Kurt Eggers (10 November 1905 – 12 August 1943) was a German writer, poet, songwriter, and playwright with close links to the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

. He served as both a member of a propaganda company ( Propagandakompanie) and as a

Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...

soldier at the rank of

Mann Mann may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Mann'' (film), a 1999 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama * Mann (chess), a variant chess piece * ''Mann'' (magazine), a Norwegian magazine * Mann (rapper), Dijon Shariff Thames (born 19 ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he was killed while serving in a tank regiment on the Eastern Front by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

Early life

Kurt Eggers was born in 1905 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, the son of a bank clerk. In 1917 he entered the Cadet Corps and began training on a school ship. In 1919 he witnessed the defeat of the

Spartacist uprising The Spartacist uprising (German: ), also known as the January uprising () or, more rarely, Bloody Week, was an armed uprising that took place in Berlin from 5 to 12 January 1919. It occurred in connection with the German Revolution of 1918� ...

. In 1921, he joined the

Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European paramilitary volunteer units that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenaries or private military companies, rega ...

and was involved in the

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

for Annaberg hill during the

Silesian Uprisings The Silesian Uprisings (; ; ) were a series of three uprisings from August 1919 to July 1921 in Upper Silesia, which was part of the Weimar Republic at the time. Ethnic Polish and Polish-Silesian insurrectionists, seeking to have the area tran ...

, where German Freikorps personnel fought against Polish nationalists.

Post World War I

After a spell in an artillery regiment, he resumed his education in 1924. He studied

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

, philosophy, and theology in

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

, Berlin and

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

. He was particularly interested in the

German Reformation German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and the revolutionary

Ulrich von Hutten Ulrich von Hutten (21 April 1488 – 29 August 1523) was a German knight, scholar, poet and satire, satirist, who later became a follower of Martin Luther and a Protestant reformer. By 1519, he was an outspoken criticism, critic of the Roman Cat ...

. He joined the Corps Vandalia Rostock, a student group, in 1927. After his theology exams, he became a pastor in

Neustrelitz Neustrelitz (; ) is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the shore of the Zierker See in the Mecklenburg Lake District. From 1738 until 1918 it was the capital o ...

and then a curate in Berlin. However, he rapidly fell out of favor with church authorities with his "Song of the Struggling Peasants" calling for a violent revolt.

Nazism and World War II

With the rise of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

, he received rapid promotion through the new regime, gaining a succession of party positions while he continued to work as a writer, producing plays, radio drama, musical comedies, folk stories, walking songs, martial songs, and chants. His verses were widely used in

ceremonies and events. Following the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, he headed for the Front, joining the staff of a

Panzer {{CatAutoTOC, numerals=no Words and phrases Germanic words and phrases Words and phrases by language la:Categoria:Verba Theodisca ...

company, but he later returned to writing. He was the editor-in-chief of the " Das Schwarze Korps" ''(The Black Corps)'', the official newspaper of the SS. He was also a member of an SS propaganda company. Around the middle of 1942, while working as a writer for the Party Chancellery, he expressed a desire to return to battle, and was transferred to the Panzer reserve. It was then that he joined the

SS Division Wiking The 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking () or SS Division Wiking was an infantry and later an armoured division among the thirty-eight Waffen-SS divisions of Nazi Germany. During World War II, the division served on the Eastern Front. It surrendere ...

, which was made up partly of foreign volunteers, he took part in the unit's retreat from the Caucasus in the winter of 1942-43.

Death

In late July 1943, he rejoined the SS Division Wiking in the aftermath of the

Battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk, also called the Battle of the Kursk Salient, was a major World War II Eastern Front battle between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in southwestern Russia during the summer of 1943, resulting in ...

, which was followed by a Soviet offensive. On 12 August 1943 he died southwest of

Belgorod Belgorod (, ) is a city that serves as the administrative center of Belgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Seversky Donets River, approximately north of the border with Ukraine. It has a population of It was founded in 1596 as a defensiv ...

(in Western Russia near the border with

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

), while attempting to counterattack against the advancing Red Army troops. His death was marked by a memorial service on 26 September 1943 in the

Kroll Opera House The Kroll Opera House () in Berlin, Germany, was in the Tiergarten district on the western edge of the '' Königsplatz'' square (today ''Platz der Republik''), facing the Reichstag building. It was built in 1844 as an entertainment venue for th ...

in Berlin. The SS War Reporters Section, a platoon of propaganda staffers attached to SS units, was renamed the

SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers The SS-Standarte "Kurt Eggers" was an SS propaganda formation (Standarte (Nazi Germany), SS-Standarte) of Nazi Germany during World War II. It publicised the actions of Waffen-SS combat units. The "Berichter" (literally: reporters) of the Standarte ...

in November 1943 in his honor. He had four children by his second wife, Traute Kaiser, whose father was a pastor.Jay W. Baird, ''Hitler's War Poets: Literature and Politics in the Third Reich'', Cambridge University Press, 2008, p 242

Literary works

* Von der Feindschaft, Deutsche Gedanken, 1941. *''Der Scheiterhaufen: Worte großer Ketzer'', 1942. *Vater aller Dinge, 1943. * ''Vom mutigen Leben und tapferen Sterben''. * ''The Freedom of the Warrior'', (English translation). * ''Der Freiheit wildes Lied''. * Struggle and War, (English translation). *Der Kaiser der Römer gegen den König der Juden *Kamerad: Gedichte eines Soldaten

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eggers, Kurt 1905 births 1943 deaths German war correspondents Kapp Putsch participants German male non-fiction writers German poets German male songwriters SS-Untersturmführer German male writers Fascist writers 20th-century Freikorps personnel German Christians Military personnel from Berlin Christian fascists SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers personnel Waffen-SS personnel killed in action