Helmut Kämpfe

Helmut Kämpfe (31 July 1909 – 10 June 1944) was a Waffen-SS Sturmbannführer who was captured and executed in occupied France by the French Resistance. In response troops of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich killed 643 men, women and children in Oradour-sur-Glane on 10 June 1944 (the Oradour massacre). Adolf Diekmann, the SS commander who ordered the massacre, said the death of Kämpfe was the reason for the killings, although Kampf was still alive at the time. His car had been ambushed by communist partisans who then turned Kampf and his men over to the French resistance, who burned them alive in an ambulance.

Kämpfe was a commander in 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich. He received both the Close Combat Clasp in Gold and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. He was known for executing 99 French men in the Tulle massacre.