Felix Steiner
| Felix Steiner | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
23 May 1896 Stallupönen, German Empire (now Nesterov, Russian Federation) |
| Died | 12 May 1966 (aged 69) Munich, West Germany |
| Allegiance |
 German Empire Weimar Republic
|
| Service/branch |
Prussian Army Reichsheer |
| Years of service | 1914-18 1921-33 |
| Free corps and SS career | |
| Allegiance |
Weimar Republic Nazi Germany
|
| Service/branch |
German Free Corps SA, SS, Waffen-SS |
| Years of service | 1919-20 1933-45 |
| Rank | SS lieutenant general and Waffen-SS general |
| Service number |
NSDAP #4,264,295 SS #253,351 |
| Commands held |
SS Division Das Reich III SS Panzer Corps |
| Awards | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords |
| Other work | founding member of HIAG |
Felix Martin Julius Steiner (23 May 1896 – 12 May 1966) was an Obergruppenführer in the Waffen-SS during World War II, who commanded several SS divisions and corps. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. Together with Paul Hausser, he contributed significantly to the development and transformation of the Waffen-SS into a military force made up of volunteers and conscripts from both occupied and un-occupied lands.
Steiner was chosen by Heinrich Himmler to oversee the creation of and then command the elite . In 1943, he was promoted to the command of the III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps. On 28 January 1945, Steiner was placed in command of the 11th SS Panzer Army, which formed part of a new ad-hoc formation to protect Berlin from the Soviet armies advancing from the Vistula River.
On 21 April, during the Battle for Berlin, Steiner was placed in command of Army Detachment Steiner, while Adolf Hitler ordered Steiner to envelop the 1st Belorussian Front through a pincer movement, advancing from the north of the city. However, as his exhausted unit was outnumbered by ten to one, Steiner made it clear that he did not have the capacity for a counter-attack on 22 April during the daily situation conference in the Führerbunker.
After the capitulation of Germany, Steiner was imprisoned and indicted as part of the Nuremberg Trials. He was cleared of war crimes charges and released in 1948. He was a founding member of HIAG, a lobby group of negationistic apologists, founded by former high-ranking Waffen-SS personnel in 1951 to campaign for the legal, economic and historical rehabilitation of the Waffen-SS.
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