Himmler`s adjutant
At this time, Peiper has an almost legendary reputation as a panzer commander. He was born in Berlin on January 30. 1915. He attended secondary school until he left without graduating in 1933. On 12 October 1933 he joined the 1st SS Reitersturm (mounted assault unit). He was already a member of the SS Verfügungstruppen (service troops) as of January 23, 1934. Then a course at the SS Trainingsschule (training school) in Jüterbog follows, as well as the SS Offizierschule (officers school) in Brunswick. He joins the "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler", on April 20, 1934 as Unterscharführer (corporal). His new superior for the next nine years is Sepp Dietrich.
He is promoted to Untersturmführer (second lieutenant) in April 1938. Reichsleiter Heinrich Himmler requests him for his staff a year later as liaison officer to the SS Verfügungstruppen. On September 3 Peiper joins the Reichsleiter SS Sonderzug (special train) "Heinrich" and pursues the Blitzkrieg from a railway position in Silesia nearby the Polish border.
Himmler dismisses him at the beginning of May 1940 to give him the opportunity to win himself his spurs in the field. Peiper takes command of the 11th Company of his old battalion, the" Leibstandarte". For his action at the attack on the Aa canal and further actions near Vichy, Peiper is awarded the Iron Cross 1st.& 2nd. class.
After this interlude, Himmler once more secures the services of Peiper for himself, this time as his first Wehrmacht adjutant. Obviously, the Reichsführer SS is taken by Peiper’s ability. It is quite obvious that, during this time, Peiper has got knowledge of the genocide. There is photographic proof which features him and Himmler in Mauthausen concentration camp. It is also Peiper who orders Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz to attend a meeting with Himmler. At this meeting, Himmler informs Höss of Hitlers order to make Auschwitz the centre of the "Endlösung", the Final Solution. By the end of June 1941 Himmler stations his “Sondertzug Heinrich” (special train) at the village of Angerburg, near the "Wolfsschanze". From there Peiper has the best insight into front operations and also the activities of the SS Einsatzgruppen (task forces) which carry out mass shootings behind the front.
