36th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS

36th Grenadier Division of the Waffen SS
Semi-official insignia of the division
Active	1940–45
Country	Nazi Germany
Branch	Waffen-SS
Type	Infantry
Role	Anti-partisan operations
Size	Brigade Division
Nickname(s)	SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger Dirlewanger Brigade
Engagements	Anti-partisan operations in Belarus Warsaw Uprising Slovak National Uprising Battle of Halbe

The 36th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, also known as the SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger (1944), or simply the Dirlewanger Brigade, was a military unit of the Waffen-SS during World War II. Composed of criminals expected to die fighting in the front-line, the unit was led by Oskar Dirlewanger. Originally formed for anti-partisan duties against the Polish resistance; the unit eventually saw action in Slovakia, Hungary, and against the Soviet Red Army near the end of the war. During its operations it engaged in the rape, pillaging and mass murder of civilians.

The unit participated in some of World War II's most notorious campaigns of terror in the east. During the organization's time in Russia, Dirlewanger burned women and children alive and let starved packs of dogs feed on them. He was known to hold large formations with the sole purpose of injecting Jews with strychnine. Dirlewanger's unit took part in the occupation of Belarus, where it carved out a reputation within the Waffen-SS for committing atrocities. Numerous Army and SS commanders attempted to remove Dirlewanger from the SS and disband the unit, although he had patrons within the Nazi apparatus who intervened on his behalf. His unit was most notably credited with the destruction of Warsaw, and the massacre of ~100,000 of the city's population during the Warsaw Uprising; and participating in the brutal suppression of the Slovak National Uprising in 1944. Dirlewanger's Division of the Waffen SS generated fear throughout Waffen-SS Organizations including the SS-Führungshauptamt (SS Command Headquarters) and earned notoriety as the most criminal and heinous SS unit in Hitler's war machine.

The history of the Dirlewanger Brigade is inextricably linked to the life of its commander, Oskar Dirlewanger, a known sadist, often called the most evil man in the SS. After receiving the Iron Cross first and second class while serving in the Army of Württemberg during World War I, Dirlewanger joined the Freikorps and took part in the crushing of German Revolution of 1918–19. He joined the Nazi Party in 1923. After graduation from Citizens' University, Dirlewanger worked at a bank and a knit-wear factory. He became a violent alcoholic, and in 1934 was convicted of the statutory rape of a 14-year-old girl and stealing government property. The Nazi Party expelled him and later compelled him to reapply for membership. After serving a two-year jail sentence, Dirlewanger was released. Soon after, he was arrested again for sexual assault. He was interned in a concentration camp. Desperate, Dirlewanger contacted Gottlob Berger, an old Freikorps comrade who worked closely with Heinrich Himmler, the Reichsführer-SS. Berger secured his friend's release where he travelled to Spain to enlist in the Spanish Foreign Legion and later transferred to the Legión Cóndor, a German volunteer unit which fought in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) for Franco's Falange Española.