Hans Kempin
Hans Wilhelm Kempin (born June 7, 1913 in Berlin-Lichtenberg ; † November 30, 1992 ) was a standard leader of the Waffen SS during World War II .
Life
Kempin was born in Berlin, his father was a master shoemaker in Schwedt . He attended the local Hohenzollern high school and then worked as a banker. In September 1930 he became a member of the SA and a little later of the NSDAP .
In October 1933 he was accepted into the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler and sent to the SS Junker School in Bad Tölz . There he was trained as an officer and was then employed in the SS-Standarte Deutschland and in the SS Junker School in Braunschweig . He took part in the occupation of the Sudetenland and the annexation of Austria . As SS-Hauptsturmführer he was involved in the attack on Poland in 1939 and in the western campaign in 1940 . After being awarded the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class, he also fought in the German-Soviet War , where he was wounded in September 1941.
After his recovery, however, Kempin was not sent back to the front for the time being, but was assigned to the SS Junker Schools in Braunschweig and Bad Tölz and the SS Unterführer School in Posen as a trainer . In December 1943 he had achieved the rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer . After his assignment as the head of the SS Unterführerschule in Ljubljana , he joined the 547th Volksgrenadier Division in February 1945 , which he briefly commanded. On February 27, 1945 he was briefly used as combat commander of Schwedt. He replaced Otto Skorzeny and declared the city a fortress, which, however, had to be abandoned a little later. From March 1 to March 15, 1945 he was briefly in command of the short-lived 38th SS Grenadier Division "Nibelungen" . On March 15, he became the last commander of the 32nd SS Volunteer Grenadier Division “30. January " . Kempin commanded the division during the fighting against the Red Army in Vogelsang and later in the battle for the Seelower Heights . Finally, the bandage was encircled in the Halbe basin before parts of the bandage could break out from there at the end of April. By May 3, Kempin and the other soldiers fought their way to Tangermünde , where they surrendered to the 102nd Infantry Division of the US Army .
After the end of his captivity, Kempin became a farmer. A marriage in 1938 resulted in two children. He died in 1992.
Awards
- Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class
- Medal in memory of October 1, 1938
- Medal in memory of March 13, 1938
- Infantry Assault Badge
- Wound badge in black
- War Merit Cross
- SS service award
- SA sports badge
literature
- Gordon Williamson: The SS - Hitler's Instrument of Power. Neuer Kaiser Verlag, 1998, ISBN 978-3-704-36037-3 .
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kempin, Hans |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kempin, Hans Wilhelm (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German standard leader of the Waffen SS |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 7, 1913 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Berlin-Lichtenberg |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 30, 1992 |