Joachim Peiper - Return To Civilian Life

Return To Civilian Life

The Hilfsgemeinschaft auf Gegenseitigkeit der Angehörigen der ehemaligen Waffen-SS (HIAG) (English: Mutual Help Association of Former Waffen-SS Members), a mutual aid network of former SS troops, had already helped Peiper’s wife find a job near the Landsberg Prison. They then worked to achieve the conditional liberation of Peiper himself. To obtain his release from prison, Peiper had to prove that he could obtain a job. Through the intermediary of Dr. Albert Prinzing, a former SS-Hauptsturmführer in the Sicherheitsdienst, he got a job at the car manufacturer Porsche.

Following his release from Landsberg Prison, Peiper maintained contact, albeit discreetly, with his old comrades in the SS. He avoided open affiliations with the HIAG and the Order of the Holders of the Knight's Cross but he was often seen with their members at the funerals of personalities such as Kurt “Panzer” Meyer, Sepp Dietrich and Paul Hausser. Peiper assisted the efforts of these organizations to rehabilitate the Waffen-SS's reputation by hiding the more ruthless aspects of their past and exalting their military achievements, claiming that the SS were just like other soldiers. Peiper once told one of his friends:

On 17 January 1957, he began work at Porsche in Stuttgart in its technical division. He would later represent the company at car exhibitions. He was later put in charge of auto exports to the United States but his wartime criminal conviction prevented him from obtaining a visa for travel to the United States. This would not allow him to maintain this new position.

As he advanced within Porsche, he was accused by Italian union workers of the Boves Massacre in Italy during World War II. Ferdinand Porsche personally intervened and promised Peiper a senior management position, but this offer was derailed by the trade unions, who objected to allowing persons convicted of war crimes to serve in the upper management of the company. The strong antipathy to Peiper, his association with Ferdinand Porsche and the related negative impact on sales in Porsche's biggest market, the United States, forced Porsche's management to dismiss him. On 30 December 1960 Peiper filed suit to compel Porsche to fulfil its promises.

In court documents Peiper’s attorney stated that Peiper was not a war criminal and that the Allies had used the trials to defame the German people. He asserted that the Nuremberg trial and the "Malmedy massacre" trial were merely propaganda. Citing documents published by the anti-Communist historian Freda Utley, he asserted that the Malmedy massacre trial defendants had been tortured by the Americans. At the request of the court, Porsche and Peiper reached an agreement to terminate the employment contract, and Peiper received six months of wages as compensation. The magazine Der Freiwillige, published by SS veterans, capitalized on the award and wrote that Peiper had been "unfairly sentenced" for war crimes.

Peiper became a car sales trainer, and utilizing his network of former SS members, contacted Max Moritz, a former SS mechanic. Moritz had become an authorized Volkswagen dealer for Germany.