Talk:Joachim Peiper/Comments

To the respondent that said that Peiper was not responsible for the Malmedy Massacre of defenseless American Prisoners of War is somewhat bogus, Why? He was the Commandant of Battle-group Peiper and therefore as Commandant had to be at least partly responsible for the behavior of those under him, otherwise why have a Battlegroup Commandant at all? And as well all know in the Waffen SS obedience to your leader was very strongly emphasised to those within its ranks.

It is worth remembering that Peiper was an unapologetic Nazi, even when faced with the facts of things like the holocaust and other crimes carried out by the armed forces against Prisoners of War and countless reprisals against unarmed civilians he was still totally unrepentant, see some of his comments on this site and elsewhere and you will see exactly what I mean.

It would be fair to say that Peiper was a murderer, after all a lot of the people that suffered at the hands of him and his cohorts were unarmed civilians of various nationalities, as well as prisoners who were unarmed and no longer capable of giving combat to their SS captors.

As to the fact that he himself was murdered by French Communists, there is no conclusive proof of this. I have a theory personally that it may even have been another German that murdered him, after all why was he not living in Germany? Why would he choose to live in France rather than Germany? Unless he had more to fear in Germany than in France, after all what he chose to do for a living could have been done equally as well in Germany. So to lay the blame at the door of the French Communists is slightly bogus, no doubt they would have welcomed it, however wishing ill on someone does not make you guilty of their murder. It is possible I believe that a fellow German bearing a grudge may have been equally as guilty as anyone else.

Response to a Few of the Peiper comments

Nickname reference awkward--yes, it is but some people might wonder if Joachim Peiper and Jochen Peiper are the same person. Yes. The nickname note was added because an earlier version quoted a ridiculous and inaccurate line by Charles Whiting in his early popular book--that Peiper 'changed his name' because the SS disapproved of Biblical names. Peiper was named after a relative and baptized Joachim, a not uncommon name at the time and one of many "Biblical names" of many in the SS/Waffen SS. Joch'n is just a short familiar version of the name, and the subject was called that long before the SS. The Waffen SS held church call, field Mass, had prayers on their KIA remembrance cards, and as far as I know, did not destroy any more churches in their line of fire than anybody else did. Peiper's father was not "a career Army officer." The father served in World War I, attaining the rank of captain. After that war he had civil service management positions. Education in 1930s Europe--Again, the reference is to another inane note by Whiting, a British popular writer on military subjects who must have known better when he stated falsely Peiper didn't even graduate from high school and couldn't pass his exams. In Scandinavian, Benelux, Germany and other European countries, there were virtually no private or parochial schools; education was a state ans taxpayer responsibility. Required schooling was from age 6 to 11 in lower school, and to 16 in upper school. Schooling then ended for most young people at 16, and they went on to a variety of employment-related training and apprenticeships, including in fields such as nursing, primary teaching and business management now considered to require a degree. A few young men and women of academic talent or ambition went on to four more years of (state-supported) higher education. These higher schools ddid and do not award degrees, and students did and do not 'graduate' in the American sense, but recorded completion certificates, which Peiper received from his Berlin Oberrealschule at age 20. Biographer Agte clarifies the matter by stating Peiper, over his father's objections, did not sit for the national Abitur examination he was scheduled for because his officer course was just beginning at the same time. The Abitur is not a degree or a final exam--it is a qualification to enter graduate studies (European universities award a degree, the doctorate, in medicine, law (philosophy and the arts for would-be professors) and for the higher civil service positions. The German army at the time required the Abitur for officers, but the Waffen SS did not. Peiper completed four years of higher education past completing high school. Whether you consider that 'college' is up to you. Peiper's year-long studies in the Waffen SS officer school then gave him the equivalent of a US master's degree in military science. The only relevant point seems to be that Peiper's background and schooling were more cultivated than many of his Waffen SS colleagues, but they had also gone to officer cadet training for the most part. Move to France--not uncommon for Europeans to move to a neighboring country for a variety of reasons, including job transfers, closer to family, whatever. No particular significance--Peiper heard of an undeveloped small piece of land he could afford to buy, cleared it, had a modest house built as a vacation cabin, and eventually moved to the property full time because cost of living was cheaper than in Germany and he by that age and background couldn't start another career. Many French, British, Americans whatever lived/worked in Germany and Germans in, or retired to, France; in fact one of Peiper's neighbors was a former Waffen SS officer, but with a better postward financial situation and unmolested. French communists did indeed firebomb Peiper's house, virtually his only asset, in which attack he died, and acknowledged that they had, and in fact firebombing people's residences was a common tactic of theirs. The question is were they just thugs making a statement or was that particular target suggested by others. Peiper's retirement income was supplemented by translating works into English--whatever publishers decided might have an English-language market interest. The higher-ranking accused--the generals et al and Peiper, a colonel--were brought in by the tribunals solely for, in my opinion, publicity and propaganda, and in any case were in fact NOT accused, charged and convicted for 'doing it' but as part of a 'common design.'– —