Liberation Route Marker 011: Murder of two American soldiers

Murder of two American soldiers
On 17 September 1944, two crewmembers of a downed American transport plane were captured in Wyler and moved to Kranenburg. In front of the town hall, they encountered a group of uniformed men, including 35-year-old Sturmabteilung officer Ludwig Klüttgen. Although the prisoners had their arms crossed behind their heads, Klüttgen drew his weapon and fired at both soldiers successively. The first died immediately. The second was killed a little later.

There is a lot of information about the circumstances of this crime because the Public Prosecutor's Office in Kleve immediately launched a preliminary investigation and interrogated witnesses. The public prosecutor tried to hold the perpetrator accountable, but 'orders from higher up' prevented Klüttgen from being arrested.

The Klüttgen case was not unique. It was part of a phenomenon deliberately initiated by the National Socialist regime. Historical research today assumes that hundreds of pilots were lynched. With the rati

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar & Liberation Route Europe
• Photos: Peter Schipper

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