Paul Hausser

Paul "Papa" Hausser (October 7, 1880 – December 21, 1972) was an officer in the German Army, achieving the high rank of lieutenant-general in the inter-war Reichswehr. After retirement from the regular Army he became the "father" (thus the nickname “Papa”) of the Waffen-SS and one of its most eminent leaders. Battling in both the Eastern and Western fronts of World War II, he was seriously wounded twice, losing an eye in the first incident. After the war he became a member of the HIAG which sought to rehabilitate the reputation and legal status of the Waffen-SS.

Hausser was born in Brandenburg an der Havel to a Prussian military family; his father Kurt Hausser was a major in the Imperial German Army. Paul entered the army in 1892 and from then until 1896 was at the cadet school in Köslin, and from 1896 he attended the cadet academy Berlin-Lichterfelde where he successfully graduated in 1899. On March 20, 1899 he was commissioned as a lieutenant and assigned to Infantry-Regiment 155 stationed at Ostrowo in Posen; on October 1, 1903 he became the adjutant of the regiment’s 2nd battalion and he served in this capacity for five years, until October 1, 1908. Noted for his military gifts, he attended the Prussian Military Academy in Berlin from October 1908 until his graduation on July 21, 1911. From 1912, onwards, including the First World War, Hausser served in a number of General Staff assignments, including the greatly reduced postwar German army (Reichswehr), in which by 1927 he had become a colonel.

Paul Hausser

ALBUMS

Die Geschichte der Waffen-SS