Kahn, Otto Erich, born 04-03-1908 in Borsigwalde 
now resident in Ottmarsbocholt, near Berlin, the son of Fritz Richard Kahn and Etta Johanna, born Folkers. Otto Erich Kahn started on 23-10-1938 with number 2047 in the SS-Verfügungstruppe, 
with the 2. SS-Panzer Division „Das Reich“ 
under command of SS-Obergruppenführer, Hausser, Georg Carl Paul “Papa”
In addition, they were fully operational in the SS and existed at the same time in the past. There after the Frankreichfeldzug 1940 part and with the Eiserne Kreuz 2. Klasse (27-11-1940). 
There were soldiers with the 2nd SS Panzer Division “Das Reich” on the Eastern Front, where he among others was a Kompaniechef der 3. Kompanie im I. Bataillon des SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 4 „Der Führer“. 
Regimentskommandeur war SS-Brigadeführer Heinz Lammerding, 
Kahns Battalionskommandeur war SS Sturmbannführer Adolf Rudolf Reinhold Diekmann.
Heinz Lammerdiing was primarily responsible for the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre and the Tulle massacre in June 1944. The Oradour-sur-Glane Massacre took place on June 10, 1944, in the French town of Oradour-sur-Glane. That day, the village was surrounded by the 1st Regiment “Der Führer” of the 2nd SS Panzer Division “Das Reich” and ultimately destroyed. During this raid, 643 people were murdered. Only six survived the massacre. 
After a successful offensive by the French Resistance group Francs-tireur, or free shooter 
on 7 and 8 June 1944, the arrival of Das Reich troops forced the Maquis to flee the city of Tulle (department of Corrèze) in south-central France. On 09-06-1944, after arresting all men between the ages of sixteen and sixty, the Schutzstaffel (SS) 
and Sicherheitsdienst (SD) 
men ordered 120 of the prisoners to be hanged, of whom 99 were actually hanged. In the days that followed, 149 men were sent to the Dachau concentration camp, where 101 died. In total, the actions of the Wehrmacht, the Waffen-SS, and the SD claimed the lives of 213 civilian residents of Tulle.
Like SS-Obersturmführer Heinz Barth,
Kahn was one of those responsible for the massacre in which 643 residents were murdered. The company left Nieul on 12 June and arrived a few days later in Normandy. In the heavy fightings south west of Caen the Regiment had great losses.
Barth wasn’t arrested in the DDR until 14-02-1981, and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Stadtgericht Berlin (Berlin District Court) on 07-06-1983. However, he was released in September 1997 for health reasons: he had diabetes and high blood pressure. In mid-2000, he successfully challenged his disability benefits before the Landessozialgericht in Potsdam as a “war victim”: he had lost a leg in combat during World War II. Heinz Barth died of cancer at the age of 86 on 06-08-2007, in Berlin, Germany.
Since the Bordeaux-Prozess in 1953, where former Elzas-Lotharingen volunteers in the Waffen SS were convicted for the massacre, there are more witness statements, who confirmed Kahn’s cooperation in the massacre and that he was involved in the murder and that he acted very violently.
Otto Erich Kahn experienced the end of the war in Prague. He was initially captured by the Soviets and, claiming to be a Wehrmacht captain, released to Germany at the end of 1945. He returned to West Germany via Austria and lived undisturbed in Ottmarsbocholt, where he passed away on 16-04-1977, age 69. Ottmarsbocholt, Senden, Coesfeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany,. Kahn was married twice and the father of three children. Kahn is buried on the local cemetery of Ottmarsbocholt, Senden, Coesfeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Kahn was married twice and is buried with his second wife Emma. He was the father of tree children.
Death and burial ground of Kahn, Otto Erich.
Leave a Reply