Heinz Lammerding

Heinz Lammerding (27 August 1905 – 13 January 1971) was a German SS officer convicted of war crimes during the Nazi era. During World War II, he commanded the SS Panzer Division Das Reich that perpetrated the Tulle and the Oradour-sur-Glane massacres in occupied France. After the war, Lammerding was convicted in absentia for having ordered the murder of approximately 750 French civilians, but remained protected by Germany after serving a prison sentence there.

Heinz Lammerding
Born	(1905-08-27)27 August 1905 Dortmund, German Empire
Died	13 January 1971(1971-01-13) (aged 65) Bad Tölz, West Germany
Known for	Tulle murders Oradour-sur-Glane massacre
Criminal status	Deceased
Conviction	War crimes
Criminal penalty	Death (in absentia)
SS career
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service / branch	Waffen-SS
Years of service	1933–1945
Rank	SS-Gruppenführer
Commands	SS Division Das Reich
Battles / wars	World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

War-crimes trial

In 1953, Lammerding was tried in France for war crimes, for ordering two massacres in 1944: at Tulle and at Oradour-sur-Glane. He was sentenced to death in absentia by the court of Bordeaux, but he was never extradited from West Germany^[1] nor was he ever sentenced by a German court. According to Danny S. Parker, Lammerding had already been tried in West Germany, convicted of war crimes and had 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. However, before this could occur, Lammerding died in 1971 from cancer.^[2]

Funeral

His funeral in 1971 turned into a reunion of over 200 former SS personnel.^[3]

Awards

• German Cross in Gold on 24 April 1943 as SS-Standartenführer and commander of SS-Regiment "Thule"^[4]
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 11 April 1944 as SS-Oberführer and commander of Kampfgruppe "Das Reich"^[5]