First he was killed by a bullet, then he was blown to pieces. The SS chief’s pistol survived
Today, the pistol belonging to Wilhelm Rediess, the highest-ranking SS commander in Norway, is kept in a safe at Norway's Resistance Museum. It is too valuable to be put on display.
A Walther PP, almost the same model of pistol used by James Bond, was found at Skaugum on May 9, 1945.(Photo: Nina Kristiansen / Science Norway)
In June 1940, Norwegian newspapers reported that Gruppenführer Wilhelm Rediess had been appointed head of the SS in Norway.
Annonse
Rediess joined Adolf Hitler’s party, the NSDAP, at an early stage and was elected to the German Reichstag in 1933. Before arriving in Norway, he served as the highest-ranking SS commander in the German province of East Prussia.
He was then assigned to Norway and moved into Skaugum, the residence of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, who had fled the country.
Wilhelm Rediess served as the highest-ranking SS commander in Norway for five years.(Photo: National Library of Norway)
The SS was a feared and hated police and military organisation that arrested members of the resistance, sent them to concentration camps, and carried out the mass murder of Jews and other prisoners. The SS branch known as the Gestapo conducted surveillance and torture.
Arrested Jews, police officers, and students
Rediess brought experience in the persecution of Jews from Germany and helped plan the deportation of 773 Norwegian Jews.
He was in command when 1,200 students and 700 Norwegian police officers were arrested. About half of them were sent to Germany.
Rediess also introduced the Lebensborn programme for Norwegian women who became pregnant by German soldiers. Its goal was to strengthen the Germanic race.
Then the war neared its end.
Grief and destruction of evidence
On May 1, 1945, news spread that Adolf Hitler had taken his own life in Berlin. Two days later, Reich Commissioner Josef Terboven travels to Germany. He refuses to surrender and believes the fighting could continue in Norway. No one listens to him.
On May 7, Germany surrenders. At Skaugum, where both Terboven and Rediess live, there is mourning and the burning of documents.
That same night, Wilhelm Rediess takes his own life in his bedroom using the pistol that is now kept at Norway's Resistance Museum.
"We know this was Rediess’s pistol, and we assume it was the one he used to shoot himself," says Stenwig.
Sigurd Stenwig is a historian and works at Norway's Resistance Museum at Akershus Fortress in Oslo. Here he is holding Wilhelm Rediess’s pistol.(Photo: Nina Kristiansen / Science Norway)
A corpse, liquor, and dynamite
Annonse
Josef Terboven continues the cleanup on May 8. He orders Rediess’ body to be carried into a bunker on the property, along with liquor and a crate of dynamite.
There he sits down on the crate, lights the fuse, and waits for the explosion.
"We don't know why Terboven chose to blow himself up, but it was probably the same line of thinking as when Hitler ordered his own body to be burned. Terboven likely realised it was better if as little of his remains as possible could be recovered," says Stenwig.
No one knows why Terboven also brought Rediess' body into the bunker.
"The Nazis themselves displayed corpses on the Eastern Front, so he may have been afraid of something like that," says Stenwig.
When the explosion occurs, Skaugum is still under German control. Soldiers enter the bunker and begin cleaning up. They remove the remains of Terboven and Rediess.
Everything had been cleaned and swept
The German forces in Norway officially surrender late on the evening on May 8. The following day, detective Conrad Hauge is ordered to travel to the estate to investigate the explosion and liberate Skaugum.
In his report to the chief of police, he writes:
‘Upon arriving at the guard post, we were received by the officer in charge after some discussion.’
Several reports were written by the Norwegian resistance forces who arrived at Skaugum on May 9, 1945. They are now kept at Norway's Resistance Museum.(Photo: Nina Kristiansen / Science Norway)
At first, the German officer in charge denies that there has been any explosion, but then agrees to show everything to Hauge and his party.
They are led into an underground bunker with several rooms. At the very back is a room that has clearly been damaged, but has already been cleared and swept. Hauge asks what happened to the contents of the room.
They are then taken to a small wooded area. Hauge writes: ‘Here we were shown the remains of a bonfire, consisting mainly of ashes and various remnants of burned paper, clothing, meat, and strips of leather, etc.’
Hauge and his men take photographs and collect everything in a box.
Meant to burn quickly
They are then shown other pits containing body parts, pieces of uniforms and underwear, a handkerchief with a monogram, and a broken pair of glasses with skin and flesh attached.
"It appears the Germans dug three shallow pits, probably so the bodies would burn more quickly," says Stenwig.
They also inspect the bedroom where Rediess shot himself. It, too, had been cleaned. They speak with the German officers at Skaugum and take photos.
Here German soldiers are leaving Skaugum on May 10, 1945.(Photo: NTB)
It is Conrad Hauge who finds the pistol in the gravel near the remains. He records the serial number. It matches the pistol in the museum's collection.
Not on display
The ammunition chamber is damaged.
"The ammunition was probably ignited by the explosion," says Stenwig.
The pistol is not on public display. It is kept in a safe, and exhibiting it would require additional security measures.
"Nazi artefacts are highly sought after and sell for enormous sums," says Stenwig.
The fact that the pistol's owner is known – and that he was no ordinary person – makes the pistol especially valuable.
"What makes it special for us at the museum is that we have the pistol, the reports, and the photographs. We don't have that for every object in the collection. It's also a dramatic story. That makes it one of my favourite objects," says Stenwig.
Norwegian newspapers from 1945, the Great Norwegian Encyclopedia, lokalhistoriewiki.no, norgeshistorien.no, and Berit Nøkleby: Josef Terboven. Hitler’s man in Norway. Gyldendal 2008.
