MovieChat Forums > Battle of the Bulge (1966) Discussion > About Joachim Peiper

About Joachim Peiper

posted 17 years ago by lerhshenchang
6 replies | jump to latest

We all knew the role of Colonel Hessler was based on the real-life SS-Standartenführer Joachim Peiper, who wasn't killed in the battle of the bulge, but survived the WAR without a scratch. He has served 11 years in jail after the war and lived somewhere in France before die (killed) in a accident.
Why would he had lived in another country where obviously more anti-Nazi people could have messed up with him? Was he expelled from his vaterland? Why the French authority allows his residency?

[–] mradje 17 years ago

actually he was murdered on July 14, 1976 in a fire bomb attack on his house by an armed gang calling itself the "Avengers". The "Avengers" were never identified, but were suspected to be French Communists or former Résistants., .............here he is famous for his quote when he first saw a concentration camp, litteraly from German goes like:

''We had better win this war or else we are going to be in deep *beep* because of these things"

[–] ThinkTank-3 17 years ago

Because maybe...just maybe...things weren't as clear cut black and white as Hollywood makes it out to be?

Not all german soldiers were jew-baby-eating Monsters! Not all people in the occupied territories harbored a deep hatred of the Germans!

In his bio it's stated that the french in his little village knew who he was and didn't mind...the attacker were communists from the outside...to coward to openly admit what they had done.
I dunno but people being proud of what they have done and thinking they were right would surely had no problems to brag with this action, or?

[–] alan-kavanagh4 17 years ago

As SS Standartenfuhrer Peiper stated at his trial "History is writen by the victors" he openly stated that he relished the opportunity of being reunited in Valhalla with the men whom he commanded throughout the campaigns.

[–] xaggurat 16 years ago

I've read a lot about Peiper and can say that he was a goofball. The Avengers just made him pay for his sins.

[–] zski34 16 years ago

From what I know, SS-Standartenfuhrer Peiper did not die in an accident, rather he was killed in some sort of gun battle. If I recall properly, he was living in France and was shot and killed by what was believed to have been socialist forces. Further, he apparently was able to fight off and kill some of his attackers himself

[–] nickm2 16 years ago

zsk:

You're comments were close; Here is what I found on Wikipedia(caution please like always):

"in 1972 Peiper went to live in Traves, Haute-Saône, France, and supported himself as a translator of English-language military books into German. In 1976 an article in the Communist publication L'Humanité revealed Peiper's presence in Traves and he became the subject of death threats. On 14 July 1976 his house was attacked with molotov cocktails, leaving Peiper dead. The perpetrators were never identified, but were suspected to be former French Resistance members or communists. Peiper had just started writing a book about Malmedy and what followed."

I has heard from other sources that he did have a rifle & he did get some shots off at his attackers but I'm not sure.

nm