Book “Grenadiers” by Kurt Meyer, 1983

Kurt Meyer (1910-1961) was an SS brigade leader in the Waffen-SS and remained a staunch National Socialist even after the war. Most recently, as Federal Chairman, he campaigned for a positive image of the Waffen-SS and against its classification as a “criminal organization” with his writings and with the “Hilfsgemeinschaft auf Gegenseitigkeit der Angehörigen der ehemaligen Waffen-SS” (HIAG). In his book “Grenadiers”, which Meyer first published in 1957 under his nickname “Panzermeyer”, he described his personal experiences from the war in the style of an adventure novel, made no mention of the Holocaust and attempted to relativize his own war crimes with those of the Allies. By exaggerating military achievements and staging the SS soldiers as particularly willing to sacrifice and brave, he wanted to create a “monument” to them and actively helped shape the myth of the Waffen SS as a military elite. Like other memoirs of the time, the book sold well and was reprinted again and again; this 8th edition was published in 1983.

The cover of his book “Grenadiers” combines a dynamic drawing of two soldiers in steel helmets running alongside two tanks with his portrait. This is based on a photograph of him from the Propaganda Company of the SS (SS-PK), which appeared on the cover of the “Illustrierter Beobachter” in 1941 when Meyer was awarded the Knight’s Cross.

The Knight’s Cross with Swords has been added to the drawing. It can also be assumed that Meyer worked closely with other SS veterans on the content of the book. His confidant Gunter d’Alquens, the former head of the SS-PK, also co-wrote Meyer’s speeches at the HIAG. In it, for example, Meyer described the end of the war as the “end of God and the world” and revealed his longing for a new leader who would bring “the great redemption from evil”.

Meyer joined the SS in 1931 and fought on numerous fronts during the Second World War. He commanded the reconnaissance division of the “Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler” and later the highly ideologized 12th SS Panzer Division “Hitler Youth”. “Panzermeyer” was propagandistically constructed by Nazi propaganda as the ideal of the daring young officer and characterized in his personnel file as a “fanatical fighting spirit”. He was captured in Belgium in September 1944. He initially pretended to be a colonel, but was recognized and transferred to a camp for high-ranking prisoners in Great Britain. As a prisoner of war, he described National Socialism as his “religion” and not merely as a “momentary ruling system”. The Allies held Meyer personally and as a commander responsible for numerous crimes, such as the murder of 50 Jews in Poland and the shooting of 187 Canadian prisoners of war. Meyer was sentenced to death on December 28, 1945 for the secret order to shoot Canadian prisoners of war. His popularity stood him in good stead – probably for diplomatic reasons, he ultimately escaped the death penalty. His life sentence also ended in September 1954.