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Joachim Peiper Quotes

Joachim Peiper , also known as Jochen Peiper, was a field officer in the Waffen-SS during World War II and personal adjutant to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler between November 1940 and August 1941.

Peiper fought on both the Eastern Front against the Red Army and the Western Front against the Western Allies, and was awarded by Nazi Germany the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.

Peiper was convicted of war crimes committed in Belgium and imprisoned for almost 12 years. He was accused of war crimes in Italy, but Italian and German courts concluded that there was insufficient evidence to warrant prosecution.After his release from prison, Peiper worked for both Porsche and Volkswagen, before moving to France, where he translated books from English to German under the nom de plume "Rainer Buschmann". Peiper was murdered in France in July 1976.

✵ 30. January 1915 – 14. July 1976
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Joachim Peiper: 6 quotes33 likes

Famous Joachim Peiper Quotes

“I was a Nazi and I remain one…The Germany of today is no longer a great nation, it has become a province of Europe.”

Joachim Peiper

Interview with a French writer Peiper spoke with in 1967, quoted in The Devil's Adjutant by Michael Reynolds, page 260.

“When seeing today the defendants on the dock, don’t believe them to be the old Combat Group Peiper. All my old friends and comrades have gone before! These people who plead for mitigating circumstances are only the negative selection! The real outfit is waiting for me in Valhalla!”

Joachim Peiper

Letter to Willis Everett, July 14, 1946. Parker, Hitler's Warrior, chapter 14, citing Everett Papers in note 32.

“I admit willingly that after the Normandy battles, my unit was composed of young fanatic soldiers. Many of them had lost their parents, or brothers and sisters in the bombardments. Some had seen for themselves at Cologne where thousands of bodies were crushed after the terrorist raids. Their hatred of the enemy was such that I admit that I could not always control them. At Malmédy, there were, no doubt, some excesses.”

Joachim Peiper

Parker, Hitler's Warrior, chapter 18, citing La Libre Belgigue in note 61.

“History is always written by the victor and histories of the vanquished belong to a shrinking circle of those who were there.”

Joachim Peiper

Parker, Hitler's Warrior, chapter 19, citing Peiper to Karl Wortmann, November 28, 1974 in note 27.

“It's so long ago now. Even I don't know the truth. If I had ever known it, I have long forgotten it. All I know is that I took the blame as a good CO should have been and was punished accordingly.”

Joachim Peiper

Peiper on the Malmedy massacre, excerpted from A Traveler's Guide to the Battle for the German Frontier by Charles Whiting.

“My boys may charge me with all they want. The main thing is, it helps them. They are not evil and no criminals. They are the products of total war, grown up on the streets of scattered towns without any education! The only thing [they] knew was to handle weapons for the Dream of [the] Reich. They were young people with a hot heart and the desire to win or to die, according to the word: right or wrong—my country!”

Joachim Peiper

Letter to Willis Everett, July 4, 1946. Parker, Hitler's Warrior, chapter 14, citing Everett Papers in note 5.

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