...He also complained that the US government had made a mistake in not integrating the Waffen-SS into the US Army. Peiper felt that this would have been important for the joint fight against Russia and the defense of Western civilization. On May 16, 1946, the trial of the SS members who had participated in the Malmedy massacre and other murders during the Battle of the Bulge began. All of the defendants, including Joachim Peiper, were charged with violating the rules and customs of warfare. In particular, they were accused of participating in the murder, shooting, and torture of US soldiers and unarmed civilians. Two months later, on July 16, 1946, the American military tribunal in Dachau sentenced 46 members of the Waffen-SS, including Joachim Peiper, to death by hanging. 23 others received life sentences, and the rest received prison terms ranging from 10 to 20 years. However, the convicted SS men claimed that illegal methods and even torture were used in the American interrogations and that all statements were thus coerced. There were allegations that all but two of the 139 Germans examined by the Americans had been kicked in the testicles so severely that the injuries were irreparable. A commission was set up to investigate these allegations. Some members of the commission questioned the validity of the entire trial. In 1948, the judicial review of the Military Tribunal's verdicts converted the death sentences for war crimes of some Waffen-SS defendants in the Malmedy massacre trial to life imprisonment. In 1951, Peiper's death sentence was also commuted to life imprisonment. In 1954, it was further reduced to 35 years imprisonment before he was finally released on parole on December 22, 1956. When Peiper was told by two US soldiers that he was being fired, he was so shocked that he just stared at them without saying a word. After his release, Peiper found work at a Porsche factory. But Italian unionists complained that they could not tolerate him as a colleague because he was still a Nazi, especially because of the Boves massacre under his command. Porsche's owner, Ferdinand Porsche, personally intervened to promote Peiper to a management job. But the unions again legally refused to work with him. Despite his friendship with Porsche, Peiper was fired, partly due to lost sales in the US for employing a war criminal. In 1972, Joachim and his wife Sigurd moved to Traves in eastern France, where he owned a house. Peiper worked as a freelance English-German translator of books on military history. In June 1976, anti-fascist political activists distributed information leaflets in Traves to inform the population that Peiper was a Nazi war criminal. Confirmation of Peiper's Nazi identity and presence in France attracted journalists. Peiper freely gave interviews in which he claimed to be a victim of communist harassment for his role in the war. He said he had paid the price for his war crimes with 12 years in prison, adding, "In 1940, the French showed no courage and that is why I am here." These offensive statements angered the press and the town's residents, and a month later, Peiper would finally pay for his war crimes. On July 14, 1976, a group of French anti-fascists calling themselves "the Avengers" attacked Joachim Peiper's house and set fire to it. The 61-year-old Peiper was burned alive. Due to the intense heat, Peiper's body shrank to a length of barely more than 60 cm and was no longer recognizable as a human body. When his neighbor saw the corpse, he said, "That's him, but shrunken." Disclaimer: All opinions and comments below are those of members of the public and do not reflect the views of World History Channel. We do not tolerate the promotion of violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on characteristics such as race, nationality, religion, gender, and sexual orientation. World History has the right to review and delete comments if they are deemed inappropriate. ► CLICK SUBSCRIBE to see more interesting videos: / @worldhistoryvideosde #worldwar #ww2 #history #worldhistory #holocaust