Paul Peller, who was one of the remaining contemporary witnesses of the Third Reich and a veteran of the Waffen-SS, died on September 8, 2021 at the age of 95.[1] Neo-nazis in Germany eulogized him with praise and admiration. Peller, who was born in 1926 in West Prussia, which is now Poland, maintained his loyalty to Third Reich after its destruction and throughout his life. He was a member of the Hitler Youth and enlisted in the Waffen-SS Voluntary Armored Infantry Division "Horst Wessel."
Paul Peller
Notice of Peller's death on September 8
Neo-Nazis Online Share Stories Of Peller's Attendance At Their Events
Peller was regularly invited to gatherings and interviews to discuss his experience in the Waffen-SS and to convey his National Socialist convictions to the next generation. Peller published an autobiography titled "Paul Peller – Year 1926 – A boy from Grenzmark Posen-Westprussia in Hitler Youth, Reichs Labor Service and Waffen-SS," many copies of which have been sold on extreme-right, nationalist, and neo-Nazi merchandise platforms. His autobiography recalls his experiences as an active advocate and soldier of Nazi Germany and the course of events after May 8, 1945, which is remembered as Victory in Europe Day and on which the Allies accepted Germany's unconditional surrender. Peller's contemporary testimony was essential to neo-Nazi efforts to further revive devotion to the "fatherland."
To mark Peller's death, a German nationalist publishing company posted, on September 16, 2021, on its Telegram channel, a link to an interview with Peller that was initially published in another nationalist magazine. The article opened by calling on readers to act how Germans should and stand up for their fatherland.
A 2019 issue of one of the magazines was devoted to the remaining contemporary witnesses of the Third Reich, including Peller. In the interview, Peller discussed his experiences in the Hitler Youth and the Waffen SS – about which he said that he and his comrades felt like "ordinary soldiers" and that orders were to be carried out but that he had never received an order that would mean committing any crime. He spoke about being taken captive by Russia and his compulsory labor in Silesia, and his post-war boxing career and encouraged young people to take up fighting sports. He concluded by saying that Germans should act as they should and stand up for the fatherland, instead of pursuing personal gain.
On September 7, 2021, Paul Peller was invited to a lecture series organized by the regional branch of a German neo-Nazi party in the city of Dortmund focusing on eyewitness experiences of Nazi veterans. Some 60 people attended, according to party sources.
Regional branches of another German neo-Nazi party published in 2019 an article about a lecture by Peller in which he spoke about his experiences in the Hitler Youth, the Reich's labor force, the Waffen SS, and after the war, with, according to the article, a focus on crimes against Germans in Silesia, the Sudentenland, and the Czech Republic.
Also in 2019, a German neo-Nazi party and its youth branch posted a photo of a Christmas party featuring Peller speaking, in which, according to the post, he conveyed the message "Never surrender!"
Despite his passing, the contemporary witness narration of Waffen-SS veteran Paul Peller is preserved and continues to live on in the next generation of German nationalists and neo-Nazis.
[1] Trauer38.de/traueranzeige/paul-peller/58976328, accessed October 7, 2021.
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