Hellmuth Becker (SS officer)

Hellmuth Becker
Born	(1902-08-12)12 August 1902
Died	28 February 1953(1953-02-28) (aged 50) Prisoner-of-War Camp 337 near Sverdlovsk, Soviet Union
Allegiance	Weimar Republic Nazi Germany
Service / branch	Waffen SS 1934–45
Years of service	1920–45
Rank	Brigadeführer
Unit	3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf
Battles / wars	World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves

Hellmuth Becker (12 August 1902 – 28 February 1953) was a high-ranking German member of the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and commander of the SS Division Totenkopf.

"The personification of the brutal landknechts who formed the high-ranking officers of the Waffen-SS", he was tried by Soviet authorities twice, for war crimes and sabotage, and was executed in 1953.

Career

Born in 1902, Becker joined the army in 1920. In 1933, he joined the SS and met Wilhelm Bittrich and Hermann Priess. In 1935, Becker was transferred to the SS Totenkopf association "Bavaria", which later became part of the SS Division Totenkopf. Becker was appointed regimental commander in August 1941. In October, he was given command of the division, until in March 1944, he assumed command of the 36th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment, 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS in Italy. On July 20th1944, Becker was given command of the Division Totenkopf. In September 1944, he was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross for the division's actions in Romania and the fighting around Grodno.

In December, the division was moved to Hungary for the battles around Budapest. Becker was twice mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht, OKW's daily propaganda communique, on 1 and 2 January 1945. The division crossed the Danube River to Vienna, attempting to surrender to the U.S. forces. Under the terms of Germany's capitulation, the surrender was refused and the unit was handed over to the Soviet Red Army.

Trials, convictions and execution

In November 1947, he was put on trial before a Soviet military court in Poltava and sentenced to 25 years forced labor for war crimes. While serving his sentence, Becker "tried his jailers' patience" by attempting to manufacture explosives, leading to his retrial. He was convicted and executed in February 1953.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class (24 May 1940)
  • 1st Class (26 June 1940)
• German Cross in Gold on 26 September 1942 as SS-Standartenführer in SS-Totenkopf-Infanterie-Regiment 3
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
  • Knight's Cross on 7 September 1943 as SS-Standartenführer and commander commander of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment "Theodor Eicke".
  • 595th Oak Leaves on 21 September 1944 as SS-Oberführer and commander of the 3. SS-Panzer-Division "Totenkopf"
• Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht on 1 February 1945

References

Bibliography

• Parrish, Michael (1996). The Lesser Terror: Soviet State Security, 1939–1953. Praeger Press. ISBN 978-0-275-95113-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Sydnor, Charles W. (1990) [1977]. Soldiers of Destruction: The SS Death's Head Division, 1933–1945. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-00853-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Thomas, Franz (1997). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 1: A–K (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7648-2299-6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)