SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Karl Wolff

SOME OF THE PRISONERS HELD AT
SPECIAL CAMP 11


Portrait of Wolff prominently displaying (from top of pocket) his Golden Party Badge, Prussian Iron Cross 1st Class (for action in WWI) and the German National Sports Badge in Silver.

NAME: SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Karl Friedrich Otto Wolff

PW NO: B33420
RANK: SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS
CAPTURED: Bolzano, Italy
DATE: 13 May 1945

PERSONAL
D.O.B: 13 May 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH : Darmstadt, Hessen
DIED : 17 July 1984
PLACE OF DEATH: Rosenheim
NATIONALITY:
RELIGION:
OCCUPATION:
HEIGHT:
WEIGHT:
NEXT OF KIN:

NSDAP-Number: 695 131 (joined 7 October 1931)
SS-Number: 14 235 (joined 7 October 1931)

Promotions:

SS-Sturmführer: 18 February 1932
SS-Sturmhauptführer: 30 January 1933
SS-Sturmbannführer: 9 November 1933
SS-Obersturmbannführer: 30 January 1934
SS-Standartenführer: 20 April 1934
SS-Oberführer: 4 July 1934
SS-Brigadeführer: 9 November 1935
SS-Gruppenführer: 30 January 1937
Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS: 3 May 1940
SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS: 30 January 1942

Service History:

April 1917-November 1918: Joined the Army seeing service with Leibgarde-Infanterie-Regiment (1. Großherzog Hessisches) Nr. 115. Commissioned a Leutnant by the end of World War I.
1919: Freikorps service.
May 1920: Separated from the Army.
1920-1931: Studied law and political economics; worked as a bank clerk; operated an advertising agency.
7 October 1931-September 1932: Joined the Nazi Party and the SS serving with 2./II./1. SS-Standarte in München.
February 1932: Attended the first SS course at the Reichs Leader School (Reichsführerschule) in München; commissioned an SS-Sturmführer on 18 February 1932.
20 September 1932-March 1933: Adjutant, II./1. SS-Standarte.
March 1933-June 1933: Adjutant to the Reich Commissioner for Bavaria (Generalleutnant Franz Xaver Ritter von Epp).
March 1933-8 May 1945: Member of the Reichstag.
March 1934-November 1935: Personal Adjutant to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler.
November 1935-June 1939: Himmler's Chief Adjutant and Chief of Himmler's Personal Staff.
18 June 1939-May 1945: Chief of Staff, Main Office Personal Staff "Reichsführer-SS" (a deputy stood in for Wolff after February 1943).
August 1939-February 1943: Waffen-SS Liaison Officer on Adolf Hitler's military headquarters staff.

18 February 1943-23 September 1943: Higher SS and Police Leader "Oberitalien West."
February 1943-October 1943: Military Governor for northern Italy.
23 September 1943-May 1945: Supreme SS and Police Leader "Italien" (Headquarters in Rome, Verona, and, ultimately, Bolzano) and plenipotentiary for Benito Mussolini, head of the Italian Social Republic.
1 August 1944-May 1945: Official representative of the German Armed Forces in Italy.

Photo depicts Karl Wolff (front row on left) with Marshal of Italy Rudolfo Graziani (next to Wolff), the Minister of Defence of the Italian Social Republic (1943-1945) at a military review in Italy, late 1944.

Photo of Karl Wolff pictured here as a guard of honour (centre - at attention with sword) at the funeral of SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, Chief of the Security Police and Acting Reichs Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. Heydrich died on 4 June 1942 from wounds received during an assassination attempt made by British-trained Czech commandoes in Prague on 27 May 1942.

Note the SS-Sturmbannführer holding Heydrich's "Ordenskissen" or Orders Pillow. This was a traditional touch at German military funerals whereby the person's decorations and medals were displayed on a black pillow for all to see.

PROFILE CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE...

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