Otto Kumm

Otto Kumm
Kumm as a SS-Obersturmbannführer
Born	1 November 1909 Hamburg, German Empire
Died	23 March 2004 (aged 94) Offenburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Buried at	Weingarten cemetery, Offenburg Field 10, Space A
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Waffen SS
Years of service	1934–45
Rank	SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS
Service number	NSDAP 421,230
Commands held	7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH)
Battles/wars	World War II Invasion of Poland Battles of Rzhev Operation Rösselsprung
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
Other work	Head of productions Hubert Burda Media printing, Offenburg

Otto Kumm (1 October 1909 – 23 March 2004) was an SS-Brigadeführer and Generalmajor of the Waffen-SS, and a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, awarded by Nazy Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. After the war, he became one of the founders of HIAG, a lobby group and a revisionist organization of former Waffen-SS members.

Education and early career

Kumm was born on 1 October 1909 in Hamburg, at the time a sovereign state of the German Empire. He was the fifth and youngest child of merchant Eduard Kumm and his wife Frieda, née Block. Following his graduation from the Oberrealschule (secondary school) in Hamburg-Hamm, he received a vocational education as typesetter from 1 April 1925 and 31 March 1929 at the Hamburger Abendblatt (Hamburg Evening Newspaper). He then worked in a printer factory.

On 1 June 1934, Kumm joined the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS Dispositional Troops) and on 1 July received his first training with the I./SS-Standarte "Germania" in Hamburg.^[1]

World War II

SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Kumm commanded the Der Führer Regiment of the 2nd SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Das Reich" from July 1941 to April 1943. This regiment was decimated in the Soviet offensive of January 1942 - the Der Führer Regiment was reduced to 35 men out of the 2,000 that had started the Russian campaign in June 1941.

Division commander

SS-Brigadeführer Otto Kumm was division commander of the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen from 30 Jan 1944 until 20 Jan 1945 and then was appointed the new division commander of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) as of 15 February 1945, after the division's commander Wilhelm Mohnke was wounded.^[2]

Eastern Front 1945

As the division commander, Otto Kumm and the LSSAH took part in Operation Spring Awakening (Frühlingserwachen) (6 March 1945 – 16 March 1945). This was the last major German offensive launched during World War II (on 6 March 1945). The Germans launched attacks in Hungary near the Lake Balaton area on the Eastern Front. This area included some of the last oil reserves still available to the Germans. Soviet intelligence identified large German tank formations in western Hungary and developed a counterattack strategy and Operation Spring Awakening was a failure. After the failure of Operation Spring Awakening, Sepp Dietrich's 6th SS Panzer Army and the LSSAH retreated to the Vienna area.^[3]

Surrender

After Vienna fell to the Red Army, the bulk of the LSSAH division surrendered to U.S. forces in the Steyr area on 8 May 1945. The division's personnel were subsequently sent to several prisoner-of-war camps, with most ending up in the Ebensee camps.^[4] Kumm was held at the Dachau internment camp administered by the US Army. Kumm managed to avoid extradition to Yugoslavia to stand trial for war crimes by fleeing over the wall of the camp.^[5]

Activities within HIAG

Otto Kumm (front row, left), Heinrich Himmler and other SS officers on tour of Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, June 1941.

Otto Kumm survived the war, was denazified and became a businessman. Kumm was a founder and the first head of the Waffen-SS veterans' organization HIAG, established in 1951 to lobby for the cause of the Waffen-SS rehabilitation and restoration of their rights to post-war pensions.

As the organization's chairman and its first spokesperson, Kumm set the tone for the rhetoric that was reflected in its publications and public discourse. In 1952, Otto Kumm published an editorial in the in-house magazine Wiking-Ruf ("Viking Call") outlining the organization's grievances:^[6]

Even during the war, and especially after the war, infamous and lying propagandists have been able to make use of all the unfortunate events connected to the Third Reich and also with the SS to destroy and drag through the mud all of what was and is sacred to us. [...] Let us be clear about it: the [Allied] battle was directed not only the authoritarian regime of the Third Reich, but, above all, against the resurgence of the strength of the German people.

At least through the 1970s, Kumm remained "the ever unreformed Nazi enthusiast" according to researcher Danny S. Parker, who was given access to the previously closed HIAG archives.^[7] Perceived by the West German government to be a Nazi organization, HIAG was disbanded in 1992.^[8]

At the time of his death on 23 March 2004, Kumm was the last surviving SS-Brigadeführer and Generalmajor of the Waffen-SS and the last surviving Waffen-SS holder of Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.

