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HERFF,von,Maximilian ~NEW~
Herff, von, Maximilian
*April 17th, 1893 (Hannover/Lower Saxony, Germany)
+September 6th, 1945 (Windmere/Cumberland, England)
Knights Cross: June 13th, 1941
As: Oberst Führer Kampfgruppe "von Herff" (Schützen-Regiment 115) / Deutsches Afrika Korps
Maximilian von Herff died on 6th September 1945 in British captivity as SS-Obergruppenführer / General der Waffen-SS. His last position during the Second World War was Chef des Personalamtes der Waffen-SS.
During World War II, Herff served with the Deutsches Afrika Korps in North Africa. He was promoted to Oberst (colonel) and commanded "Kampfgruppe von Herff". For his service in North Africa he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in June 1941.
At the suggestion of Heinrich Himmler, he transferred to the Waffen-SS. On 1 April 1942 Herff joined the Nazi Party (member no. 8 858 661) and the SS (member no. 405 894). From 1 October 1942 to 8 May 1945, he was chief of the SS Personnel Main Office. Herff dealt with internal and financial SS matters.
In his later diary entries, Herff claimed to have had knowledge of the Final Solution but not have played any role in administrative or actual involvement in exterminations or deportations. However, on 14–15 May 1943, Herff was in Warsaw during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and supervised its suppression under orders from Himmler. His adjutant, Karl Kaleske wrote of the deportations carried out following the uprising to Auschwitz concentration camp and other camps where "special action" was required. Jürgen Stroop's report on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising contains a photograph of Herff and Stroop taken during the May 1943 visit and confirms Herff's visit to the ghetto 14 May 1943.
On 20 April 1944, Herff was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer
Capture and death
Herff was taken prisoner by British forces in 1945, and held at Grizedale Hall POW camp. He suffered a stroke and died at nearby Conishead Priory Military Hospital. He was later reburied at Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery, Staffordshire.
four years before returning to Germany with her French Huguenot husband, a former SS-Oberführer of the 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne . Both were acquitted of any war crimes and, along with Maximilian von Herff, claimed they were only involved in the Nazi Party base and Waffen-SS not the extermination of the Jews. The couple later returned to live in England in the 1960s.
His cousin was Eberhard Herf, a senior SS police official. He commanded Police Regiment North and Order Police units in Minsk, Belarus; in the latter capacity, Eberhard Herf directed mass murder of the Jews in the Minsk Ghetto.Following the war, Eberhard Herf was convicted in the Minsk Trial and executed.
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