Joachim Peiper - Military Career Pre-World War II

Military Career Pre-World War II

Peiper turned 18 years old on the day Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. He volunteered to join the Hitler Youth (German: Hitlerjugend) together with his oldest brother Horst.

Peiper wanted to join Reiterregiment 4, a cavalry division of the German self-defense forces. To gain skill at horseriding, he followed the advice of a family friend, General Walther von Reichenau, and enlisted in the 7th SS Reiterstandarte on 12 October 1933. On 23 January 1934, he was promoted to SS-Mann with SS number 132,496. In 1934, during the annual Nuremberg Rally, Peiper was promoted to SS-Sturmmann and later gained the attention of Heinrich Himmler. Himmler convinced him to enlist in the SS-Verfügungstruppe and, in his 1935 résumé, Peiper wrote: "As a result of a personal exhortation by the Reichsführer-SS, Himmler, I have decided to strive for a career as an active senior SS officer. However, Peiper never joined the Nazi Party. He also never appeared in the official listing of all middle and senior SS officers, the SS-Dienstalterslisten.

A few months later, Peiper considered leaving school before he completed his final examinations. In January 1935, he was sent to a camp for Hitler Youth, SA and SS members near Jüterbog, adjoining Germany's largest regular army camp and artillery school. Peiper joined a course that was already in progress. After he completed the course, he was promoted to SS-Unterscharführer.

On 24 April 1935, Peiper attended the newly created SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz (English: SS officer's training school) in Braunschweig under the command of Paul Hausser. Peiper later wrote that the goal of the school was to train officers for the army and not officers for SS departments.

Peiper took the SS Oath in November 1935 and completed his education at the Junkerschule in January 1936. In February and March 1936, he attended more training at the Dachau concentration camp. On 20 April 1936, he was promoted to SS-Untersturmführer and, after a short leave, reported for duty with the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler under the command of Sepp Dietrich. He remained with the unit until June 1938.

On 4 July 1938, Peiper was appointed to an administrative post as an adjutant to Heinrich Himmler, under the command of Karl Wolff. Peiper worked in Himmler’s anteroom in the SS-Hauptamt at Prinz-Albrecht-Straße. As a member of the Reichsführer-SS staff, Peiper was close to many high ranking SS officers. He became one of Himmler's favorite adjutants. Peiper later served on Himmler's personal staff and accompanied him on a state visit to Italy.