Josias, Hereditary Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont

Josias, Hereditary Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont (13 May 1896 – 30 November 1967) was the heir apparent to the throne of the Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont and a general in the Schutzstaffel (SS). From 1946 until his death, he was the head of the Princely House of Waldeck and Pyrmont. After World War II, he was sentenced to life in prison at the Buchenwald Trial (later commuted to 20 years) for his part in the "common plan" to violate the Laws and Usages of War in connection with prisoners of war held at Buchenwald concentration camp, but was released after serving about three years in prison.

Early years He was born in Arolsen at the ruling family's castle, the eldest son and heir of Prince Friedrich of Waldeck and Pyrmont and his consort Princess Bathildis of Schaumburg-Lippe. He was the nephew of William II, King of Württemberg, and Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Queen Regent of the Netherlands. He was also a cousin of Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands, and Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He enlisted in the German Army as a cadet and fought in the First World War, where he suffered serious injuries.

Waldeck-Pyrmont was elected to the Reichstag in March 1933 on the electoral list of the Nazi Party. At the November 1933 election, he was returned as a deputy for electoral constituency 23, (Düsseldorf West) and retained this seat until the final days of the Nazi regime. Also in 1933, he was promoted to the rank of SS lieutenant general.

Buchenwald had first caught the attention of Waldeck in 1941 when, glancing over the camp's death list, he came across the name of Walter Krämer, a head hospital orderly at Buchenwald. He recognized it because Krämer had successfully treated him in the past. Waldeck investigated the case and discovered Karl-Otto Koch, the camp's commandant, had ordered both Krämer and Karl Peix (a hospital attendant) killed as "political prisoners" because they had treated him for syphilis, a fact Koch wished to keep secret. Waldeck also received reports that a certain prisoner had been shot while attempting to escape. By that time, Koch had been transferred to the Majdanek concentration camp in Poland, but his wife, Ilse, was still living at the Commandant's house in Buchenwald. Waldeck ordered a full-scale investigation of the camp by Georg Konrad Morgen, an SS major who was a judge in a German court. Throughout the investigation, more of Koch's orders to kill prisoners at the camp were revealed, as well as evidence of embezzlement of property stolen from prisoners. One of his first acts in his new role was ordering French hostages to be placed on German troop trains, to discourage sabotage attempts on them. He was made a general in the Waffen-SS in July 1944. Military Governor of Germany, General Lucius D. Clay ordered that the sentences of the Buchenwald Trial be re-examined on the basis of extensive records and, on 8 June 1948, confirmed fifteen of the death sentences and commuted seven. Most of the imprisonment sentences were also commuted, including Waldeck-Pyrmont's (from life to twenty years). Waldeck-Pyrmont was taken to Landsberg am Lech, where he served only three years of his sentence before being released in December 1950 for health reasons.

Family Waldeck-Pyrmont married Duchess Altburg of Oldenburg, a daughter of the former Grand Duke of Oldenburg, Friedrich August II, on 25 August 1922 at Rastede. They had five children: Princess Margarethe of Waldeck and Pyrmont (22 May 1923 – 21 August 2003); her son Count Eberhard of Erbach-Erbach would marry Princess Alexandra Reuss, granddaughter of Princess Marie Adelheid of Lippe Princess Alexandra of Waldeck and Pyrmont (25 September 1924 – 4 September 2009) Princess Ingrid of Waldeck and Pyrmont (b. 2 September 1931) Prince Wittekind of Waldeck and Pyrmont (9 March 1936 – 16 December 2024) Princess Guda of Waldeck and Pyrmont (b. 22 August 1939), married Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Wied (her second cousin twice-removed), grandson of William Frederick, Prince of Wied.

Ancestry