Heinz Lammerding

Heinz Lammerding
Born	(1905-08-27)27 August 1905 Dortmund, Province of Westphalia, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Died	13 January 1971(1971-01-13) (aged 65–66) Bad Tölz, Bavaria, West Germany
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Waffen SS
Years of service	1933–45
Rank	Brigadeführer
Commands	2nd SS Division Das Reich
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Heinz Lammerding (born 27 August 1905, Dortmund, Germany – d. 13 January 1971, Bad Tölz, Germany) was a Brigadeführer (Brigadier General) in the Waffen-SS, a commander of 2. SS-Division Das Reich and a convicted war criminal who ordered the murder of approximately 750 civilians.

Post-war

In 1953, he was tried for war crimes for ordering two massacres; the massacre of Tulle and the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre. He was sentenced to death in absentia by the court of Bordeaux, but he was never extradited by West Germany nor was he ever sentenced by a German court.

According to Danny S. Parker, Lammerding had been tried in West Germany, convicted of war crimes and served a prison sentence. He therefore was not subject to extradition under the Bonn constitution, much to the consternation of the French. They threatened to send in a commando unit to seize him as the Israelis did in the case of Adolf Eichmann. Before this could transpire, Lammerding died.

Lammerding worked as a civil engineer in Düsseldorf until his retirement and died of cancer at the age of sixty-six in 1971.

In the afterword of "The hanging garden", Ian Rankin claims that the British were involved in his capture:

General Lammerding was the commanding officer. On 9 June, he'd ordered the deaths of ninety-nine hostages in Tulle. He also gave the order for the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre. Later on in the war, Lammerding was captured by the British, who refused his extradition to France. Instead, he was returned to Düsseldorf, where he ran a successful company until his death in 1971.

His funeral in 1971 turned into a large reunion of former SS 'comrades' .

Awards

• SS Honour Ring
• Sword of honour of the Reichsführer-SS
• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class (23 May 1940)
  • 1st Class (22 June 1940)
• German Cross in Gold on 24 April 1943 as SS-Standartenführer and commander of SS-Kradschützen-Regiment "Thule"
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 11 April 1944 as SS-Oberführer and commander of Panzer-Kampfgruppe "Das Reich"
• Infantry Assault Badge in Silver

See also

• Tulle massacre
• Oradour-sur-Glane massacre
• French Resistance
• The Maquis
• Waffen-SS
• SS Division Das Reich
• Heinz Barth

References

Bibliography

• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Parker, Danny S. (2014). Hitler's Warrior: The Life and Wars of SS Colonel Jochen Peiper. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0306821547. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)