# Other than Hitler, who was the most feared Nazi?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-hitler-who-was-the-most-feared-nazi/703108>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 31, 2014, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-hitler-who-was-the-most-feared-nazi/703108 "2014-10-31T09:33:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-hitler-who-was-the-most-feared-nazi/703108/21 "2015-06-03T15:11:33Z")

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> [@AK84](#):
>
> Did he adhere to Nazi ideology.

He helped enough of them escape justice (allegedly), per a [BBC article](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-30571335) on his attempts to live in Ireland postwar.

> [@](#):
>
> Skorzeny never denounced Nazism and was buried by his former comrades with his coffin draped in the Nazi colours.

He pulled off some amazing missions, but not really someone you’d emulate, IMHO.

EDIT: I don’t know how well Dirlewanger was known among the Franzs and Gretas of regular Germany. And I’m not sure he would have been any more feared by partisans/civilians in Poland, Belarus or Russia than any other unit of SS. But he was a vicious piece of work, and one who, at the end, [got at least a little bit of what should have been coming to him.](http://militaryhistorynow.com/2013/07/29/condemned-men-meet-hitlers-penal-battalions/)

> [@](#):
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> Dirlewanger himself was wounded in one of the unit’s final actions. He was captured in civilian clothes by French troops a month after the war ended and was held in a prison at Altshausen, Germany. Although it’s recorded that he died shortly after of complications from his injuries, it’s believed he was actually beaten to death by a group of Polish guards.

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**Author:** ![Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4bbf92/32.png) [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Hamsandwich)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-hitler-who-was-the-most-feared-nazi/703108/22 "2015-06-03T15:47:33Z")

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No honorary mention of [this guy?](http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/indianajones/images/6/67/Toht.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080521012512)

But yeah, I think **HubZilla** nailed it with Oskar Dirlewanger.

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**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-hitler-who-was-the-most-feared-nazi/703108/23 "2015-06-03T22:37:46Z")

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Did the populace at large even know about Dirlewanger?

I thought it was some joke, like Titzenfloppen.

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**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-hitler-who-was-the-most-feared-nazi/703108/24 "2015-06-03T23:19:24Z")

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> [@Cicero](#):
>
> Martin Bormann. He was Hitler’s front man and even the other Nazi leaders loathed him.

Agree, he had his reins on the money, and was in charge of the hiring and firing for even senior positions. He even maneuvered Hess out.

And wasn’t Bormann the man that Hitler said he couldn’t manage the war without?

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