Who's who in Nazi Germany / R. Wistrich. - London : Routledge, 2002. - p. 43-44 ; Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich / E. Klee. - Frankfurt am Main : S. Fischer, 2003. - p. 113
Obersturmführer (1939), SS-Standartenführer (1944). Joined the Condor Legion in 1937. 1940 founded the special SS battalion"Dirlewange" made up of criminals. This unit was investigated by a Hauptamt SS court for extreme cruelty and murderous havoc during"partisan comba" in Poland and Belarus. The"Dirlewange" unit was also active in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.