Paul Hausser

Paul Hausser
Paul Hausser
	Hausser in 1941
Other name(s)	Paul Falk
Born	7 October 1880; Brandenburg an der Havel, Brandenburg, German Empire
Died	21 December 1972 (aged 92); Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany
Buried	Munich Waldfriedhof
Allegiance	German Empire; Weimar Republic; Nazi Germany;
Service/branch	Imperial German Army Prussian Army; ; Reichsheer; Waffen-SS;
Years of service	1892–1932; 1934–1945;
Rank	SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer und Generaloberst der Waffen-SS
Service number	NSDAP #4,138,779; SS #239,795
Commands held	SS Division Das Reich; II SS Panzer Corps; Seventh Army;
Battles/wars	World War I Eastern Front; ; World War II Invasion of Poland; Battle of France; Balkans Campaign Invasion of Yugoslavia; ; Eastern Front Third Battle of Kharkov; Battle of Kursk; ; Battle of Normandy Falaise Pocket; ; ;
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
Spouse(s)	Elisabeth Gerard (m. 1912⁠–⁠1972)
Children	1
Other work	Founder of HIAG, Waffen-SS lobby group

Paul Hausser also known as Paul Falk after taking his maiden name post war (7 October 1880 – 21 December 1972) was a German general and then a high-ranking commander in the Waffen-SS who played a key role in the post-war efforts by former members of the Waffen-SS to achieve historical and legal rehabilitation.

Hausser served as an officer in the Prussian Army during World War I and attained the rank of general in the inter-war Reichsheer. After retirement, he joined the SS and was instrumental in forming the Waffen-SS. During World War II, he rose to the level of army group commander. He led Waffen-SS troops in the Third Battle of Kharkov, the Battle of Kursk and the Normandy Campaign. Hausser was the highest-ranking officer in the Waffen-SS alongside Sepp Dietrich. Unlike Dietrich, Hausser was a trained staff officer before joining the SS.

After the war he became a founding member and the first spokesperson of HIAG, a lobby group and a revisionist veterans' organisation, founded by former high-ranking Waffen-SS personnel in West Germany in 1951. It campaigned for the restoration of legal and economic rights of the Waffen-SS employing a multi-prong propaganda campaign to achieve its aims.

Hausser wrote two books, arguing the purely military role of the Waffen-SS and advancing the notion that its troops were "soldiers like any other", according to the title of the second book. Under Hausser's leadership, HIAG reshaped the image of the Waffen-SS as a so-called pan-European force that fought honorably and had no part in war crimes or Nazi atrocities. These ahistorical notions have since been discredited by historians.

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