Wilhelm Rediess

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Wilhelm Rediess
October 10, 1900 – May 8, 1945
Place of birth	Heinsberg, Westphalia, German Empire
Place of death	Oslo, Norway
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Years of service	1918; 1925–1945
Rank	Obergruppenführer (General)
Unit	Schutzstaffel (SS) 1930 – 1945 Sturmabteilung (SA) 1925 – 1930 Reichswehr 1918
Commands	SS and Police Leader, Norway
Battles/wars	World War II World War I

Wilhelm Rediess (October 10, 1900 – May 8, 1945) was the SS and Police Leader during the German occupation of Norway in the Second World War. He was also the commanding General (Obergruppenführer) of all SS troops stationed in occupied Norway, assuming command upon his arrival on June 22, 1940 and serving until his death in 1945.

[edit] Early life

Rediess was born in Heinsberg, Westphalia, German Empire, the son of a court employee. After high school, Rediess became an apprentice electrician. In June 1918, he enlisted in the German army, serving as an infantryman until the end of the First World War in November 1918. He then worked as an electrician until losing his job in the German economic crisis of 1929.

In May 1925, Rediess joined the SA and in December 1925 was approved for membership in the Nazi Party. He was promoted to group leader of a Düsseldorf SA company in 1927 and was transferred to the SS when his unit was reorganized into the SS in 1930. Promotions swiftly followed for Rediess, achieving the rank of Lieutenant General (SS-Gruppenführer) in 1935.

[edit] World War II

At the onset of World War II, Rediess was responsible for implementing German racial laws in Prussia, forcing the deportation of Jews from East Prussia. Rediess was then tasked with the eradication of 1,558 Jewish deportees deemed mentally ill. Rediess made arrangements to borrow "gas vans" and personnel from other SS units, offering a bounty of ten Reichsmark for each Jew killed. It took seventeen days to accomplish these killings, and Rediess then reneged on the agreed upon payment once the operation was concluded.

Rediess was commended for his initiative and given command of SS units in Norway as a reward for his actions.

In March 1941, citing reports of large numbers of Norwegian women impregnated by German soldiers, Rediess implemented the German Lebensborn program in Norway. This program encourage the production of "racially pure" Aryan children, usually sired by SS troops. Ultimately 8,000 children were born under the auspices of this program, making Norway second only to Germany in registered Aryan births during World War II.

Rediess committed suicide by self-inflicted gunshot wound upon the collapse of the Third Reich in Norway on May 8, 1945. His remains were then destroyed when Reichskommissar Josef Terboven detonated fifty kilograms of dynamite in a bunker on the Skaugum compound the same day.