Karl Wolff (2nd from the right) together with, from left to right: Heinrich Himmler (far l.), Reinhard Heydrich (l.) and an unidentified assistant (far r.) at the Obersalzberg, May 1939.

Karl Friedrich Otto Wolff (May 13, 1900 - July 17, 1984) was a high-ranking member of the Nazi SS. He held the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Waffen-SS. Image File history File links Heinrich_Himmler,_Richard_Heydrich,_Karl_Wolf. ... Image File history File links Heinrich_Himmler,_Richard_Heydrich,_Karl_Wolf. ...   (October 7, 1900 – May 23, 1945) was the commander of the German Schutzstaffel (SS) and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany. ... Reinhard Heydrich as SS-Gruppenführer. ... The Berghof was Adolf Hitlers home in the Obersalzberg of the Bavarian Alps near Berchtesgaden, Germany. ... May 13 is the 133rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (134th in leap years). ... 1900 (MCM) was an exceptional common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, but a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. ... July 17 is the 198th day (199th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 167 days remaining. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... National Socialism redirects here. ... SS or ss or Ss may be: The Schutzstaffel, a Nazi paramilitary force Steamship (SS) (ship prefix) The United States Secret Service A submarine not powered by nuclear energy (SS) (United States Navy designator), see SSN A Soviet/Russian surface-to-surface missile, as listed by NATO reporting name Shortstop... SS-Obergruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zalewski SS-Obergruppenführer patch SA-Obergruppenführer insignia Obergruppenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA. Translated as Senior Group Leader, the rank of SA-Obergruppenführer was held by... Waffen-SS recruitment poster; Volunteer to the Waffen-SS The Waffen-SS was the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel. ...

Wolff was born in Darmstadt, Germany, and joined the German Army during World War I, leaving as a Lieutenant. In 1931 Wolff joined the Nazi Party and the SS, and worked his way up to being Chief of Staff, Main Office Personal Staff Reichsführer SS. From February to October 1943, he served as the Military Governor and Supreme SS and Police Leader of northern Italy. A recent report in the Italian newspaper Avvenire suggested that Hitler ordered Wolff to kidnap Pope Pius XII, but he refused. In May of 1945, Wolff negotiated the surrender of all German forces in Italy during the controversial secret Operation Sunrise. Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland (federal state) of Hessen in Germany. ... Army The German Army (German: Heer  ) is the land component of the Bundeswehr (Federal Defence Forces) of the Federal Republic of Germany. ... Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Franz... Lieutenant is a military, naval, paramilitary, fire service or police officer rank. ... Year 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ... The Nazi Party, officially known as the National Socialist German Workers Party (German: , or NSDAP), was a political party in Germany between 1920 and 1945. ... SS or ss or Ss may be: The Schutzstaffel, a Nazi paramilitary force Steamship (SS) (ship prefix) The United States Secret Service A submarine not powered by nuclear energy (SS) (United States Navy designator), see SSN A Soviet/Russian surface-to-surface missile, as listed by NATO reporting name Shortstop... The term Chief of Staff can refer to: The White House Chief of Staff, the highest-ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. ... Heinrich Himmler as the Reichsführer-SS Reichsführer-SS was a special SS rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... Higher SS and Police Leaders were senior Nazi Party officials that commanded large units of the SS during and prior to the Second World War. ... Pope Pius XII (Latin: ), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (March 2, 1876 – October 9, 1958), reigned as the 260th pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, and sovereign of Vatican City State from March 2, 1939 until his death. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Wolff was tried after World War II by German courts and sentenced to four years imprisonment, but only served a week. However, in 1962 Wolff was again tried and convicted of deporting 300,000 Jews to the Treblinka extermination camp and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. Wolff again served only part of his sentence and was released in 1971. Combatants Allied Powers: United Kingdom France Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Axis Powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Charles de Gaulle Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... Treblinka was a Nazi extermination camp in German-occupied Poland during World War II. Extermination camps like the one at Treblinka were used in the Holocaust for the systematic genocide of sub-humans by the Nazis. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1971 calendar). ...

Wolff has been a controversial figure because many believe he was far more privy to the internal workings of the SS and its extermination activities than he acknowledged. In fact, he claimed to have known nothing about the Nazi extermination camps, even though he was a senior general in the SS. Despite this, he openly admits in The World At War that he witnessed an execution of Jewish prisoners with Himmler, going so far as to describe the splatter of brains on Himmler's coat. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The World at War was a 1974 television documentary series on the Second World War, the events that led up to it, and those that followed in its wake. ...

See also

• Ex-Nazis