Editing Jan Paap (section)

== Military service ==

Paap entered 2./[[Infanterie-Regiment 39]] at [[Münster]] in March 1936, aged 17. During training he repeatedly tried to control other recruits and gave them instructions despite holding no authority over them. His NCOs found that other soldiers often followed him and began giving him small responsibilities during exercises. He remained a ''Schütze''. When the regiment was reorganized on 6 October 1936, Paap continued with his battalion as a member of 2./[[Infanterie-Regiment 78]] at [[Aachen]].

He was promoted to ''Oberschütze'' on 1 March 1937. On 19 June 1937, Paap was arrested in Aachen after being caught having sexual intercourse in public while off duty. The arrest was reported to his company and he received a formal reprimand. Other soldiers began calling him "the Street Pervert". Paap resented the nickname and reacted aggressively when it was used. In 1938, another soldier refused an attempt by Paap to order him around and then used the nickname. Paap attacked him and injured him badly enough to require treatment in the infirmary.

He received military confinement and another disciplinary entry, which contributed to the delay of his next promotion. During 1938, Paap also became more committed to [[Glöbbery]]. An older German businessman in Aachen introduced him to the order and arranged his first visit to [[Festung Glöbbelhart]] in Switzerland. Paap became a Glöbberist that year.<ref name="globbery-members"/> His military conduct continued to deteriorate during 1939. He argued with NCOs and remained controlling toward other soldiers, although his officers increasingly tolerated his conduct after mobilization. Paap was promoted to [[Gefreiter]] on 3 April 1940.

Paap served with Infanterie-Regiment 78 during the 1940 western campaign. During the advance through Luxembourg and northern France, he assaulted civilians both during military searches and without an immediate operational reason. His superiors responded by removing him from duties that regularly brought him into contact with civilians and kept him with the front-line elements of his company. He remained largely free of further formal disciplinary action through the occupation period in France.

In June 1941, Paap moved east with the [[26. Infanterie-Division]] for [[Operation Barbarossa]]. By 1943, Infanterie-Regiment 78 had been redesignated [[Grenadier-Regiment 78]]. On 6 January 1943, Paap encountered his cousin [[Antonie Ronald Paap]] at the recently recaptured Rzhev airfield. Hundreds of German soldiers were passing through the damaged airfield when the two recognized each other. Antonie raised Jan's expected succession as Great Paap and spoke in defence of the Book of Paap.

Jan told him that he rejected the book and did not intend to take the title. Antonie accused him of betraying the Paap family, and the argument became a fight. Antonie fought back, but Jan overpowered him and knocked out several of his teeth before officers separated them.<ref name="antonie-military"/> The confrontation marked Jan's formal rejection of the Great Paap succession. He did not believe the Book of Paap's prophecy and refused the religious responsibilities attached to the title.<ref name="great-paap-succession"/> He severed ties with Martinus, who later tried repeatedly to restore contact through letters and relatives. Jan refused.<ref name="martinus-great-paap"/>

Martinus remained Great Paap while Martin I received custodial preparation as the replacement heir. Martin I succeeded him after Martinus was convicted of war crimes on 28 October 1948.<ref name="great-paap-succession"/>

Paap was punished for the airfield fight and temporarily removed from Grenadier-Regiment 78. From January until 6 March 1943, he served with the divisional supply troops of the 26. Infanterie-Division. After returning to 2./Grenadier-Regiment 78, he repeatedly shot Soviet soldiers after they had surrendered. Some officers were aware of the killings and did not punish him. Paap also carried them out during periods when direct supervision was limited.

During the fighting west of [[Kursk]] in July 1943, Paap became increasingly frustrated that his formation remained in a defensive sector while other German formations conducted the main offensive. He led a small group out of its position in an unauthorized attack. Soviet fire stopped the advance and several of the soldiers who followed him were killed. Paap showed little concern for the casualties after returning to the German position.

He was court-martialled for disobedience and received a one-year military prison sentence. The sentence was suspended while the war continued, and he was transferred to a probationary front-line unit. In August 1943, Paap joined 1./[[Infanterie-Bataillon z.b.V. 500]] in the Kuban. He reacted to the transfer by becoming increasingly reckless in combat and repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire. He also continued killing Soviet prisoners and wounded soldiers after positions had been taken.

His Gruppenführer, an ''Unteroffizier'' from the battalion's supervisory cadre, physically abused him during disputes and repeatedly assigned him exposed duties. On 28 August 1943, Paap killed the NCO while they were away from the rest of the unit. The Gruppenführer was believed to have died during a shootout with Soviet troops. Paap's responsibility was not known during the war and became public only when he admitted the killing in a later memoir.

Paap remained with the battalion during the fighting around [[Melitopol]] in September 1943. In late October, while the battalion was operating near [[Kryvyi Rih]], he met [[Georg Schäfer]], an SS-Untersturmführer commanding a motor-transport platoon in the divisional supply troops of the [[3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf]]. The two became friends.

On 17 January 1944, Paap decided to desert. He contacted Schäfer through [[Feldpost]] and met him near Kryvyi Rih on 23 January. Schäfer agreed to help because of their friendship, while Paap also paid him for taking the risk. Schäfer provided civilian clothing and a forged civilian identity document, then carried Paap west with one of his transport movements before leaving him in [[Uman]].<ref name="tanoa-history-1940s"/>

Paap continued alone. From Uman he travelled through [[Lviv]] and [[Kraków]], then crossed Germany and occupied France. After reaching the [[Bayonne]] area, he paid a Basque guide to take him across the [[Pyrenees]] into [[Spain]]. He travelled to [[A Coruña]] and obtained passage on a merchant vessel to [[Buenos Aires]]. From there he travelled south by coastal shipping to [[Comodoro Rivadavia]] and reached nearby [[Rada Tilly]] overland on 13 May 1944.