UBB.threads Forums Edged Weapons SS Dagger Forum Lettering on blade.

Although Kuther was not on the official POW list,he did actualy end up in a camp. The WASt found an American "POW's personnel questionaire" dated 28/6/1946. In it is details of his 17 month in American capivity & 6 month German authority detainment.It started by him being caught,or more likely surrendering himself to the Americans so that he would live,on 02/5/1945 in Berlin.He ended up in the Berlin-Lichterfelde POW camp on 31/1/1946 until 05/7/1946.He was then transferred somewhere until being handed over to the German authorities on 31/10/1946.The German camp was at Darmstadt & was a civilian clothed camp.His last registration was on the 24/4/1947 at Camp 74(civilian clothed) in Ludwigsburg.I guess all these camps would have been in the US sector of Berlin & that he was not checked out properly.So he did not get completely away with it after all.

Today I have had a third "confirmation" that at the end of Aktion Erntefest on 3/11/1943 it was Erwin Kuther who was the elderley SD officer from Lublin (Poland) who organised the clear up operation at Majdanek concentration camp.As I have mentioned before this eyewitness (Oberscharfuhrer Erich Mussfeldt) said that an "SD functionary from Lublin", who he did not name in his statement, was there to oversee the clear up, the fine details being the removal of jewels & gold teeth as well as the complete cremation of the 17,000 or so bodies lying in the pits, which were then filled with earth & leveled off.This task took till Christmas 1943 to complete.An officer would have been used to organise such a large & lengthy task & the SD from Lublin did organise this whole operation & Kuther was posted there throughout this period.But on the other hand Kuther has not been named as this man nor did this eyewitness describe him as being elderly, just that he was an SD functionary from Lublin.I very much doubt if there will be any concrete evidence to say who did what, so I think it is best not to speculate & so I will ignore anymore so called "confirmations" from now on.

Thanks to some _. _. of a prankster adding on spam to posts on this website, my last 2 posts have been removed.Anyway a quick recap, I got lucky in getting the help of the German Bundesarchiv in Berlin, probably due to my dealings with the German WaST. They have sent me 4 copied documents on Kuther & have another 5 in their main library, which I have applied for.One document that they had was his Dienstliste-SS number 29930, it has his unit as "Leibstandarte-SS" This is the first Official SS & Clearly Readable! evidence that I have, which definitely puts him in the Leibstandarte. It turns out he posted to them on 1.4.1936 & was posted from them to the SS Personnel Main Department on 1.5.1939. This 3 year posting in my opinion was the Highlight of his otherwise behind the lines career, unless you like ethnic cleansing!

[img]http://www.myspace.com562889290/pics/Dienstliste[/img] this shows a photo of the document, I hope.

This according to website instructions should show photo of document.

Very Interesting ,, was Erwin Kuther involved with the Lebensborn project also??

A number of his documents show him as a member nothing more. He did a posting in an SS personnel department, but nothing is mentioned. His time in Poland was to do with internal security work & training units.There maybe more but it was not recorded.

The last documents from the Bundesarchiv have turned up. At first glance one is a NSDAP letter from some Gauleiter and the other is from an SS Panzer Jaeger(Tank Hunter) training school in a place called Janowitz, I think this is in Poland but I could be wrong. I will translate these documents & see what they have.

Here are the final documents from the Bundesarchiv.

The first document is translated as:
Munich,the 4.4.1935
K7 G/0 IV/35
To the
Region management Bayerische Ostmark of the NSDAP
Bayreuth
We send the following letter of the file of Erwin Kuther,Bayreuth,Parsifal street 23, from the 23.3.1935, together with 5 attached documents, for your imformation and responsible further execution.
Please note that the called has not been registered as a member of the imperial card index as of today.
We refer, for the rest, to the circular of the imperial treasurers number 36/35 from the 13.3.1935.

Hail Hitler.
1/A
Arrangements
Erwin Kuther born 20.6.1905
RL card index
not announced
-L4. 35 19______

The last 2 documents are translated as:
SS-Leadership course IIa Berlin-Jilmersdorf, Kaiser Avenue 88
II W II Department 1
Tank Hunter
Personnel Possesion
Subject: Posting to course in the SS Tank Hunter (assault gun) school Janowitz.
Reference: Heavy SS-FHA inspection department 6 (Tank Troop) file number: 21/Ze/F. from the 1.11.1944
Special Distribution.
The following SS Leaders are posted to courses in the SS Tank Hunter (assault gun0 school Janowitz:
1.) To the company commanders course:

2.) To the platoon commanders course:
SS-Lieutenant d.R. Kuther Erwin 20.6.1905 from SS-Tank Hunter training & replacement battalion.
8 December 1944
All posted personnel have signed in.
For the correctness. ez. Juttner

SS-Major SS-General & General of the Armed SS

When I bought this dagger I had no idea of what it would lead onto & now that I have used every source of imformation that can find for records on Erwin Kuther it is time to bring this article to an end.It has certainly been a learning curve for me & produced some outstanding results. One thing I have learned about Kuther is that he gave his all & stuck it out to the end, from the 1920's Hitler Jugend to 1945 in the Jagdverband(Werewolf organisation). He certainly had blind obedience to the cause & was "Extremely lucky" to escape execution, which just goes to show the DEVIL LOOKS AFTER HIS OWN.Thankyou to the 7600 or so people who have followed this unfolding account of SS-Obersturmfuhrer Kuther der Waffen SS.

