Kurt Meyer

German general (1910-1961)

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Lived 1910–1961, aged 51Germany

Germany Historical Figures

Wikipedia
33 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1910–1961
Aged 51
Awards
6
recognised works

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

An SS commander convicted for ordering the murder of Canadian POWs in Normandy, later released and made into a spokesman for rewriting Waffen-SS history as apolitical soldiering.

Biography

About

Kurt Meyer rose through the Waffen-SS during the Second World War, fighting in France and the Soviet Union before commanding the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend against the Allied invasion in 1944. During the war he ordered the mass murder of civilians and prisoners of war on multiple occasions. Tried after Germany's defeat, he was convicted for his role in the Ardenne Abbey massacre — the killing of Canadian POWs in Normandy — and sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and he was released in 1954. He joined HIAG, a lobby group of former high-ranking Waffen-SS…

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