Erich Kempka.

SS-Obersturmbannführer Erich Kempka (16 September 1910 – 24 January 1975) served as Adolf Hitler's chauffeur from 1934. He was member #2803 of the Allgemeine-SS. Image File history File links E-Kempka. ... Image File history File links E-Kempka. ... “SS” redirects here. ... SS-Obersturmbannführer Rank Patch SA-Obersturmbannführer Rank Patch Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank which was used by both the SA and the SS. The title was first created as an SA rank in 1932 after an expansion of the SA created the need for an... is the 259th day of the year (260th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday [1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Hitler redirects here. ... A chauffeur in Japan A driver in Kerala A chauffeur is one who drives an automobile as a job. ... The Allgemeine SS (General SS) was established in the autumn of 1934 to distinguish certain SS members from the Waffen-SS (Armed SS) and SS-Totenkopfverbände (Deaths Head formations). ...

Early life

Kempka was born in Oberhausen to a miner with ten children. He was worked as a mechanic for the automotive manufacturer DKW. Oberhausen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. ... DKW Auto Union logotype Dampf-Kraft Wagen (German: steam-powered vehicle) or DKW is a historic car and motorcycle marque. ...

Nazi career

Kempka joined the Nazi Party on 1 April 1930 as member #225-639. Two years later, he was one of eight founding members of the SS-Begleit-Kommando. The National Socialist German Workers Party (German: , or NSDAP, commonly, the Nazi Party), was a political party in Germany between 1920 and 1945. ... is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The SS-Begleitkommando des Führers (literally Accompanying command of the Führer) was a bodyguard team of SS soldiers tasked with protecting the life of Adolf Hitler during the time of Nazi Germany. ...

He served as chauffeur for Josef Terboven until 29 February 1932, when, based on Terboven's recommendation, he was tasked as a reserve driver for Hitler's personal entourage. In 1934, he replaced Julius Schreck and Emil Maurice as Hitler's primary chauffeur, valet and bodyguard. That same year he was present at the arrest of Ernst Röhm. Josef Terboven Josef Antonius Heinrich Terboven (May 23, 1898 - May 8, 1945) was a Nazi leader most known for his brutal leadership during the Nazi occupation of Norway. ... February 29 is a day added into a leap year of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Julius Schreck in 1933 Julius Schreck (July 13, 1898 – May 16, 1936) was an early Nazi Party member and also the first commander of the Schutzstaffel (SS). ... Emil Maurice (January 19, 1897–February 6, 1972) was an early member of the Nazi Party. ... Ernst Julius Röhm, also known as Ernst Roehm in English (Munich November 28, 1887 – July 2, 1934) was a German military officer, and the commander and co-founder of the Nazi Sturmabteilung — the SA. // Röhm was one of three children of Julius Röhm and his wife Emilie...

On 1 December 1937, he joined the Lebensborn society. He was also awarded a Totenkopfring from Heinrich Himmler. His wife Gerda Daranowsky divorced him and married General Eckard Christian, whom she divorced in 1946. is the 335th day of the year (336th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A Lebensborn birth house Lebensborn (Fount of Life, in German) was a child welfare and relocation program initiated by Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler to aid the racial heredity of the Third Reich. ... The Totenkopfring (English Deaths head ring), officially the SS-Ehrenring (Honour Ring), was an award of Heinrich Himmlers Schutzstaffel (SS). ... Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( ; 7 October 1900–23 May 1945) was the commander of the Schutzstaffel (SS) and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany in the Nazi hierarchy. ...

In 1945, as the end of the Third Reich drew near, Kempka accompanied Hitler to the Reich Chancellery and then the Führerbunker. On 20 April, ten days before Hitler's suicide, he briefly wished the Führer a happy birthday and spent about fifteen minutes with him. Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Exterior view of the entrance of the New Reich Chancellery. ... This is a reconstruction of the layout of the Führerbunker. ...

Kempka's signature.

