Herbert Gille
| Herbert Otto Gille | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 8 March 1897 |
| Died | 26 December 1966 (aged 69) |
| Allegiance |
 Nazi Germany
|
| Service/branch |
Army Waffen-SS |
| Rank | SS-Obergruppenführer |
| Commands held | |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
| Awards | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds |
| Other work | HIAG, Waffen-SS lobby group |
Herbert Otto Gille (8 March 1897 – 26 December 1966 was a high-ranking German SS commander of the Nazi era. He commanded the during World War II. Gille was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, making him the most highly decorated Waffen-SS member of the war. After the war, Gille became active in HIAG, a lobby group and a revisionist veteran's organisation founded by former high-ranking Waffen-SS personnel in West Germany in 1951.
Gille served in World War I and won the Iron Cross First and Second Classes. Gille joined the Nazi Party and the SS in 1931. In 1934 he joined the SS combat support forces. As the commander of a battalion in an SS-V regiment, Gille participated in the invasion of Poland and in the western campaign. In 1940 he was appointed a regimental commander in the , led by Felix Steiner.
Gille was released in 1948. In the early 1950s, Gille became active in HIAG, a lobby group and a revisionist veteran's organisation founded by former high-ranking Waffen-SS personnel in West Germany to campaign for their legal, economic and historical rehabilitation. Gille, alongside Felix Steiner, Otto Kumm and Paul Hausser, became an early leading figure within HIAG. In 1951 Gille launched the periodical ("Viking Call"). Initially it was aimed at the veterans of the SS Division . Within its first year of existence, in 1952, it became the official publication of HIAG and was eventually renamed to Der Freiwillige ("The Volunteer").
Gille faced his share of controversy with the organisation. In 1952, HIAG held its first major meeting in Verden. It began respectably, with Gille announcing that the veterans were ready to 'do their duty for the Fatherland' and Steiner declaring support for 'freedom, order and justice'. But the next speaker delivered a different message. Former paratroop general Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke, who had been invited to demonstrate so-called solidarity with the Wehrmacht, condemned the Western Allies as the 'real war criminals' and insisted that the blacklist on which all former SS members then stood would soon become "a list of honor". The outburst caused a furor within West Germany. Periodicals as far as the U.S. and Canada carried headlines Hitler's Guard Cheers Ex-chief and Rabble-Rousing General Is Worrying the Allies, with the latter article reporting that Ramcke's speech had been greeted with "roars of approval and cries "Eisenhower, Schweinehund!" ("Pig – Dog")".
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