The Schutzstaffel (SS): Waffen-SS, Gestapo & Einsatzgruppen
SS General Behind the Murder of Canadian Prisoners of War: Kurt Meyer
13m
Kurt Meyer, better known by his nickname "Panzermeyer," was one of the Waffen-SS's youngest and most fanatical commanders. Rising through the ranks of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler before leading the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend in Normandy, he became notorious not only for his battlefield leadership but also for war crimes committed under his command.
Discover the story of Meyer's rise through the SS, his role in the invasions of Poland, Greece, and the Soviet Union, the massacres of civilians in Ukraine, and the murder of Canadian prisoners of war (POWs) following D-Day. Learn how his trial became one of the first to establish the principle of command responsibility, why his death sentence was commuted, and how he later became a leading advocate for rehabilitating the Waffen-SS in postwar Germany.
Kurt Meyer's life remains one of the clearest examples of how fanaticism, war crimes, and historical revisionism continued long after the Second World War had ended.
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