Artur Phleps
A Transylvanian-born military officer whose expertise in mountain warfare was ultimately deployed in the brutal ethnic conflicts of the Nazi Eastern Front.
1881–1944 (age 63)·Waffen-SS officer·Birthday: November 29·The Gilded Age
Biography
Artur Phleps was a soldier without a stable nation, his career a reflection of Central Europe's shifting borders and violent loyalties. An officer in the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I, he found himself a citizen of Romania after the empire's dissolution, rising to the rank of general. Frustrated by political sidelining and drawn by ethnic German nationalism, he volunteered for the Waffen-SS in his sixties. His deep knowledge of the Carpathian region made him invaluable to the German war machine. He was instrumental in forming the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division 'Prinz Eugen' from ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) in the Balkans, a unit infamous for its brutal anti-partisan campaigns marked by atrocities against civilians in Yugoslavia. Later commanding the V SS Mountain Corps on the Eastern Front, he was captured by Romanian forces after they switched sides in 1944 and was executed. His story is one of professional military skill tragically placed in the service of a genocidal ideology.
The Gilded Age
1860–1882
Born during or after the Civil War, they built industrial America — the railroads, the steel mills, the first skyscrapers. An era of massive wealth, massive inequality, and the belief that the future belonged to whoever could build it fastest.
Artur was born in 1881, placing them squarely in The Gilded Age. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Artur Was Born
The biggest hits of 1881
Artur's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1881Born
President: Chester A. Arthur
1886Started school
Statue of Liberty dedicated in New York Harbor
President: Grover Cleveland
1894Became a teenager
President: Grover Cleveland
1897Could drive
President: William McKinley
1899Could vote
President: William McKinley
1902Turned 21
The eruption of Mount Pelee kills 30,000 in Martinique
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1911Turned 30
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 in New York
President: William Howard Taft
1921Turned 40
First commercial radio broadcasts
President: Warren G. Harding"My Man" — Fanny Brice
1931Turned 50
The Empire State Building opens as the world's tallest
Gas: $0.17/galPresident: Herbert Hoover"Minnie the Moocher" — Cab CallowayBest Picture: Cimarron
1941Turned 60
Pearl Harbor attack brings the US into WWII
Gas: $0.19/galHome: $3,060Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Chattanooga Choo Choo" — Glenn MillerBest Picture: How Green Was My Valley
1944Died at 63
D-Day: Allied forces land at Normandy
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $3,400Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Swinging on a Star" — Bing CrosbyBest Picture: Going My Way
Key Achievements
- Organized and commanded the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division 'Prinz Eugen', a unit composed primarily of ethnic Germans from the Balkans.
- Promoted to the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS, one of the highest ranks in the Waffen-SS.
- Led the V SS Mountain Corps during operations against Soviet forces in the Carpathian region.
- Awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves for his military leadership.
Did You Know?
He was born in the Transylvanian town of Birthälm, which was part of Austria-Hungary, then Romania, and is now part of Romania.
Before joining the SS, he reached the rank of General de divizie (Major General) in the Romanian Army.
He was a specialist in mountain warfare and logistics, a skill honed in the Alps and Carpathians.
His son, also named Artur Phleps, served as an officer in the same SS division he commanded.
“A soldier's loyalty is to the flag he serves, not the soil beneath his boots.”
