Joseph Berchtold

Who was Joseph Berchtold?

Joseph Berchtold, a former stationery salesman, succeeded Julius Schreck as Reichsführer SS in 1926. He was the last surviving person to hold that rank and the only one to survive under it during World War II.

Berchtold served in the First World War and held the rank of second lieutenant at the end of the war. In 1920 he joined the NSDAP. He was considered to be more dynamic than his predecessor, but was still unable to keep the Party organizers at bay. After much in-fighting he resigned in 1927 and was replaced by his deputy Erhard Heiden.

Berchtold 1924 was District Director of the Nazi party in Carinthia in Austria and there was leader of the SA. After the readmission of the Nazi party banned as a result of the coup in Germany he was again in 1925 party member. In April 1926, Berchtold returned to Germany. On 15 April 1926, he took over the leadership of the Munich SA. He was at the same time as successor to Julius Schreck "Director" of the SS, an Office which was known as the "Reichsführer-SS" from 1 November.

He was from 1928 to 1945 as SA leader on the staff of the Supreme SA leadership.