GERMAN WWII PANZER COMMANDER DIES AT 99

Wolfgang Kloth, one of the last surviving German WWII veterans, died last week at the age of 99. As a Lieutenant in the Wehrmacht, Kloth served as a Panzer commander during the Battle of Kursk and in the Kurland Pocket, eventually surrendering to the Soviets and becoming a prisoner of war in the spring of 1945.

He spent three years in a Soviet Gulag, enduring appalling living and working conditions. After his release, he returned home to Germany, finding his city completely devastated, his home destroyed, his belongings looted, and most friends and family killed.

In 1953, he left Germany and immigrated to the United States. In 2019, I had the opportunity to interview Wolfgang at his home in Michigan.

Preserving the stories of veterans from both sides of WWII is critical to understand the war in its entirety. While we've interviewed over 100 American and Allied veterans of the conflict, we've only interviewed two German veterans. As a result, Wolfgang’s story is an extremely valuable resource in the WWII Veterans History Project’s oral history archive.

May he rest in peace.

"Giving the Past a Future, One Story at a Time."
WWII Veterans History Project