Helmut Kämpfe

Common card · No. 202361

Helmut Kämpfe (31 July 1909 – 10 June 1944) was a Waffen-SS Sturmbannführer who was captured and executed in occupied France by the French Resistance. In response, troops of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich killed 643 men, women and children in Oradour-sur-Glane on 10 June 1944 (the Oradour massacre). Adolf Diekmann, the SS commander who ordered the massacre, said the death of Kämpfe was the reason for the killings, although Kämpfe was still alive at the time. His car had been ambushed by French partisans who later reportedly burned him alive. Kämpfe was a commander in the Division Das Reich. He received both the Close Combat Clasp in Gold and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. He was known for hanging 99 French civilians in the Tulle massacre.

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