Josef "Sepp" Dietrich (28 May 1892 – 21 April 1966) was a German general, politician and war criminal in the Schutzstaffel (SS) during the Nazi era. Despite having no formal staff officer training (and little formal education at all), Dietrich rose to become (along with Paul Hausser) SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer, the highest-ranking commissioned officer rank in the Waffen-SS, the military branch of the SS, commanding units up to the army level during World War II. He joined the Nazi Party in 1928 an...