Josef Dietrich was a German Waffen-SS General and a member of the Nazi Party of Nazi Germany. He was one of Nazi Germany's most decorated soldiers and commanded formations up to Army level during World War II. Prior to 1929, he was Adolf Hitler's chauffeur and bodyguard but received rapid promotion after his participation in the murder of Hitler's political opponents during the Night of the Long Knives. After the war, he was imprisoned by the United States for war crimes and later by Germany for murder.