Waffen-SS unit histories

• Vorwärts, Prinz Eugen! Geschichte der 7. SS-Freiwilligen-Division "Prinz Eugen" ("Forward, Prinz Eugen! History of the 7th SS Volunteer Division Prinz Eugen"). (2007) Dresden, Germany: Winkelried Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938392-13-3.
• 7. SS-Gebirgs-Division "Prinz Eugen" im Bild ("7th SS Mountain Division Prinz Eugen in Action"). (1983) Osnabrück, Germany: Munin Verlag. ISBN 3-921242-54-1

Awards

• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class (30 May 1940)^[9]
  • 1st Class (3 June 1940)^[9]
• Wound Badge in Black^[10]
• Infantry Assault Badge in Silver^[10]
• German Cross in Gold on 29 November 1941 as SS-Obersturmbannführer in the SS-Regiment "Der Führer"^[11]
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
  • Knight's Cross on 16 February 1942 as SS-Obersturmbannführer and commander SS-Infanterie-Regiment (motorized) "Der Führer"^{[12][13][Note 1]}
  • 221st Oak Leaves on 6 April 1943 as SS-Obersturmbannführer and commander SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment "Der Führer"^{[14][15][16][17]}
  • 138th Swords on 17 March 1945 as SS-Brigadeführer and Generalmajor of the Waffen-SS and commander of the 7. SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division "Prinz Eugen"^{[14][18][19][Note 2]}
• Mentioned twice in the Wehrmachtbericht on 6 June 1944 and 10 October 1944

Wehrmachtbericht references

Date	Original German Wehrmachtbericht wording	Direct English translation
6 June 1944	In Kroatien haben Truppen des Heeres und der Waffen-SS unter dem Oberbefehl des Generalobersten Rendulic, unterstützt durch starke Kampf- und Schlachtfliegerverbände, das Zentrum der Bandengruppen Titos überfallen und nach tagelangen schweren Kämpfen zerschlagen. Der Feind verlor nach vorläufigen Schätzungen 6240 Mann. Außerdem wurden zahlreiche Waffen aller Art und viele Versorgungseinrichtungen erbeutet. In diesen Kämpfen haben sich die 7. SS-Gebirgsdivision "Prinz Eugen" unter Führung des SS-Oberführers Kumm und das SS-Fallschirmjägerbataillon 500 unter Führung des SS-Hauptsturmführers Rybka hervorragend bewährt.[20]	In Croatia, troops of the Army and Waffen SS under the command of Colonel General Rendulic, supported by strong combat and ground support aircraft detachments, attacked the centers of the Tito's partisan groups and crushed these after days of heavy fighting. According to preliminary estimates, the enemy lost 6240 men. In addition, numerous weapons of all kinds, and many utilities were captured. In this combat have the 7th SS Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen" under the leadership of SS-Oberführers Kumm and the SS Parachute Battalion 500 under the command of SS-Hauptsturmführer Rybka have exceptionally proven themselves.
10 October 1944 (Addendum)	In den erbitterten Kämpfen in Ostserbien haben sich die 1. Gerbirgsdivision unter Führung des Ritterkreuzträgers Generalleutnant von Stettner und die 7. SS-Gebirgsdivision "Prinz Eugen" unter der Führung des Eichenlaubträgers Oberführer Kumm in schwierigstem Gelände durch vorbildliche Standhaftigkeit und schwungvollen Angriffsgeist besonders ausgezeichnet. Die Kämpf wurden wirksam unterstützt durch Luftwaffenverbände unter Führung des Eichenlaubträgers Generalmajor Hagen.[21]	In the fierce fighting in eastern Serbia, the 1st Mountain Division under the leadership of the Knight's Cross holder Lieutenant General von Stettner and 7th SS Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen" under the leadership of the Oak Leaves holder Oberführer Kumm, have particularly distinguished themselves in difficult terrain by exemplary fortitude and spirited sweeping attacks. The combatants were effectively supported by air forces under the command of Oak Leaves holder Major General Hagen.

Notes

1. According to Scherzer as commander of SS-Regiment (motorized) "Der Führer".^[14] According to Krätschmer as SS-Regiment "Der Führer".^[15]
2. According to Krätschmer on 16 March 1945.^[15]

References

Citations

1. Stockert 1997, p. 70.
2. Fischer 2008, p. 41.
3. Dollinger 1968, p. 199.
4. Tiemann 1998, pp. 351–361.
5. Kumm 1995, p. 273.
6. Steiner 1975, p. 278.
7. Parker 2014, p. 215.
8. Levenda 2014, p. 167.
9. Thomas 1997, p. 428.
10. Berger 1999, p. 175.
11. Patzwall & Scherzer 2001, p. 262.
12. Fellgiebel 2000, p. 279.
13. Von Seemen 1976, p. 212.
14. Scherzer 2007, p. 484.
15. Krätschmer 1999, p. 245.
16. Fellgiebel 2000, p. 67.
17. Von Seemen 1976, p. 34.
18. Fellgiebel 2000, p. 48.
19. Von Seemen 1976, p. 20.
20. Die Wehrmachtberichte 1939–1945 Volume 3, p. 119.
21. Die Wehrmachtberichte 1939–1945 Volume 3, p. 284.

