Siegfried Müller | |
|---|---|
 Siegfried Müller during theCongo Crisis, wearing his Iron Cross | |
| Nickname | Kongo Müller |
| Born | (1920-10-26)26 October 1920 |
| Died | 17 April 1983(1983-04-17) (aged 62) |
| Cause of death | Stomach cancer |
| Allegiance |  Germany Congo-Léopoldville |
| Branch |  German Army5 Commando |
| Rank | Oberleutnant (Germany) Major (Congo) |
| Battles / wars | World War II Simba rebellion |
Siegfried Friedrich Heinrich Müller (26 October 1920 – 17 April 1983), referred to as "Congo Müller" (Kongo-Müller), was a German-born soldier andmercenary. Müller was an officer-candidate in theWehrmacht inWorld War II and, after emigrating toApartheid South Africa, became a mercenary commanding part of5 Commando in theCongo Crisis.
Given substantial media coverage by foreign journalists in the Congo, Müller achieved widespread notoriety inWest andEast Germany in the mid-1960s as a result of his activities in the Congo and overt nostalgia for theNazi era.
Siegfried Friedrich Heinrich Müller was born inCrossen an der Oder,Germany (modernKrosno Odrzańskie, Poland) in 1920 to a conservative Prussian family. His father was inWorld War I and later in theWehrmacht as a lieutenant-colonel. Siegfried was enrolled at a boarding school in Freiburg and was in theJungvolk, reaching the rank ofFähnleinführer. He then joined theReich Labour Service, and the Wehrmacht in 1939. He first experienced action during the Germaninvasion of Poland although he says he saw very little combat. He says that, after the invasion, he would sometimes dress as a Polish peasant and walk along the lines of Soviet-occupied Poland in order to reconnoiter. He fought in theGerman invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 and spent the rest of the war on theEastern Front. He said that he was promoted to the rank offirst lieutenant on 20 April 1945, Hitler's birthday. After being seriously wounded from a bullet hitting his spine, he was evacuated from East Prussia toFrankfurt, where he was captured by the Americans.
Released in 1947, he enlisted in theUS ArmyCivilian 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 theBundeswehr in 1956, but found employment withBritish Petroleum, clearing mines planted by theAfrika Korps in theSahara Desert duringWorld War II.[1]
Müller emigrated toSouth Africa in 1962 and was recruited as a mercenary with the rank of lieutenant in5 Commando in 1964 as part of the repression of theSimba rebellion in theCongo Crisis. At 44, Müller was the oldest ofMike Hoare's soldiers.[2] He was promoted to captain after a successful operation to seize Albertville (nowKalemie) and led 52 Commando, a small sub-unit of 5 Commando of approximately 53 soldiers, from July 1964. He was later promoted to major. In this period, the units participated in widespread arbitrary violence, killings, and otherwar crimes.[3] There were reports that Müller and his mercenaries would decorate their vehicles with the skulls and bones of their enemies, as well as drunken violence, looting andmounting the heads of their enemies on spears.[4] Pictures show Müller wearing his Iron Cross in the Congo, attracting attention from journalists fromTime magazine.[5]
In late 1964, Müller's unit suffered from low morale and desertion due to their first assault on the town ofBoende being unsuccessful, with deserters criticizing Müller as "incompetent" and "too soft".[6] The mercenaries eventually captured the city.[7]
As news of atrocities committed by mercenaries in the Congo spread, Müller became a hate figure among socialists and student activists inWest Germany. He was first brought to public attention by a feature entitled "Congo Atrocity" in the December 1964 issue of the left-leaning magazineKonkret. Media portrayed him as a war criminal, anSS veteran, and claimed that he would read his copy ofMein Kampf after every battle.[8] 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."[9] The historianQuinn Slobodian states "Müller provided a link between Nazi Germany and postcolonial conflict beyond polemical analogy".[10]
He was also profiled as a hate figure by state media in East Germany where some instead responded by seeing him as a symbol of thecounterculture comparable with theRolling Stones.[11] He was interviewed for the 1966 East German documentaryThe Laughing Man – Confessions of a Murderer in which he was also the main subject.[12]
He died in theBoksburg, Gauteng suburb ofJohannesburg, South Africa ofstomach cancer in April 1983.[13]
The character Captain Henlein from the 1968 filmDark of the Sun was based on Müller.[14] Müller is featured in theHearts of Iron IV modThe New Order: The Last Days of Europe as the negligentReichskommissar of Reichskommissariat Zentralafrika who spends his time hunting wildlife.
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