World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseA veteran of World War I, Hausser became a leader in the Stahlhelm ("Steel Helmet"), a right-wing veterans' organization, in the interwar years. He transferred to the SA, the Nazis' paramilitary organization, after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, and soon moved to the SS, the Nazi Party's elite corps. He helped train and expand the armed SS units that became the nucleus of the Waffen SS (SS-controlled field armies) in World War II. After commanding Waffen SS units in France and on the Eastern Front, Hausser was promoted to the SS rank of Oberstgruppenführer (colonel general). In late June 1944 he was given command of the beleaguered 7th Army, which was being worn down resisting the Allied invasion of Normandy. Hausser was seriously wounded in August, during the escape of the 7th Army from Normandy at Falaise, and he was relieved of his posts near the end of the war. In postwar West Germany, Hausser became the leader of an organization of Waffen SS veterans.

Photographs

Paul Hausser Timeline