Hilmar Wäckerle

Hilmar Wäckerle (24 November 1899 in Forchheim – 2 July 1941 near Lemberg) was a German soldier in both the German Imperial Army and the Waffen-SS and the first commandant of Dachau concentration camp.

The son of a Munich notary public, Wäckerle was sent to the Bavarian Army officer school at the age of 14 in order to pursue his chosen career. Having completed his three years as a cadet he was assigned to the Bavarian Infantry Battalion in August 1917 and by the following year was a Sergeant on the Western Front. Seriously wounded in September 1918 he was not able to return to the front before the armistice and as such his chance to matriculate and become an officer was lost.

Unable to continue in the army, Wäckerle enrolled in the Technical University Munich to study agriculture. Like his classmate Heinrich Himmler he joined the anti-communist Freikorps Oberland and was an early member of the Nazi Party. Wäckerle was present during the Beer Hall Putsch as well as the January 1924 assassination attempt on Franz Josef Heinz, the prime minister of the French-administered Saar. After his graduation aged 25 Wäckerle scaled back his direct involvement in Nazi politics to become manager of a cattle ranch. However he rejoined the Nazi Party in 1925 following its reorganisation and regularly attended party rallies whilst also helping to draft Nazi agricultural policy. He also signed up with the SS volunteer regiment based in Kempten.

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