Walter Schieber (13 September 1896 – 29 June 1960) was an SS Brigadeführer in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, who during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

served as head of the Armaments Supply Office under

Albert Speer Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of W ...

. In 1943,

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

awarded Schieber the

War Merit Cross The War Merit Cross () was a state decoration of Nazi Germany during World War II. By the end of the conflict it was issued in four degrees and had an equivalent civil award. A " de-Nazified" version of the War Merit Cross was reissued in 1957 ...

. After the war, the US government became interested in hiring Schieber for scientific research purposes. A 1947 U.S. Air Force memo stated that "Dr. Schieber's talents are of so important a nature to the U.S. that they go far to override any consideration of his political background". In the end, Schieber's profile meant it was not possible to bring him to America, but he was employed by the US for ten years in chemical warfare research in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. In 1948, a German denazification tribunal sentenced Schieber to two years in prison, as he'd been in internment since the war ended.Ernst Klee: '' Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich'', S. 534.

References

1896 births 1960 deaths SS-Brigadeführer German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States Recipients of the War Merit Cross

External links

Walter Schieber portrait on United Kingdom Black propaganda postcard
{{Nazi-stub Nazis convicted of crimes