Kempka was one of those responsible for burning Hitler's body. He was detailed on the afternoon of 30 April to deliver 200 litres of gasoline to the garden outside the bunker, but was only able to obtain 180. He left the bunker on the following day. After his escape, he came across Standartenfuehrer Georg Beetz^† (Hitler's personal co-pilot and Hans Baur's substitute) and left him in the care of Kaethe Hausermann. On 20 June, he was captured by U.S. troops at Berchtesgaden. Image File history File links Kempka-sig. ... Image File history File links Kempka-sig. ... is the 120th day of the year (121st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Berchtesgaden is a town in the German Bavarian Alps. ...

^†According to The Last Days Of Adolf Hitler, H. R. Trevor-Roper, p.128, Beetz was last observed in the area of the Weidendamm Bridge as part of the group which left the Fuehrerbunker during the evening of May 1, 1945. Nothing further has been heard from him since Kempka's last sighting. Beetz's ultimate fate remains unknown, but he is assumed to have died in the area of the bridge.

Historical reliability

Despite claims made to the contrary during his interrogation, Kempka later admitted that when Hitler and Eva Braun locked themselves in a room to commit suicide, he lost his nerve and ran out of the Führerbunker, returning only after Hitler and Braun were dead. By the time he returned to the bunker, Hitler and Braun's bodies were already being carried upstairs for cremation. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Suicide (disambiguation). ... This is a reconstruction of the layout of the Führerbunker. ...

Despite his questionable reliability, many interviewers quote Kempka in their accounts of Hitler's suicide because of his colorful (and raunchy) language. For example, one interviewer, O'Donnell, recounted the following quips in his book, The Bunker: The Bunker is an account, written by American journalist James ODonnell, of the history of the Fuehrerbunker in early 1945, as well as the last days of Adolf Hitler. ...

• He referred to General Hermann Fegelein as having "his brains in his scrotum". (Fegelein was executed by Hitler for trying to desert Berlin with his mistress.)
• He remarked that when Magda Goebbels was around Hitler, you could "hear her ovaries rattling". (Magda Goebbels was said to be quite attached to Hitler psychologically.)
• When Martin Bormann carried Eva Braun's corpse out of the bunker, Kempka took the body from him and insisted on carrying it up himself, remarking that Bormann was carrying Braun "like a sack of potatoes". (Bormann and Braun had a mutual dislike.)

At the Nuremberg trials, Kempka was called to testify because he claimed to have seen Martin Bormann killed by a Soviet anti-tank rocket. He later referred to Eva Braun as "the unhappiest woman in Germany". He was released on 9 October 1947. sBold text == Headline text ==please edit this page!!!!! omething Gisela does not have These where evolved into our heads. ... In some male mammals, the scrotum is a protuberance of skin and muscle containing the testicles. ... Johanna Maria Magdalena Goebbels, (November 11, 1901 – May 1, 1945) was the wife of Nazi Germanys Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. ... Human female internal reproductive anatomy Ovaries are a part of a female organism that produces eggs. ... Martin Bormann Martin Bormann (June 17, 1900 - c. ... For the 1947 Soviet film about the trials, see Nuremberg Trials (film). ... Martin Bormann Martin Bormann (June 17, 1900 - c. ... “CCCP” redirects here. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... is the 282nd day of the year (283rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Post-war activities

Kempka was the subject of Mauri Sariola's 1972 book Kolmannen valtakunnan kuningatar (Queen of the Third Reich).

He died on 24 January 1975, aged sixty-four, in Freiberg am Neckar. Freiberg am Neckar is a town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. ...

Kempka retained his association with the "Führer-Begleit-Kommando" by attending reunions of 1st SS Panzer Korps members until the year before his death. His memoirs first appeared in 1951 under the title Ich habe Adolf Hitler verbrannt (I cremated Adolf Hitler). In 1975, it was reissued with a foreword by author and former member of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Erich Kern under the less sensationalist title Die letzten Tage mit Adolf Hitler (The Last Days with Adolf Hitler). The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (Lifeguard Standarte of the SS Adolf Hitler) was a Waffen SS guard and combat formation which saw action on both the Eastern and Western fronts during the Second World War. ...

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Interrogation of Erich Kempka

• Memoir of Kempka