Dirlewanger Brigade - Himmler's Convict Legion 

You know something's wrong when the SS says you need to take it down a notch.

“People talk sometimes of a bestial cruelty, but that's a great injustice and insult to the beasts; a beast can never be so cruel as a man, so artistically cruel. The tiger only tears and gnaws, that's all he can do. He would never think of nailing people by the ears, even if he were able to do it.” Dostoyevsky

If you were to describe Dirlewanger to me without me knowing know what he looks like, my mental image of him would be exactly how he looked in real life. Never has a face fit a description of a person so perfectly.

Himmler: “send in the dirlewanger brigade” SS: “now steady on old chap”

An atrocious man and unit, but important for this story to be told and known, not least as a warning of what human beings are capable of. As always, thank you, Dr. Felton, for your brilliant insight and work!

Wounded 12 times and still surviving WWII. -Even Hell didn't want this person.

"Beaten to death by Polish solders" A great ending to a horrible story.

Imagine being in a unit where SS troops would talk about you behind your back, calling your unit a bunch of psychos. I can't even imagine that

You know a man is dark when even the SS go "Now steady on"

You know, most of the time I always look forward towards Mark’s history lessons, but while horrific, shying away from history does no one any good.

Amazing documentary, Dr. Felton. My Great Grandfather, Karl, born 1921 was sent to this unit in 1943. He was a regular Wehrmacht Heer (Army) soldier sent to the unit due to dissenting remarks. He's still alive to this day and almost never referenced his time in this Brigade, as opposed to his Regular Army service. He's currently 102.

The SS-SONDERKOMMANDO 'DIRLEWANGER' A MEMOIR was written by a man who was sentenced to two years in prison for poaching in 1939 at the age of 19. He was one of the original 75 recruits when the kommando was formed in 1940 and remained with the unit until the end of the war. He was released from POW camp in 1946 and lived until 2006. A very well written and very interesting story.

Dirlewanger's Brigade sounds like the typical Imperial Japanese Army platoon in WWII.

The SS and gestapo also thought at times, that the actions of the ustasha troops of their ally Croatia, were a bit beyond the pale as well. Especially in so called anti-partisan actions, which were basically the mass rape, looting, brutal torture and murder of civilians. Maybe you could do a video about this mob Mark.

During Warsaw Uprising Polish fighters were short of ammunition, had to aim well before firing, as a result Dirlewanger's brigade suffered unusually high proportion of dead to wounded. A legion of cowards good against defenceless women and children. This short movie makes them look almost like angels.

You know you have created a monster when even the SS are disturbed by their actions!

"One must be amazed, when one learns of the inner nature of man, that the number of criminals is so small." -- Dr. Wilhelm Stekel

This is like the perfect ingredients for a evil storm.

The brigade's last action was against the Soviets - Me: Oh good Many of them surrendered to the Americans - Me: Damnit Dirlewanger died in mysterious circumstances, perhaps beaten to death by Polish soldiers - Me: Oh good

This unit was the inspiration for the SS soldiers in the war film Come and See, one of the best and most realistic war movies ever.

I've been waiting for someone to cover the notorious Oskar Dirlewanger. Good job, Mark!

The Dirlewanger Brigade may have started out as a penal unit, but by 1944 any scumbag or thug who impressed Dirlewanger was recruited. The Dirlewanger Brigade also had Red Army deserters in their ranks by late war. They also used Soviet equipment either captured or bought into the unit by deserters, including T34 tanks. These deserters were just as brutal and ruthless as the violent convicts from the Reich proper, or the RONA volunteers. Not that most "loyal" Soviet troops were any better. Life in the Red Army was harsh and brutal, thus producing soldiers who act like animals when cut loss. These kind of men were prefect for the likes of Oskar Dirlewanger and his merry band of cutthroats.

In the famous Soviet-era Belarus anti-war movie, 1985's "Come and See" by director Elem Klimov. The SS division that was depicted at the end of the film were based on this particular SS division.

Wifey hears the intro music and asks “watching ww2 history again?” Lol

Dirlewanger -that's what Skeletor looked like when he was a young man! :)

Dr..Felton just keeps cranking out stunning history programming. Yes, these are history programs and not just RU-vid videos. He is the penultimate source for us now, as there is no more real History Channel. His content is much too detailed and deep, yet concise and effective for broadcast/cable television these days. Let’s all please support his work in whatever way that we can. Subscribe, share, contribute if you can. Thank you, Mark! … from all of us.

