Klaus Kahlenberg

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Klaus Kahlenberg (born October 1, 1912 in Berlin ; † January 21, 2006 in Flensburg ) was a German journalist and the radio spokesman for the last Wehrmacht report , broadcast by the Reichsender Flensburg on May 9, 1945 .

Shortly before the end of the Second World War and the advancing Soviet troops, the then 32-year-old armored scout officer had been ordered to the rank of lieutenant from East Prussia to Flensburg, "e.g. V. Dönitz" (for special use), as it was called on his marching orders. There he acted as a broadcaster for the Reichsender Flensburg for barely ten days . In his job he read official announcements of the last Reich government under Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz . On May 9, 1945 at 8:03 p.m. he read a historically significant passage from the report of the High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW), in which the complete surrender was announced:

"The Wehrmacht High Command announces: [...] Since midnight the guns have been silent on all fronts. On the orders of the Grand Admiral, the Wehrmacht stopped the now hopeless fight. This is the end of almost six years of heroic wrestling. It brought us great victories but also heavy defeats. In the end, the German Wehrmacht is honorable inferior to a vast superior force.

We brought the wording of the last Wehrmacht report of this war. There is a radio silence of three minutes. "

- Klaus Kahlenberg : Original sound / quote

After the war, Kahlenberg worked as a journalist , including for many years editor -in- chief of the trade journal Der Neue Vertrieb . Kahlenberg lived in Flensburg from 1945 with interruptions.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stephan Richter: New historical series: “Downfall in installments”: “Since midnight the guns have been silent on all fronts”. In: shz.de. Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag , May 9, 2015, accessed on March 3, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Volker Griese : Schleswig-Holstein - Memories of History . Historical miniatures. 2012, ISBN 3-8448-1283-0 , pp. 184 ( online view ).
  3. ↑ Gerhard Paul: Inferno and Liberation: The Last Spook. In: Zeit Online . May 4, 2005, accessed March 3, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Kahlenberg, Klaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist, spokesman for the last Wehrmacht report
DATE OF BIRTH October 1, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH January 21, 2006
Place of death Flensburg