Opinions on SS-Brigadeführer Joachim Ziegler and his Fate?

[Stephan H.]

In my research I came across some very interesting (and previously unpublished to my knowledge) accounts of Ziegler's actions during the final battle for Berlin. His 24 hour delay in sending "Nordland" to assist the 9.Armee during the fighting for the Seelow Heights, and his unauthorized positioning of his forces around Buckow instead of further south where it was directed is well known and documented in a number of sources. Some like Tieke in Tragedy of the Faithful say this is do to a shortage of fuel, while others like Beevor in The Fall of Berlin, 1945 state this was do to Ziegler's disdain for fighting under a Wehrmacht officer (Helmuth Weidling, LVI Pz Korps). I've also read that Ziegler simply wanted to "save" his foreign volunteers from the annihilation they would face if captured by the Soviets, so I'm sure the truth may be somewhere in the middle on his initial thinking.

After that incident I found information that suggests Ziegler ordered "Nordland" to completely disengage from the front (around 20/21 April) and retreat West through Berlin--a secret unpublished order--that was ultimately overcome by the pace of Soviet Operations, and caused his removal from command. In addition, I found a very un-flattering account of his actions during the breakout north on the night of 1/2 May that seems to conflict with another account I read that was derived from an interview with Krukenberg after the war. It is also my understanding that he died during the breakout.

What I'm really trying to get out of this post are two things: 1) does anyone have any fact based opinions about Ziegler's seemingly traitorous behavior during the final battle for Berlin; and 2) can anyone point to specific sources relating toward Ziegler's fate during the 1/2 May evening breakout north out of Berlin?

Thanks,
Stephan

[Regiment Norge]

Hi!

In the files of the Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) in Berlin there is a written statement from Joachim TIBURTIUS about the death of Ziegler, who T. wrote while in captivity after the war. he also enclosed a letter with a map of the location of the death of Ziegler but it is now missing in the DD files.

Regards

[Stephan H.]

Thank you for that info! That's dissapointing that the map would vanish, however.

Stephan

[teddy]

Here is a short biography of Joachim Ziegler.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Ziegler

[Kurn]

Here is a short biography of Joachim Ziegler.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Ziegler

What do they mean by "He was given permission to wear SS uniform"?

[Marc Rikmenspoel]

I’m writing this offline and copying and pasting, because I just hit some wrong key and closed my browser, deleting forever 20 minutes of typing

Joachim Ziegler wasn’t a Nazi or Nazi supporter. He was a career Heer Generalstab officer who transferred into the Waffen-SS in June of 1943 to become Chef des Stabes for the III. (germanisches) SS-Panzerkorps. He was one of 25 such transfers, other notables included Fritz Kraemer (I. SS-Panzerkorps, later, 6. Panzerarmee), Rüdiger Pipkorn (II. SS-Panzerkorps, later commander of the 35. SS-Polizei-Grenadier Division), Peter Sommer (2. SS-Panzer Division, later VI. Waffen-Armeekorps, despite being ¼ Jewish), Albert Stueckler (2. SS-Panzer Division, later I. SS-Panzerkorps, he was a former member of the Heer Grossdeutschland Division), Otto Kleine (5. SS-Panzer Division, later, 4. SS-Polizei-Panzergrenadier Division), Wolf-Dietrich Heike (14. Waffen-Grenadier Division), Erich Wulff (15. Waffen-Grenadier Division). Lothar Wulf (16. SS-Panzergrenadier Division), and Jürgen von Bock (SS-Panzergrenadier Brigade/Division Nederland).

All of the above officers, and others I didn’t list, were “allowed” to wear Waffen-SS uniforms while on duty with the Waffen-SS, even though they remained members of the Heer.

Ziegler was Chef des Stabes of the XXXIX. Panzerkorps in the Caucasus in late 1942. There he met Felix Steiner, who commanded the SS-Wiking Division and held acting command of the Heer III. Panzerkorps. Steiner was impressed by Zieger, and requested his transfer when Steiner began setting up his headquarters for the new III. (germanisches) SS-Panzerkorps in the spring of 1943. (in similar fashion, Sepp Dietrich while commanding the SS-Leibstandarte had been impressed by Fritz Kraemer, and requested his transfer to serve as his Chef des Stabes when Dietrich began setting up the I. SS-Panzerkorps in the summer of 1943). The other officers were simply assigned where needed, as far as I know, though Sommer developed such a good working relationship with 2. SS-Panzer Division commander Walter Krüger that when Krüger took over the VI. Waffen-Armeekorps, he was able to have Sommer assigned to him.

When Ziegler became Chef des Stabes of the III. (germanisches) SS-Panzerkorps, another Heer Generalstab officer was transferred with him. Helmut von Vollard-Bockelberg became Ia of the 11. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier Division in the corps. The pair had a very good working relationship with Felix Steiner, who saw to it that Ziegler was awarded the Knight’s Cross (and recommended for the Oakleaves), while von Vollard-Bockelberg was awarded the German Cross in Gold. After the death of the commander of the 11. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier Division in late July 1944, Ziegler took command of the division. Von Vollard-Bockelberg then became Chef des Stabes of the III. (germanisches) SS-Panzerkorps. Von Bock was also awarded the German Cross in Gold.

