Anyone who grew up in Germany or the Netherlands would likely have seen at least one episode of Derrick, the German police drama set in Munich. The show ran from 1974 to 1998 and was so popular that even Pope John Paul II was rumored to be a fan.
A while ago, I watched Faking Hitler, a TV show about Konrad Kujau, the man who forged the infamous Hitler diaries. To my surprise, the show mentioned that Horst Tappert—the actor who played Derrick—had been a member of the Waffen-SS.
This revelation shocked me. In April 2013, it emerged that Tappert had served in the notorious Waffen-SS during World War II and had concealed this fact for years. As a result, reruns of Derrick were suspended in Germany and several other countries. Tappert had never publicly disclosed his connection to the SS. According to his widow, he was transferred from the Army to the Waffen-SS against his will at age 19. Initially stationed with a reserve anti-aircraft unit in Arolsen, he was later listed as a grenadier with the 3rd SS Division Totenkopf in March 1943.
The Totenkopf (Skull) division, with its chilling motto “My Honour Is Loyalty”, became one of the most ruthless units of the Waffen-SS—the combat arm of Hitler’s SS paramilitary force. Known for its brutality, the division played a key role in numerous war crimes, including the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Given that Horst Tappert joined Totenkopf in March 1943, it is highly likely that he was involved in these operations.
But Tappert wasn’t the only person connected to Derrick with an SS past. The show’s main writer, Herbert Reinecker, was deeply entrenched in Nazi ideology. He joined the Hitler Youth in 1932 at 17 and became a full-time propagandist by 1935. Moving to Berlin in 1936, he became editor-in-chief of Jungvolk, a Nazi youth magazine, and co-authored Jugend in Waffen (Armed Youth).
By 1943, Reinecker had joined the Nazi Party and served as editor-in-chief of Der Pimpf, a publication dedicated to Hitler Youth training. During World War II, he worked in the propaganda unit of the Waffen-SS.
I had often wondered why Derrick reruns had disappeared from television. Having moved to Ireland in 1997, I had missed the media coverage of the scandal in Germany and the Netherlands.
Horst Tappert passed away in 2008, and Herbert Reinecker died on January 27, 2007—a date that carries a dark irony, as it is now recognized as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Sources
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-22384143
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/10/09/baue-o09.html
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070981/?ref_=ttmi_tt
https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/pimpf.htm
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