Between April 1934 and December 1936, Förschner attended the SS training camp at Bad Tölz, and became a member of the Nazi Party in 1937.[citation needed] During the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, he served as an officer with the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking. After being wounded in action and declared medically unfit for combat duty, Förschner was transferred to the SS-Totenkopfverbände,[1] taking over as Schutzhaftlagerführer of the Buchenwald concentration camp in the spring of 1942.