I can't believe it took so long for Mark to get to Dirlewanger. This is one of the most bazaar corps in the whole of WW2.

Man, Felton is definitely one of the best content creators on the site tbh. Straight to the point, interesting information. Reliable as a hammer.

Oh God, this guy. This guy was apparently so evil that even the SS tried to have them removed. They even directly inspired the main bad guys from the movie Come and See (1985). And that method of burning villages was their PREFERRED method of reprisals. Absolutely sick.

You've got to imagine that if the Germans had won there would have been another night of the long knives.

my grand uncle was attached to these guys in 43 , after he had problems in his prior unit for drunk on duty. He did 8 months before returning to his unit before 1944. He was captured in late 1944 and did not return until 1950. His old unit was the 4th SS Polizei Panzergrenadier Division , Flak Battalion 4 as a gunner.

I think this was the brigade portrayed in the famous Belarusian WW2 movie "Come and see"

Mark, how about doing videos on “Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night” and “Operation Unthinkable”. I think very little is known about either among the general public, but both are hugely significant.

Even your subtitles are immaculately timed. Dr. Felton, I say this every time in different ways but you have the highest quality history channel hands down. I just keep finding things you do well that others pay no mind to. Once again, thanks for your dedication.

If ever there were a group of men who were prime candidates for some “woodchipper justice”...

Ever since I read the book "The Cruel Hunters" by French Maclean i've been fascinated by this brigade, a real dark corner of the whole of WW2. Great video Mark!

A story long overdo for the honor of a Mark Felton production. Finally the wait is over. Thank you good sir.

My great-uncle served in this unit. The few times he told his experiences from that time still make me shiver. I am grateful that there is documentary like this because it confirms what my great-uncle said. It's strange because I only have good memories of him. He never made a secret of the fact that he had killed many people and that he was involved in the "purges" of the Polish civilian population and the Warsaw Ghetto. He came into the unit because he was sentenced to death. He always stressed his innocence and that the charge against him was a fatal mistake. Later he wrote down the circumstances. His childhood and joining the Dirlewanger Brigade are the only remaining pieces of paper. Everything that he had done and experienced in the unit, I only know from his stories. It's terrible what humans can do to humans.

Shew that bit about the kids at the preschool hit me hard. I'm a dad and can't wait to hug my baby girl tonight.

When I saw the notification I felt a mixture of joy that Mark Felton is spreading the knowledge about what the people of Belarus and Poland went through at the hands of those bastards and apprehension to click on it and hear about these atrocities once more. The exploits of this despicable unit during the Warsaw Uprising were described in gruesome details by Mathias Schenk. Just 18-years old at that time Wehrmacht soldier, conscripted from the part of Belgium incorporated into Reich, Schenk had the misfortune of being part of a detachment of the assault engineers (Sturmpioniere) assigned to help the Dierlewanger Brigade in urban fighting.

You can’t get any worse than that, another outstanding video Mark ! Keep up the great work.

I feel like Oskar Dirlewanger might be the person Roald Dahl was thinking of when he wrote this quote : If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until it gets so ugly that you can hardly look at it. A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely. As I said there is just something about his physical features that exudes bad intent.

I'd like to see you cover more of their crimes. Same thing with other infamous units from all sides of the war

Even now after all these years the 500 children have no peace !! Such horrible deaths of children , makes me ill !!

1am here in Australia and no better way to go to bed then watch another great Mark Felton video. Keep it up mate. Love the work

There's a great Polish movie it's about Deliwenger Division. 2013 "Taniec Smierci". Hope you can find it with Eng. Sub. Also " Warsaw 44".

Another outstanding effort Mark. Thank you.

The movie “Come and see” was inspired by the events of this brigade. Highly recommend the movie, although fair warning, if you're used to Hollywood war movies, this will hit you like a train Edit: the movie is free on youtube

Again Mr. Felton another outstanding teaching lesson in our human history. I always enjoy how well narrated and in depth your studies are and personally think you are by far the best! Please keep up the great work and GOD bless!!

Dr. Felton this presentation hits home with me as it backs up the stories I was told by my relatives who were subject to such predation. You capture a chaotic time that as a child was hard to contemplate or understand.

The recruitment process here reminds me of a scene in "Blazing Saddles", where they where recruiting criminals for some deleterious enterprise. The potential recruits are listing their "qualifications" and one man lists rape twice. When asked why, he says "I like rape". I believe he was willingly accepted.

"Died under mysterious circumstances"... Yeah, I bet he did.

"Mysterious circumstances" : when hanging really is too good for someone.

