spend a decade in jail, years working in the German auto industry and die mysteriously on Bastille Day, 13 July 1976, at his secluded home on the banks of the Saone River, France.

Found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to death by hanging for his part in the infamous Malmédy massacre of American servicemen during the Battle of the Bulge, Peiper escaped the noose. Parker’s book Hitler’s Warrior takes an unflinching look at the life and wars of SS Colonel Jochen Peiper.

Joachim peiper interview