Søren Kam

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Søren Kam
November 11, 1921
Place of birth Copenhagen
Allegiance Germany
Years of service 1941–1945
Rank SS-Obersturmführer
Unit 5th SS Panzergrenadier Division Wiking
Awards Close Combat Badge
Infantry Assault Badge
Iron Cross 2nd & 1st class
Wound Badge (silver)
Knight's Cross

SS-Obersturmführer Søren Kam (b. November 11, 1921 in Copenhagen) was a Danish Waffen-SS officer, an SS-foreign volunteer, who served with the 5.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Wiking during World War II. A member of the DNSAP, the Danish Nazi Party, he is also a Knight's Cross winner. He obtained West German citizenship in 1956. On September 21, 2006 the 85-year-old ex-member of the SS was detained in Kempten, Bavaria in accordance with a European arrest warrant issued by Denmark. Kam is wanted in his native country in connection with the murder of newspaper editor Carl Henrik Clemmensen in Lyngby, a suburb of Copenhagen during World War II. In 1946, a Danish court sentenced one of Kam's associates, Flemming Helweg-Larsen, to death in the same case and citing the same evidence material.[1] Helweg-Larsen was executed the same year. According to the evidence presented in the 1946 trial, Clemmensen had been killed by eight bullets fired from three different revolvers.[2] Danish police were unable to apprehend Jørgen Valdemar Bitsch, identified in the 1946 trial as the third person involved in the shooting, and his whereabouts remain unknown.[3]

In 1999, Danish Minister of Justice Frank Jensen requested an extradition of Kam. This was refused by Germany.[4] This request was later repeated by Jensen's successor Lene Espersen. In 2004, one of Clemmensen's grandchildren, Danish actor Søren Fauli, interviewed Kam in a documentary about the killing, titled Min morfars morder (My grandfather's murderer).[5] In this programme, Fauli forgives Kam, but asks him to admit his guilt. The documentary was aired on Danish television in 2004 and 2005.

On February 4, 2007, Germany denied his extradition to Denmark, after a German court claimed that the killing of Clemmensen was not murder but manslaughter — thus falling under the statute of limitations. Kam has stated that he admits having taken part in the abduction and killing of Clemmensen, but that he considers the case to be under the statute of limitations and the killing an accident.[6]

In February 2008, BBC World Service presented a radio program titled The Danish Nazi [7] which listed Kam as "the eighth most wanted Nazi War Criminal." The reporter was able to contact Kam, giving the only recorded interview with him, including a statement by Kam in which he says in English, "I am a good man, I never did anything wrong." The program is also available for download in MP3 format.

Contents

[edit] Summary of SS career

[edit] Dates of rank

[edit] Notable decorations

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://ekstrabladet.dk/nyheder/lederen/article268277.ece
  2. ^ http://ekstrabladet.dk/nyheder/lederen/article268277.ece
  3. ^ dok forside - dr.dk/Dokumentar
  4. ^ http://ekstrabladet.dk/112/article268145.ece
  5. ^ Min morfars morder - ON-Z.dk - hele Danmarks filmsite
  6. ^ http://www.jp.dk/indland/artikel:aid=4225288:fid=11894/
  7. ^ The Danish Nazi

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Kam, Søren
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Danish Waffen-SS officer
DATE OF BIRTH November 11, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Copenhagen
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Languages