A sickening story, yet one that needs to be told. Unfortunately the lessons that need to be learned from these such accounts have been forgotten by too many.

These thugs were notorious. Thanks for sharing this, Mark!

Absolutely horrific events that must be told to honor those lost.

Thank you Mark for bringing this to light as many people would never know this.

From what I've read joining the Dirlewanger Brigade was pretty death sentence as your own side was just as likely to shoot you as much as the enemy was.

A russian film called "come and see" goes to great length to depict this legion evil acts on the Belarusian population.

I'll add some details that Mark forgot to mention of Dirlewanger's life and legacy World War 1: He wasn't an ordinary infantryman but a machine gunner in the First World War. He was wounded 6 times. (You would think being wounded that many times would teach a mad lad to behave) He was promoted to a Leutnant to lead his own machine gunner company. At the end of World War 1, the German troops in his area were ordered to be sent to camps in Romania, by the Allieds. Dirlewanger ignored these orders and took his unit back to Germany. Inter-War years: Got a bullet to his head and survived during his service in the Freikorps. I also remember reading that he commanded an armored train to liberate a town from communists, but I only remember reading that story like twice while all the other stories of him have been repeated dozens of times, so I dunno about that. After the NSDAP rose to power he was praised as a savior of a town and got an honorary status in the said town. (Could this be related to the armored train adventures?) Took part in the Spanish Civil War. World War 2: I don't think Mark missed much from this period. I skipped through the video a bit but I didn't find if Mark mentioned that Dirlewanger's tactics lead to his unit ending up with 300% casualty rate. Post War: Dirlewanger has been rumored to have been recruited to the French Foreign Legion and fought in the First Indochina War. It's rumored that there were still three veterans of the Dirlewanger brigade living in Germany in the 2010s. "Dirlewanger", a Swedish music group was formed in 1986. The Azov Battalion either has a unit or at least fights alongside a unit called "Dirlewanger skinheads" in the current Donbas War. Finnish internet: Hikkykostajat (hikikomori avengers) gave Oskar Dirlewanger the title of 'hikkykostaja' (a/the hikikomori avenger) for tormenting normies and his neglect of social norms/morals. Hikkykostajat are an unorganized group of radicalized Finnish hikikomoris who take revenge on society by the means of vandalism. Many of the stories of vandalism they share are most likely just make-believe. The oldest Dirlewanger memes made by hikikomori avengers seem to be from 2017. The term 'hikkykostaja' (a/the hikikomori avenger) can refer to one of them, Oskar Dirlewanger, or really any person behind a case of vandalism of normie property, this makes it possible to read their stories as if Dirlewanger keeps coming back from the dead just to shitpost on a Finnish imageboard and torment innocent people with petty vandalism. Known ways of hikkykostaja's taking revenge on the society include: Living on welfare. Losing mental health from lack of socializing, drug use, and being mad at society all the time, which in turn means more welfare money for being a sicko. Dropping a frozen sheet of urine through a normies apartment door's mail hatch. Wiping one's bottom onto a public bathroom's toilet seat after defecating. Leaving poisoned bits of sausage near paths where people walk their dogs. Scratching paint off cars or deflating their tires. Spilling a bucket of fecal/paint/urine mixture (I think this tactic was once used on a social welfare office by a hikky who wasn't happy with the amount of welfare he got.) Western internet: Hearts of Iron 4 The New order fans seem to have started "memeing" about Dirlewanger around 2018, among many other insane extremists and war criminals that were included in the mod. In 2019 a thread about Dirlewanger was posted on 4chan's 'History and Humanities' board and judging by people's reactions this was the first time many of them heard about him. This most likely lead to many people searching for more info about Dirlewanger which lead them to find the Finnish meme images of Dirlewanger which just added to his absurdity. The thread mentioned above, lead to more Dirlewanger threads being posted on the 'History and Humanities' and 'Television and Film' boards throughout 2019 and 2020. Dirlewanger threads are being made less consistently now, but there still are nearly daily threads about him on 'History and Humanities'. The 'Television and Film' threads of Dirlewanger usually began with an image of Dirlewanger in his civilian attire when he was captured and a green text portraying a cheesy cop movie-style scene where Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler takes the role of the stereotypical police chief with lines such as ">Turn over your badge and your gun... and your other gun", ">Your latest stunt in Warsaw got Fuhrer breathing down my neck.", or ">You're a loose cannon Dirlewanger, but damn you're effective.".

