Oh mein Gott, Oberinspektor Derrick was in the Waffen SS !!!

Actor Horst Tappert was known far beyond Germany’s borders for his portrayal of Detective Stephan Derrick on television. On Friday, information emerged suggesting that he served in the Nazi Waffen SS during World War II, and hid the fact for years…

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that Horst Tappert was a member of the SS-Flakabteilung, an anti-aircraft group that was under the command of the Waffen-SS. He started as a low-level grenadier by March 1943 at the age of 19.

Horst Tappert died in 2008 at the age of 85, and the question of whether he was pressured or coerced to join the Waffen-SS remains unclear. In 2006, famous Nobel Prize-winning author Günter Grass admitted that he was enrolled in the Waffen-SS during the Second World War.

Derrick (1974-1998, 281 episodes) was one of the most successful TV crime show exports in Germany’s history, with broadcastings in more than 100 countries.

Below is a small photo gallery of Derrick TV Series, starring Horst Tappert and Fritz Wepper :