Bibliography

• Berger, Florian (1999). Mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern. Die höchstdekorierten Soldaten des Zweiten Weltkrieges [With Oak Leaves and Swords. The Highest Decorated Soldiers of the Second World War] (in German). Vienna, Austria: Selbstverlag Florian Berger. ISBN 978-3-9501307-0-6.
• Dollinger, Hans (1968). The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. New York: Crown Publishers. OCLC 712594.
• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile [The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches] (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.
• Fischer, Thomas (2008). Soldiers of the Leibstandarte. Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing. ISBN 978-0-921991-91-5.
• Kaltenegger, Roland (2008). Totenkopf und Edelweiß: General Artur Phleps und die südosteuropäischen Gebirgstruppen der Waffen-SS 1942–1945 [Skull and Edelweiss: General Artur Phleps and Southeastern European Mountain Troops of the Waffen-SS 1942–1945] (in German). Graz, Austria: Ares Verlag. ISBN 978-3-902475-57-2.
• Krätschmer, Ernst-Günther (1999). Die Ritterkreuzträger der Waffen-SS [The Knight's Cross Bearers of the Waffen-SS]. Coburg, Germany: Nation Europa Verlag. ISBN 978-3-920677-43-9.
• Kumm, Otto (1995). Prinz Eugen: The history of the 7. SS-Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen". Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing. ISBN 0-921991-29-0.
• Levenda, Peter (2014). The Hitler Legacy: The Nazi Cult in Diaspora: How it was Organized, How it was Funded, and Why it Remains a Threat to Global Security in the Age of Terrorism. Ibis Press. ISBN 978-0892542109.
• Parker, Danny S. (2014). Hitler's Warrior: The Life and Wars of SS Colonel Jochen Peiper. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0306821547.
• Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II [The German Cross 1941 – 1945 History and Recipients Volume 2] (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8.
• Schaulen, Fritjof (2004). Eichenlaubträger 1940 – 1945 Zeitgeschichte in Farbe II Ihlefeld – Primozic [Oak Leaves Bearers 1940 – 1945 Contemporary History in Color II Ihlefeld – Primozic] (in German). Selent, Germany: Pour le Mérite. ISBN 978-3-932381-21-8.
• 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 [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
• Schulz, Andreas; Wegmann, Günter; Zinke, Dieter (2005). Die Generale der Waffen-SS und der Polizei. Band 2: Hachtel – Kutschera [The Generals of the Waffen-SS and of the Police. Volume 2: Hachtel – Kutschera] (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7648-2592-8.
• Steiner, John Michael (1975). Power Politics and Social Change in National Socialist Germany: A Process of Escalation Into Mass Destruction. De Gruyter Mouton. ISBN 978-9027976512.
• Stockert, Peter (1997). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 3 [The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 3] (in German). Bad Friedrichshall, Germany: Friedrichshaller Rundblick. ISBN 978-3-932915-01-7.
• Thomas, Franz (1997). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 1: A–K [The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 1: A–K] (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7648-2299-6.
• Tiemann, Ralf (1998). The Leibstandarte – IV/2. Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz. ISBN 0-921991-40-1.
• Von Seemen, Gerhard (1976). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 : die Ritterkreuzträger sämtlicher Wehrmachtteile, Brillanten-, Schwerter- und Eichenlaubträger in der Reihenfolge der Verleihung : Anhang mit Verleihungsbestimmungen und weiteren Angaben [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 : The Knight's Cross Bearers of All the Armed Services, Diamonds, Swords and Oak Leaves Bearers in the Order of Presentation: Appendix with Further Information and Presentation Requirements] (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7909-0051-4.
• Die Wehrmachtberichte 1939–1945 Band 3, 1. Januar 1944 bis 9. Mai 1945 [The Wehrmacht Reports 1939–1945 Volume 3, 1 January 1944 to 9 May 1945] (in German). München, Germany: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. 1985. ISBN 978-3-423-05944-2.

External links

• Otto Kumm in the German National Library catalogue
• "Der Orden unter dem Totenkopf—Die Geschichte der SS / Von SPIEGEL-Redakteur Heinz Höhne". Der Spiegel (in German) 6. 1967. Retrieved 17 July 2013.