Career
Stieff was born in Deutsch Eylau (present-day Iława, Poland) in the province of West Prussia. He was graduated from Infanterieschule München in 1922 and was commissioned a lieutenant of infantry. As early as 1927, young Stieff served in support of the German General Staff of the Reichswehr, the German army after World War I.
Stieff joined the Wehrmacht General Staff in 1938, serving in the Organisationsabteilung (coordination department) under Major Adolf Heusinger. Recognized for his excellent organizational skills, Stieff in October 1942 was appointed Chief of Organization at OKH, despite Hitler's strong personal dislike. Hitler called the young, diminutive Stieff a "poisonous little dwarf."
From the 1939 Invasion of Poland onwards, Stieff conceived an abhorrence for the Nazi military strategy. When in Warsaw in November 1939, he wrote letters to his wife expressing his disgust for and despair over Hitler's conduct of the war and the atrocities committed in occupied Poland. He wrote that he had become the "tool of a despotic will to destroy without regard for humanity and simple decency".
Read more about this topic: Helmuth Stieff
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