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Lehmann, Armin Dieter (Hitlerjugend)

Date of birth:
May 23rd, 1928 (Waldtrudering/Bavaria, Germany)
Date of death:
October 10th, 2008 (Coos Bay/Oregon, United States)
Nationality:
German (1933-1945, Third Reich)

Biography

Armin Lehmann, member of the HitlerJugend, served from April 20th to April 30th, 1945 as one of the last couriers in the bunker of the Führer, Adolf Hitler.
Armin Dieter Lehmann was born May 23rd, 1928, the son of Fritz Armin Lehmann (1904- 1979) and Susanne Toni Lehmann-Lemcke (1906-1988). Following the move to Horka, Armin Lehmann went to the Volksschule in Niesky. The familiy moved to Krauschwitz in 1936 and subsequently to Hoywerswerda where he finished school. His father was a member of the SS Sicherheitsdienst and became Kriegsberichterstatter later, causing the family to move to Breslau. Here Armin Lehmann visited the Elizabeth Gymnasium.
Armin joined the Jungvolk (Nazi youth organisation for boys aged 10 to 16) on April 20th, 1938. Later he took a course as KLV-Lagermannschaftsführer in Podriebad.
In 1944 he reported for training with the Waffen-SS-Gebirgsdivision Nord and was posted as an instructor in the KLV Schule. At the end of 1944 he served for a short time as Lagerleiter at Schloss Ullersdorf before starting military training before the end of the year.
Early 1945 he became Melder at the KLV Diensttelle der HJ Gebietsführung led by Karl Gutschke of Kampfgruppe Gutschke, Festungsregiment Breslau where he was wounded.
On April 20th, 1945 (Hitler’s birthday) he attended a ceremony in Berlin and was taken into the HJ unit in the Führerbunker by Axmann, Chief of the HitlerJugend. On May 2nd, attempting to break out, he was gravely injured and cared for by Soviet doctors. After recuperation he crossed the border into the American occupation zone a few weeks lateer.
After the war Lehmann visited the German School of Journalism in Munich and was employed as a free lance journalist. In 1953 he emigrated to the United States, read at the US Armed Forces Institution and was employed as Transportco-ordinator at Tachikawa Air Force Base in Japan. During the next 40 years he worked in the tourist industry and became a well known peace activist.

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Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Unit:
Deutsche Jungvolk (DJ)
Awarded on:
1940
DJ-Leistungsabzeichen
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Awarded on:
April 20th, 1945
Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse

Sources

  • - From Hitler's bunker to Coos Bay (2008)