Service record of Karl Wolff

The service record of Karl Wolff was a collection of official SS documents maintained at the SS Personnel Main Office in Berlin from 1934 until the fall of [...] Germany in 1945. Most of Karl Wolff's service record was then captured by the Allies and is today maintained at the German Federal Archives. A microfilm copy of the record is also available at the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland.

Summary of service

Karl Wolff began his SS career in 1931, after having previously served as a Leutnant in the German Army from 1917 to 1919.He was recruited into the SS during a sports rally which also maintained a [...] Party information desk. In a 1970s interview, Wolff described his initial interview for admittance into the SS.

When I wanted to sign up, the man in charge said, "Were you in the First World War?". I said, "Yes, indeed". "Do you have awards for bravery?". I said "Yes, indeed." "What do you have?" "Iron Cross First and Second Class, and I served in the Hessian Lifeguard Regiment". "Well," he said, "Just as there was an elite guard in the Kaiser's time, there is an elite guard now in the new movement and that is the SS. You should join the SS."

First assignments

Karl Wolff's first assignment in the SS was as a mustering SS member of the 1st SS-Standarte in Munich. Having already served as an officer during the First World War, Wolff was marked early on for leadership training and advancement. After a mere eight weeks as an SS-private, he was promoted to corporal and a mere month later made an SS-sergeant. The next month, in January 1932, he was commissioned as an SS officer with the rank of SS-Sturmführer. Wolff then served as a platoon officer of his Standarte for the remainder of the year.

When the [...] Party took power in Germany, Wolff was promoted to SS-captain and, due to his past service as an Army officer, posted as an adjutant to Franz Ritter von Epp who had become the Reichskommissar of Bavaria. Wolff served under von Epp for only a few weeks, still as a part time SS member without pay, when he was selected by Heinrich Himmler for a promotion to serve as head of a new personal staff office for the Reich Leader of the SS.

Rapid Rise

Wolff reported to serve as Heinrich Himmler's adjutant in the summer of 1933 and experienced a rapid series of promotions as his position as head of Himmler's staff grew in responsibility. Between November 1933 and April 1934, Wolff was advanced three ranks to become an SS-colonel (Standartenführer). The earliest official photographs of Wolff are from this time, where he is seen wearing a black SS uniform, walking beside Himmler, in the winter of 1933. An earlier private photograph, which has since been presumed lost or destroyed, was taken in early 1933 reportedly showing Wolff wearing an early pattern brown storm trooper style SS shirt as a Sturmhauptführer. The photograph was taken by a family member as documentation for a legal dispute in which Wolff, on his way to a parade commemorating [...]'s assumption to the office of Chancellor, had punched a store owner in the face over a dispute regarding alterations to his boots.

After the Night of the Long Knives, as was the case with many SS officers close to Himmler, Wolff was promoted into the ranks of the SS-generals when he became an SS-Oberführer. By that time, Wolff was a full time member of the SS, and had left his civilian occupation to devote himself entirely to the SS organization. By 1937, he had become an SS-''Gruppenführer.

Later assignments

During several interviews in the 1970s, Wolff claimed that in April 1945 he had been granted a personal promotion by Adolf [...] to the rank of SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer. During the filming of the World at War series, Wolff further showed to producers a display case showing the tri-pip collar insignia and shoulder boards of an SS-Colonel General. This late war promotion, however, is not annotated in Wolff's SS service record nor has any supporting documentation ever been produced affirming Wolff's claim. Furthermore, photographs from the time of his capture in Italy by the Allies clearly show a lesser rank insignia worn on his SS uniform. For this reason, most historical texts indicate the highest rank Wolff ever held was that of Obergruppenführer.

SS service details

• SS number: 14,235
• [...] Party number: 695,131
• Primary positions: Persönlicher Stab Reichsführer-SS, Supreme SS and Police Leader of Italy
• Waffen-SS service: Generalleutnant der SS-Verfügungstruppe, General der Waffen-SS

Assignments

• 1931 - 1933: 1st SS-Standarte, Munich
• 1933: SS adjutant to General Franz Ritter von Epp
• June 1933 - 1943: Chief of Staff to Heinrich Himmler and head of the Personal Staff, RF-SS
• September 1943: Higher SS and Police Leader, Western Italy
• 1943 - 1944: Supreme SS and Police Leader of Italy
• 1944 - April 1945: Acting Commander of German Forces in Italy

Dates of rank

Awards and decorations

During his service in the SS, Karl Wolff earned the following state, [...] Party, and foreign decorations''

State and party decorations

• Golden Party Badge
• [...] Party Long Service Award (10 years)
• Honour Chevron for the Old Guard

Awards for valor

• Iron Cross
  • 1914: First & Second Class
  • 1939: First & Second Class

Awards for meritorious service

• German Cross in Gold
• War Merit Cross, 1st and 2nd Class with Swords
• Olympic Games Decoration (First Class)

Awards for general service

• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918
• Sudetenland Medal (with Prague Castle Bar)
• Memel Medal
• West Wall Medal (1944)

SS and police decorations

• SS Long Service Award (10 years)
• Sword of honour of the Reichsführer-SS
• SS Honour Ring
• SS Julleuchter

Sports badges

• SA Sports Badge (Bronze)
• German National Sports Badge (Silver)

Foreign Awards

• Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown (Italy)
• Grand Officer of the Order of the Roman Eagle (Italy)
• Knight's Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (Italy)