Heinz Lammerding | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 13 January 1971 | (aged 65)
Known for |
Tulle murders Oradour-sur-Glane massacre |
Criminal status | Deceased |
Conviction(s) | War crimes |
Criminal penalty | Death (in absentia) |
SS career | |
Allegiance | Nazi Germany |
Service/ | Waffen-SS |
Years of service | 1933–1945 |
Rank | SS-Gruppenführer |
Commands held | SS Division Das Reich |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Awards | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross |
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.
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]
His funeral in 1971 turned into a reunion of over 200 former SS personnel. [3]