If you have been thinking that Nazis were the ultimate bottom of the cruelty barrel during World War II, prepare yourself for accounts of the Dirlewanger and Kaminski brigades. Even experienced SS officers looked up at these units and thought “What are we doing?".
First of all, Oskar Dirlewanger was well known as a violent man even before the war went hot. The decision that the Nazis made was “We’ll give him command of his own unit.” So they did. But instead of giving him such conventional soldiers they gave him the most dangerous criminals they could find. Rapists, murderers, sadists—you name it. On everyone deemed undesirable by the Nazi regime was unleashed the Dirlewanger Brigade: prisoners, villagers, entire communities.
Belarus was devastated early – its villages annihilated with the same nonchalance one would treat insects. The Nazis reformed the Brigade even after the Soviet almost eliminated them. Next up was Warsaw. It wasn’t just fighting; it made the city an absolute mess. Every time he did something his rank went up. Yeah, rewarded for mass killing. But karma caught up. He died through brutal beating in a prison camp far away from the warrior death one would expect.
In the ranks comes the Brigade of Kaminski led by Bronislav Kaminski. These weren’t Germans; ruthlessly they were Russians who joined the Nazis. It wasn’t just due to orders; their cruelties were notorious involving rapes, tortures, and killing of civilians. Even the Nazis found them too radical towards their brutality. Imagine that: too brutal for the SS. It is ultimately not remorse; it is a loss of control that led the Nazis to break ranks. You know things have gone seriously wrong when Nazis themselves pick up on your excesses.
Dirlewanger and Kaminski – two men whose actions had been so atrocious that they dotted a war that was already infested with them. If even the brutal are afraid then you know that what you’ve done is truly despicable.