Some imformation from a GOOD archive source (not some internet wannabe) has been passed onto me & I thought I would share it, even though I thought this article had come to an end. If an SD unit had no access to a concentration camp equipped for extermination in their district, then they would use a remote designated area if geographicaly possible. For the SD in the Lublin district this was Krepiecki forest which is "12km on the way to Zamosc." I guess Zamosc must be a small place as it was not in my road atlas? Anyway SD units conducted these trips on a regular basis & the SD officers took it in turns to oversee them whilst other ranks from an available SS unit did the shootings & arranged the burial using work camp inmates/Russian POW's. All though there is no actual account naming him personaly it stands to reason that Kuther would have had to do his share in the Krepiecki forest as a serving SD officer in the Lublin district. To me this makes it even harder to understand how he lived freely in West Germany for nearly 25 years under his real name until he died of natural causes in 1971.

Great Info Sharpe!

My guess would be that in all things that we endure in life there are cracks in the wall that can be slipped through, and it is finding the crack that is hard. Any number of circumstances could of happened that we yet dont know about Erwin Kuther or other SS officers. Possibly he gave info to the allies for his freedom? Who knows. Just a theory. Your doing a great job Sharpe keep it coming!! Best regards Larry

I would have hoped that a Polish member could have shed some light on the goings on in the Krepiecki forest or at least revealed where it actualy is, there must be at least a monument out there. So if anyone has been there or in Lublin and seen some of these sites let us know.

Excellent story/article. That he got away with it doesn't surprise me at all. For every 1000 actors directly involved in the Holocaust and other atrocities, from those in Berlin signing orders, to those pulling the trigger or dropping Zyklon B, maybe 1 was actually truly punished or executed. The SS that massacred American soldiers in Malmedy, were caught, tried, sentenced to death. Within 5 years, their sentences were commuted, and then they were released. Of the four heads of the Einsatzgruppen, I believe only two were executed. The others had their sentences commuted, and later walked -- living nice, long, and happy lives in Germany. After all, the Cold War had started, and we didn't want to alienate our new allies - the Germans.

Those who were walking to the gas chambers believed some day, when the world found out, there would be justice. They were wrong.

Oh well, 95% - 99% of all parties involved - good, bad, or indifferent - are dust now.

here you go......

http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/einsatz/krepiecki.html



*

Yes this website provided me with many details of Kuther's role in the camp massacre & the Krepiecki executions when he was in the Lublin SD,SEE PAGE 7, but there does not seem to be any recent imformation on these sites as in any photos,etc.

Kuther's turned up again, nothing special I think, it is to do with a hospital in Poland. I will translate it & let you know.

I have translated the document (it is a photocopy of the damaged original) as best I can. In Kraukau, Poland Erwin Kuther was appointed Commander of Security Police & S.A. from 16/04/1944. On 21/04/1944 he ended up in a military hospital with what illness or injury I am not sure. I do not think it was a war injury as he never went near the front but he would have been a worthwhile target to a Polish partisan. The next entry I have is from another document I had previously which states that on the 14/07/1944 he goes into the SS Personnel head office as well still being linked to the darker side as Commanding Officer of the SIPO & SD in General Goverment of whatever district he was in. Whether he stood in for the regular commander or somehow did both jobs I am not sure. I know this is not much but it does help to put together the story of this man's pretty horriffic career.

On page 9 of this article you can see a photo of a copy Kuther's SS details. One of his attributes was that he was chosen for the Lebensborn project, he also donated money out of his wages towards this project. I thought the Lebensborn was a sperm bank clinic for those picked out by the NSDAP doctors, etc. Then I read this book that has been around since 1958 with different covers, but I think the title has remained the same. OTHER MEN'S GRAVES by PETER NEUMANN is a biography of a German SS officer in the Wiking division from 1941 till 13th April 1945 when he was wounded & captured in Vienna. Pages 74-85 describe how he was selected, medicaly examined, his journey to a mountain village/baby farm called Schmallenog & the process of meeting & SUCCESSFULY mating with a "Perfect blonde" called Lotte Pflingen. It certainly makes interesting reading. There were a number of these breeding farms about & Kuther must have gone to one or more to do his "Duty." Oviously one of the benefits, for a chosen few, of joining the Party. The women who were mostly BDM members were told that they were performing a patriotic duty by giving their body to their country. I bet Kuther had a great time & the party took care of the resulting child/children!