New Documentary Sheds Light Upon Unrepentant Danish Nazi 'Rock Star'

The six-hour-long and 15-year-old footage of former SS officer Søren Kam was made by a close friend of Kam's who was allowed to perpetuate their journey though the Bavarian Alps and across the Austrian border. It featured an outspoken self-portrait of the former Nazi, who was never convicted and never repented.

"The recordings were not intended for publication, so he talks about his life in a completely unhinged way, which is very unusual," Ole Retsbo, who made the documentary, told Danish Radio.

Søren Kam, who was a Danish commander in the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during WW2, was wanted for murder in Denmark and listed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center as one of the most wanted Nazi war criminals, yet never faced justice. After the war, Søren Kam's co-conspirators were executed for the killing of Danish newspaper BT journalist Carl Henrik Clemmesen. However, Søren Kam himself was never convicted. Instead, he lived a quiet life in southern Germany, well known by some, admired by others, yet despised by even more in his home country.

​The unearthed footage, taken in 2000, 55 years after the end of the WW2, features white-haired Søren Kam, clad in a Tyrolean hat, speaking his mind about Nazism and life in general. In one of the episodes, a triumphant Kam said he'd better jump from a cliff and disappear than live in captivity. In another one, he proudly relates a story of meeting Adolf Hitler, who presented him with the Iron Cross. Admittedly, Kam always considered this to be the greatest experience of his life.

In 1936, Søren Kam joined the Danish Nationalist-Socialist Youth Movement at the tender age of 15. In WW2, he fought at the Eastern front against the Soviet Union. After the war, Søren Kam resurfaced in the German Alps. He obtained identification papers from a mayor, who sympathized with him and became known as Peter Müller from that time onwards. In 1956, he became a German citizen, settled in the town of Kempten, got married, had children and obtained a managerial position at a local brewery, Danish Radio reported.

However, beneath the positive façade, Søren Kam never escaped his former identity as a zealous SS officer. In other environments, the hard-working family man was still known as a kind of Nazi rock star. At least once a week, Kam received mail from people who wanted an autograph or wished to contact him about his past as an SS soldier. Although his house seemingly had no trace of his Nazi past, in the basement Søren Kam kept a big stack of images of himself, young and erect and proudly sporting his prized possession, the Iron Cross. After the war, he sent them en masse to cheerful admirers, signed Søren Kam.

Søren Kam's real identity was not discovered until the 1970s. However, his new nationality made him untouchable in Denmark. Søren Kam died at 93 in 2015. After his death, Søren Kam's memoirs "A Life Without Fatherland" were published. The books show no trace of regret for his past in the SS.

 

Never miss a story again — sign up to our Telegram channel and we'll keep you up to speed!