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OverviewAI-generated
Kurt Meyer was born in Jerxheim on 23 December 1910 and was a German military officer and soldier. He held the rank of SS-Brigadeführer and major general, served with the Waffen-SS, and belonged to the Sturmabteilung, the Schutzstaffel and the Nazi Party, with an allegiance to Nazi Germany. Meyer commanded the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend and took part in the Battle of France, the Battle of Moscow and Operation Overlord during World War II, and was convicted of a war crime. He received the Iron Cross, the German Cross, the Eastern Medal and the Anschluss Medal. He died of a myocardial infarction from natural causes in Hagen on 23 December 1961.
Synthesized by Vinony from 22 facts across 1 sources: Wikidata. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Key facts
- Born
- ( 1910-12-23 ) 23 December 1910, Jerxheim , Lower Saxony , German Empire
- Died
- 23 December 1961 (1961-12-23) (aged 51), Hagen , North Rhine-Westphalia , West Germany
- Known for
- Ardenne Abbey massacre , Spokesperson for HIAG
- Criminal status
- Deceased
- Conviction
- War crimes (3 counts)
- Criminal penalty
- Death ; commuted to life imprisonment ; further commuted to 14 years imprisonment
- Nickname
- Panzermeyer
- Allegiance
- Nazi Germany
- Branch
- Waffen-SS
- Service years
- 1934–1944
- Rank
- SS- Brigadeführer
- Service number
- NSDAP #316,714 SS #17,559
- Commands
- 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend
- Conflicts
- World War II Battle of France Balkans Campaign Operation Barbarossa Third Battle of Kharkov Operation Overlord ( Prisoner of war</span>"}]]}'>POW )
- Awards
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Kurt
- Family name
- Meyer
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Germany
- Place of birth
- Jerxheim
- Place of death
- Hagen
- Occupation
- military officer
- Political party
- Nazi Party
- Languages spoken
- German
- Award
- Anschluss Medal
- Conflict
- Third Battle of Kharkov
- Military branch
- Waffen-SS
- Military rank
- SS-Brigadeführer
- Image
- Bundesarchiv Bild 101III-Ludwig-006-19, Kurt Meyer.jpg
- Convicted of
- war crime
Show 12 more facts
- Commons category
- Kurt Meyer
- date of birth
- 1910-12-23
- date of death
- 1961-12-23
- member of
- Schutzstaffel
- commander of (DEPRECATED)
- 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend
- cause of death
- myocardial infarction
- manner of death
- natural causes
- allegiance
- Nazi Germany
- name in native language
- Kurt "Panzer" Meyer
- start of work period
- 1930-00-00
- P8168
- Józef
- end of work period
- 1945-00-00
via Wikidata · CC0
~25 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Kurt Meyer (23 December 1910 – 23 December 1961) was an SS commander and convicted war criminal of Nazi Germany. He served in the Waffen-SS (the combat branch of the SS) and participated in the Battle of France, Operation Barbarossa, and other engagements during World War II. Meyer commanded the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend during the Allied invasion of Normandy, and was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.
After ordering the mass murder of civilians and prisoners of war (POWs) several times during the conflict, Meyer was convicted of war crimes for his role in the Ardenne Abbey massacre (the murder of Canadian POWs in Normandy). He was sentenced to death, but the sentence was later commuted to life in prison. Released in 1954, he subsequently became active in HIAG, a lobby group organised by former high-ranking Waffen-SS men. Meyer was a leading Waffen-SS apologist and HIAG's most effective spokesperson, depicting most of the Waffen-SS as apolitical, recklessly brave fighters who were not involved in the crimes of the Nazi regime. These notions have since been debunked by historians.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Kurt Meyer” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.