Siegfried Müller (26 October 1920 – 17 April 1983), often called Congo Müller, was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

officer-candidate who fought as a mercenary under

Mike Hoare Thomas Michael Hoare (17 March 1919 – 2 February 2020), known as Mad Mike Hoare, was a British mercenary soldier who operated during the Simba rebellion, and attempted to conduct a coup d'état in the Seychelles. Early life and military car ...

in the

Congo Crisis The Congo Crisis (french: Crise congolaise, link=no) was a period of political upheaval and conflict between 1960 and 1965 in the Republic of the Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The crisis began almost immediately after ...

Early life and military career

Siegfried Friedrich Heinrich Müller was born in

Crossen an der Oder Crossen may refer to: * Crossen an der Elster, municipality in Thuringia, Germany * Zwickau-Crossen, part of Zwickau in Saxony, Germany *Crossen (Oder), German name of Krosno Odrzańskie, Poland *part of the municipality Erlau in Saxony, Germany * ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

(modern

Krosno Odrzańskie Krosno Odrzańskie (german: Crossen an der Oder) is a city on the east bank of Oder River, at the confluence with the Bóbr. The town in Western Poland with 11,319 inhabitants (2019) is the capital of Krosno County. It is assigned to the Lubusz ...

, Poland) in 1920 to a conservative Prussian family. His father served in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and later served in the

as a lieutenant-colonel. Siegfried was enrolled at a boarding school in Freiburg and was in the

Jungvolk The ''Deutsches Jungvolk in der Hitlerjugend'' (; DJ, also DJV; German for "German Youngsters in the Hitler Youth") was the separate section for boys aged 10 to 13 of the Hitler Youth organisation in Nazi Germany. Through a programme of outdoor a ...

, reaching the rank of Fähnleinführer. He later served in the

Reich Labour Service The Reich Labour Service (''Reichsarbeitsdienst''; RAD) was a major organisation established in Nazi Germany as an agency to help mitigate the effects of unemployment on the German economy, militarise the workforce and indoctrinate it with Nazi ...

, and joined the Wehrmacht in 1939. He first experienced action during the German

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

, where he says he saw very little combat. After this, he claimed he would sometimes dress as a Polish peasant and walk along the lines of the Soviet-occupied Poland in order to scout them out. He also fought in Operation Barbarossa and spent the rest of the war fighting against the Soviets. He claimed to have been promoted to the rank of

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a s ...

on April 20, 1945, Hitler's birthday. After being seriously wounded from being shot in the back, he was evacuated from East Prussia to Frankfurt, where he was captured by the Americans. Released in 1947, he enlisted in the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Civilian Labor Group (CLG), an American Labor Service Unit of Germans; then became a lieutenant in a CLG security unit. He also worked as an Industrial Police watchman and trained NATO troops in Paris. He was denied entry to the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

in 1956, but found employment with British Petroleum, clearing mines planted by the

Afrika Korps The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, }; DAK) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the ...

in the

Sahara Desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Congo Crisis

Müller emigrated to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in 1962 and was recruited as a mercenary with the rank of lieutenant in 5 Commando in 1964 as part of the repression of the

Simba rebellion The Simba rebellion, also known as the Orientale revolt, was a regional uprising which took place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1963 and 1965 in the wider context of the Congo Crisis and the Cold War. The rebellion, located in t ...

in the

. At 44, Müller was the oldest of

's soldiers. He was promoted to captain after a successful operation to seize Albertville (now

Kalemie Kalemie, formerly Albertville or Albertstad, is a town on the western shore of Lake Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The town is next to the outflow of the Lukuga River from Lake Tanganyika to the Lualaba River. History From 18 ...

) and led 52 Commando, a small sub-unit of 5 Commando comprising approximately 53 soldiers, from July 1964. He was later promoted to major. In this period, the units participated in widespread arbitrary violence, killings, and other war crimes. Pictures show Müller wearing his Iron Cross in the Congo. As news of atrocities committed by mercenaries in the Congo spread, Müller became a hate figure among socialists and student activists in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. He was first brought to public attention by a feature entitled "Congo Atrocity" in the December 1964 issue of the left-leaning magazine ''

Konkret ''konkret'' has been the name of two German magazines. ''konkret'' was originally the name of a magazine established by Klaus Rainer Röhl in 1957, that was an influential magazine on the German political left in the 1960s. The magazine was di ...

''. Another lengthy interview included Müller speaking nostalgically of his wartime service in German-occupied Poland and France and "concluded with him laughing as he spoke about how he was now compelled to follow the 'barbaric customs' of the Congo by not taking wounded opponents prisoner but simply shooting them dead." While in the Congo, Müller had also filmed executing a prisoner in the highly graphic Italian documentary film ''

Africa Addio ''Africa Addio'' (also known as ''Africa: Blood and Guts'' in the United States and ''Farewell Africa'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1966 Italian mondo documentary film co-directed, co-edited and co-written by Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Pro ...

'' (1966) which caused mass protests when it was first screened in West Germany and energised the nascent German Third Worldist movement. The historian Quinn Slobodian states "Müller provided a link between Nazi Germany and postcolonial conflict beyond polemical analogy". Also profiled as a hate figure in the East German state media, some instead responded by seeing him as a

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...

icon like the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

. He died in the

Boksburg, Gauteng Boksburg is a city on the East Rand of Gauteng province of South Africa. Gold was discovered in Boksburg in 1887. Boksburg was named after the State Secretary of the South African Republic, W. Eduard Bok. The Main Reef Road linked Boksburg ...

suburb of

Johannesburg, South Africa Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a cancer that develops from the lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a number of subtypes, including gastric adenocarcinomas. Lymph ...

in April 1983.

In popular culture

Major Müller wore his World War II

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia est ...

First Class on his operations in the Congo, which attracted the attention of journalists from ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine. He was interviewed for, and is the subject of, the 1966 East German documentary '' The Laughing Man-Confessions of a Murderer.'' The character Capt. Henlein from the 1968 film ''

Dark of the Sun ''Dark of the Sun'' (also known as ''The Mercenaries'' in the UK) is a 1968 British adventure war film starring Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux, Jim Brown, and Peter Carsten. The film, which was directed by Jack Cardiff, is based on Wilbur Smith's 19 ...

'' was based on Müller.

References

External links

Siegfried Müller at IMDB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mueller, Siegfried 1920 births 1983 deaths People from Krosno Odrzańskie People from the Province of Brandenburg German mercenaries German emigrants to South Africa Deaths from cancer in South Africa Recipients of the Iron Cross (1939), 1st class German Army officers of World War II Hitler Youth members Reich Labour Service members German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States Deaths from stomach cancer People of the Congo Crisis

Early life and military career

Congo Crisis

In popular culture

References

Further reading

External links