Name Maximilian Herff | ||
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Buried at Cannock Chase German war cemetery Battles/wars World War IGerman Revolution of 1918–19World War IINorth African CampaignWarsaw Ghetto Uprising Died September 6, 1945, Windermere, Cumbria, United Kingdom Battles and wars World War I, German Revolution of 1918–19, North African Campaign, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, World War II Similar People William Gott, Erwin Rommel, Archibald Wavell - 1st Earl Wavell | ||
Service/branch German Army, Waffen-SS | ||
Maximilian von Herff (17 April 1893 – 6 September 1945) was a high-ranking commander in the SS of Nazi Germany during World War II.
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World War II
During World War II, Herff served with the Deutsches Afrika Korps in North Africa. He was promoted to Oberst (colonel) and commanded "Kampfgruppe von Herff". For his service in North Africa he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in June 1941.
At the suggestion of Heinrich Himmler he transferred to the Waffen-SS. On 1 April 1942 Herff joined the Nazi Party (member no. 8 858 661) and the SS (member no. 405 894). From 1 October 1942 to 8 May 1945, he was chief of the Persönlicher Stab Reichsführer-SS (Himmler's personal staff). He dealt with internal and financial SS matters.
In his later diary entries, Herff would claim to have had knowledge of the Final Solution but not have played any role in administrative or actual involvement in exterminations or deportations. However, on 14–15 May 1943, Von Herff was in Warsaw during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and supervised its suppression under orders from Himmler. His adjutant, Karl Kaleske wrote of the deportations carried out following the uprising to Auschwitz concentration camp and other camps where "special action" was required. Jürgen Stroop's report on the The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising contains a photograph of Herff and Stroop taken during the May 1943 visit.
On 20 April 1944, Herff was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer (SS general).
Capture and death
He was captured by British forces in 1945, and held at Grizedale Hall POW camp. He suffered a stroke and died at nearby Conishead Priory Military Hospital. He was later reburied at Cannock Chase German war cemetery, Staffordshire.
His sister Carin von Herff moved to London during his imprisonment where she would live for four years before returning to Germany with her French Huguenot husband, a former SS-Oberführer of the 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French). Both were acquitted of any war crimes and along with Maximilian von Herff claim they were only involved in the Nazi Party base and Waffen-SS not the extermination of the Jews. The couple would later return to live in England in the 1960s.