Herbert Kuhlmann

Herburt Kuhlmann
Born	17 April 1915
Died	9 November 1985 (aged 70)
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Waffen-SS
Years of service	1936–45
Rank	Obersturmbannführer
Unit	SS Division Wiking SS Division Das Reich SS Division Leibstandarte SS Division Hitlerjugend
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Herbert Kuhlmann (17 April 1915 – 9 November 1985) was a mid-level commander in the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II, who was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. After the war, he emigrated to Argentina where he assisted Nazis who were wanted for war crimes to hide from the authorities.

SS career

Kuhlmann was born in Harburg, Germany, on 7 April 1915. Kuhlmann graduated SS Junkerschule at Braunschweig in 1936 with the SS Number 118 826 and served with various SS units. In 1942, he was posted to SS Division Das Reich and later to the SS Division Leibstandarte and the SS Division Hitlerjugend.

During the Ardenness offensive he was in command of his own Kampfgruppe,^[1] which consisted of the 12th SS Panzer Regiment, 560 SS Panzerjager Battalion, Panzer Grenadier Battalion, Self-propelled Artillery Battalion and an engineer company.^[2]

Later life

After the fall of the Reich, Kuhlmann made his way to South America to start a new life in Argentina. Like many within Buenos Aires' underground Nazi community, he built a fortune in business, joining the upper echelons of Buenos Aires society.^[3] The wealth and successful business-ventures of Nazis who escaped to Buenos Aires after the war was thanks in most part to the support and protection made available by the highest-ranking officials within the Argentine government. Perhaps the greatest support to Kuhlmann and his fellow Nazis came directly from the Argentine President and Nazi-sympathizer, Juan Perón, husband of the much loved, late Eva Perón.^[4]

Kuhlmann helped many other Nazis into hiding in establishing their new lives in Argentina. One of the most infamous among those he helped was Adolf Eichmann, the Third Reich functionary responsible for deportation of the Jews to death camps and concentration camps in the Final Solution. Kuhlmann provided Eichmann with a lease to a modest home in Buenos Aires' largely German suburb of Olivos,^[5] after Eichmann had spent years living in extreme isolation in the Argentine province of Tucumán,^[6] 700 miles north of the capital. Kuhlmann, on the other hand, managed a much more plush residence for himself, behind the walls of a palatial mansion in Palermo Chico, the embassy row of Buenos Aires.^[7]

References

1. Ardennes, 1944 By Jean-Paul Pallud, David Parker, Ron Volstad p16
2. Ardennes, 1944 By Jean-Paul Pallud, David Parker, Ron Volstad p.17
3. Hunting Eichmann, 2009 By Neal Bascomb p. 91
4. Hunting Eichmann, 2009 By Neal Bascomb p. 91
5. Hunting Eichmann, 2009 By Neal Bascomb p. 91
6. Hunting Eichmann, 2009 By Neal Bascomb p. 89
7. Hunting Eichmann, 2009 By Neal Bascomb p. 91