The Schutzstaffel (SS): Waffen-SS, Gestapo & Einsatzgruppen
SS General Behind Balkan Atrocities in World War II: August Schmidhuber
12m
August Schmidhuber was an SS commander whose forces spread terror across Yugoslavia during World War II. After Nazi Germany invaded the Balkans in 1941, he rose through the Waffen-SS and led units infamous for mass killings, village burnings, deportations, and anti-partisan reprisals.
As an officer in the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen, Schmidhuber oversaw brutal operations in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Montenegro. Civilians were executed, families burned alive, and entire communities destroyed. Later, as commander of the 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg, his troops also took part in the deportation of Jews from Kosovo to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Captured after Germany’s collapse in 1945, Schmidhuber was tried by a Yugoslav military tribunal for war crimes. Found guilty of massacres and atrocities, he paid the highest price in Belgrade in 1947.
This documentary examines Nazi occupation, SS terror in the Balkans, and the justice that followed the war.
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