Maximilian von Herff


Maximilian Karl Otto von Herff was a German senior SS commander during the Nazi era. He served as head of the SS Personnel Main Office from 1942 to 1945.

Early life

Maximilian von Herff was born in Hanover on 17 April 1893, the son of a general practitioner. The Protestant von Herff family originated from Herve in Belgium and moved to the Palatinate in 1577 to escape religious persecution. His ancestor Christian Herff had been inducted into the noble class in 1814.
After school, Maximilian von Herff joined the army in the Leibgarde-Infanterie-Regiment No. 115. In the further course of the First World War, Herff was assigned to the 5th Lower Silesian Infantry Regiment No. 154. He was promoted to lieutenant on 11 February 1915 and to first lieutenant on 18 October 1918, and remained in the unit until 9 November 1918. He stayed in the Reichswehr after the war, and in 1926 served as Oberleutnant in the 18. Reiter-Regiment in Stuttgart. In Wehrmacht on 3 January 1939, Herff reached the rank of Oberstleutnant.

World War II

During World War II, Herff served with the Deutsches Afrika Korps in North Africa. He was promoted to Oberst 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 and the SS. 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.
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.
His sister Carin von Herff moved to London during his imprisonment where she lived for 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 (1st French). 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.

Awards