His strychnine evenings were perhaps the most depraved acts committed during WW2. A new novel, Gabriella will be published 30th of June featuring Dirlewanger's antics in Berlin in while being awarded the German cross in gold in early 1943.

When the guard duty changes from French to Poles: POLE: WHOSE IN HERE FRENCH: SOME GUY WHO KILLED KIDS IN WARSAW POLE: HMM OK PRISONER: MYSTERIOUSLY DEAD A FEW HOURS LATER...

A fitting end to a monster.

"Beaten to death by Polish soldiers". Beautiful sweet words.

I frequently wonder how many "Direlewangers" are among us. People who are truly evil on the inside, but wouldn't reveal it fully unless given a justification by their own country.

What a chilling topic... Shuddering to think of how many sadistic criminals who were part of this brigade probably managed to escape any punishment

My respect for the polish soldiers at the end 📈📈

Wow, it warms my heart to know he might have been beaten to death by the poles. Wasn't able to escape justice like so many others

This unit was the real "Dirty Dozen" multiplied x100

Fascinating video. It's disturbing how vicious humans can be towards others

Felt good to hear the last line : Beaten to death by Polis Soldiers.

Ah yes, the gamer legion.

"He was found dead under mysterious circumstances..." and nothing of value was lost.

I was waiting for this one. Thank you Dr. Felton!

Mark You deserve a medal of honor for this movie..thank You so much for it and for History Lessons for everyone..

I was literally just thinking about this yesterday and why you haven't posted about this earlier. Maybe God heard my prayers.

I read up about the 44 uprising in Warsaw, and not only the SS but even the German Army were like "dude, get these psycho bastards out of here".

The other SS commander that quashed the Warsaw uprising went on to have a long life as a mayor of a west German town. Too many got away without punishment..

"Beaten to death by Polish soldiers" Poetic justice of the highest order

Their sheer brutality were visually reenacted in the Soviet-era movie “Come and See”

‘A 2 week orgy of terror’ yet the war lasted several years. One of your best video Thank you very much

Fun Fact!: Oskar Dirlewanger was wounded TWELVE times between 1920 to 1945, including once in the Freikorp and twice in Spain.

Always great stuff on this channel!

I don't know who is more monstrous: Dirlewanger for doing all this horrible stuff, or Himmler looking at his exploits and being all like: "Eh, this man is useful."

"Oskar Dirlewagner was Supposedly beaten to death by Polish Soldiers" Karma.

let people enjoy things

It makes me smile that a channel like Mark's exists and seems to make so many happy

I think within the SS, PTSD was a real issue. And this could been a solution for most brutal tasks. The mad, won’t go mad.

He's out there operating without any decent restraint, totally beyond the pale of any acceptable human conduct. And he is still in the field commanding troops.

Great job....this is my second time around (now Feb. 2022) for this story by Mark about this vile figure in the Nazi war machine...so intrigued by the appearance and behavior of Dirlewanger that i and my writing team are considering including a character based loosely on him in a post-Apocalyptic adventure series set in modern-day Venezuela after everything goes "Mad Max" and new powerful warlords emerge for control of resources, people and territory. We see a creepy Dirlewanger-like character as a leader of a violent terror & shock squad for one of the new warlords....a unit that has to be reined in sometimes and kept on a short leash by its superiors..

I was wondering when they will make an appearance.

The Esoteric Legion

A great scene from "Blazing Saddles" comes to mind: "Qualifications" "Rape, Murder, Robbery, Rape" "You said rape twice" "I like rape"

There is a series of books written either by a Dane by the alias Sven Hassel (Børge Willy Redsted Pedersen), about battalions mady up by convicts - Strafbataillon. But as I got it, they were fighting units, not murder batallions, and they got the worst and most dangerous jobs on the battlefields. It had been very interesting to learn about such batallions, that were found in both Germany and Soviet Union.

Mark Felton your the best. Amazing history that people are afraid to talk about.

I feel physically sick after watching this - and I know it needs to be remembered.

Another impressive anecdote from Mark Felton. I read about the Deliwanger brigade from a waffen ss history book....but as usual, Mark Felton brings it to life.

1:16 The great irony of this. I remember reading an essay by Goebbles which he wrote some time in 1930 in which he criticized FDR of America's blind recruitment of prisoners among the US military, calling it unprofessional, and that the German people would never allow such things to take place.. How wrong was he

The Russian Film " COME AND SEE " portrays a company of Dirlwanger Brigade in "action" 1943!

I first heard of Dirlevanger while reading about the atrocities in putting down the Warsaw uprising, but newer about the other details. Great work dr.Felton