 He served with the SS-Totenkopfverbände, initially at Lichtenburg and then at Sachsenhausen, although he found advancement difficult because he was seen by his SS superiors as naive and unsubtle.Rödl was noted for his brusque manner, an attribute that was less than ideal for an SS man at Sachsenhausen, because it sometimes hosted overseas dignitaries due to its proximity to Berlin.For that reason, Theodor Eicke recommended Rödl's removal from his position in 1937.