After release he had a rather turbulent career, largely in the auto industry in West Germany and was employed for a time by Porsche. Peiper was released in 1956, after serving a little over 11 years. Ultimately none of those sentenced were executed, and none served full sentences. Peiper was sentenced to death, though no direct evidence was provided that he ordered the massacres. A large number of death sentences were handed out, as well as many life sentences. The Peiper personified Nazi ideology as a purportedly ruthless glory-hound commander who was indifferent to the combat casualties of Battle Group Peiper, and who encouraged, expected, and tolerated war crimes by his Waffen-SS soldiers.Joaquim Peiper survived the war and, along with many of his SS troopers, was brought to trial for war crimes at the former concentration camp at Dachau in 1946. In 1976, Peiper was murdered in France when anti-Nazis set his house afire after the publication of his identity as a Waffen-SS war criminal.ĭespite having been a minor combat leader, Peiper's idolization by aficionados of the Second World War who romanticise the Waffen-SS in popular culture developed a cult of personality that views Peiper as a war hero of Germany. Throughout his post-war life, Peiper was very active in the social network of ex–SS men centred upon the right-wing organisation HIAG ( Mutual Aid Association of Former Members of the Waffen-SS). Upon release from prison, Peiper worked for the Porsche and Volkswagen automobile companies and later moved to France, where he worked as a freelance translator.
In Italy, Peiper was accused of having committed the Boves massacre (1943) that investigation ended for lack of war-crime evidence that Peiper ordered the summary killing of Italian civilians. military tribunal established Peiper's command responsibility for the Malmedy massacre (1944) and sentenced him to death, which later was commuted to life in prison, then 35 years. Peiper fought in the Third Battle of Kharkov and in the Battle of the Bulge, from which battles his eponymous battle group - Kampfgruppe Peiper - became notorious for committing war crimes against civilians and PoWs. As a tank commander, Peiper served in the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) in the Eastern Front and in the Western Front, first as a battalion commander and then as a regimental commander.
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and SwordsĮmployee at Porsche sales trainer at VolkswagenĪs adjutant to Himmler, Peiper witnessed the SS implement the Holocaust with ethnic cleansing and genocide of Jews in Eastern Europe facts that he obfuscated and denied in the post–War period. Personal Staff Reichsführer-SS (as adjutant to Heinrich Himmler)ġst SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Death commuted to life imprisonment further commuted to 35 years imprisonment
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