As their names indicate, von Vollard-Bockelberg and von Bock were Junkers from traditional army families (as was Ziegler), yet they had fit in well with the III. (germanisches) SS-Panzerkorps because Steiner fostered an atmosphere of military professionalism with politics (other than a feeling of anti-Bolshevism) not being part of the command atmosphere. These Heer officers came to appreciate that they were part of a unique phenomena by serving in this corps which included several thousand Dutch and Scandinavian volunteers, and thousands more ethnic-Germans who didn’t hold German citizenship. They came to care deeply for these men who were not German nationals, but who were fighting for the German cause.

Ziegler settled into his new role so comfortably that at the end of August 1944, he accepted a permanent transfer to the Waffen-SS (Fritz Kraemer accepted a similar permanent transfer on the same day, he and Ziegler were next to each other on the SS Seniority List). In that sense, Ziegler was indeed “an SS officer” but most books on Berlin take that to mean he was some sort of Nazi Party militant, like a stereotype out of a Sven Hassel novel. As I’ve shown above, Ziegler was in reality a career Heer officer with no involvement in politics, and he and LVI. Panzerkorps commander Helmuth Weidling knew each other well from serving with the same unit in the years before the war.

Weidling therefore expected Ziegler to obey an order to fight for Berlin, without question. But Ziegler and Steiner considered the defense of Berlin to be both hopeless and pointless. They felt this was even more so for the many non-Germans in their commands. They wanted these men to survive Germany’s downfall, and did their best to disengage their men from the front and get them across the Elbe River to surrender to American and British forces. Steiner was commanding north of Berlin, and managed to get the remnants of the Flemish 27. SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier Division and the Walloon 28. SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier Division into Western Allied captivity, along with half of the Dutch 23. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier Division (the other half was detached and caught in the Halbe Pocket south of Berlin). Ziegler desperately wanted to link up with Steiner’s retreating men, but in the event, was sacked and replaced by Gustav Krukenberg, who himself was a former Heer officer transferred into the Waffen-SS. If Weidling hadn’t known Zeigler from way back, Ziegler might have been court-martialled, but due to their connection, Ziegler was only placed under house arrest.

I hope this helps clear up some of the circumstances about Joachim Ziegler and the commitment of the 11. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier Division Nordland in Berlin. Most of the details can be found in the English translation of Wilhelm Tieke’s III. (germanisches) SS-Panzerkorps studies, published in combined form as Tragedy of the Faithful.

[Marc Rikmenspoel]

Oh, and about Ziegler's death, see page 154 of the book Nordic Warriors (a history of SS-Panzergrenadier Reg. 24 Danmark), by Richard Landwehr and Holger Thor Nielsen. Thor Nielsen was the son and nephew of Danish Waffen-SS volunteers, and had access to Danish sources of information separate from those used by Tieke and Lennart Westberg (as included in Tieke's works). In Nordic Warriors it is stated that in the first hours of May 1, 1945, before dawn, Ziegler joined Nordland elements trying to break out to the west. He and SS-PAA 11 commander Rudolf Saalbach were with a group of roughly 50 men, who followed a Stug. down the Prinz Albrecht Strasse. They were both killed at this time, and not on May 2 as has been reported elsewhere.

[Stephan H.]

Marc,

Your posts are very helpful. The historical background on Ziegler you outlined above corroborates a number of accounts by Nordland members that I was trying to reconcile with info both in Tieke and Landwehr. I also published an account of a Nordland veteran, Walter Timm (p.366), in Bloody Streets that included Ziegler's breakout in the evening of 1-2 May. Timm's account runs different from Landwehr's.

Cheers,
Stephan

[Marc Rikmenspoel]

Hi Stephan, as I looked more at Nordic Warriors, I realized the mention of the death of Ziegler and Saalbach was taken directly from one of Landwehr's older publications (first presented in an old Siegrunen, then reprinted in Charlemagne's Legionnaires). It was not from Thor Nielsen's veteran contacts, so your veteran's account is more reliable.

Another slight issue, Kraemer and Ziegler became full Waffen-SS members on August 1, 1944, not at the end of August, sorry to get that date wrong.

The point remains that people who have researched the Berlin campaign much less thoroughly than you have, have often made the assumption that Ziegler was some sort of die-hard Nazi, and it has been a long standing goal of mine to show otherwise

[Stephan H.]

The point remains that people who have researched the Berlin campaign much less thoroughly than you have, have often made the assumption that Ziegler was some sort of die-hard Nazi, and it has been a long standing goal of mine to show otherwise

Marc - Based on my research I agree with your statement. I would add, however, that in my humble assessment of his actions as division commander of "Nordland" he undermined the LVI Pz.Korps defense of the Oderfront, and his independent action to withdraw his division to the west ultimately caused them to end up in Berlin surrounded by the Soviets - the exact opposite of what he was trying to avoid. I think his dismissal by Weidling was duly deserved from the purely military point of view of subordinate to commander relationship.

This may have been a product of an overall apathy, that I believe was caused – and please correct me if I’m wrong as I'm writing this from memory – by the recent death of his family by an Allied bombing raid.

Cheers,
Stephan