Kurt Meyer - Later Life

Later Life

Meyer served five years in Dorchester Penitentiary, in New Brunswick, Canada where he worked in the library and learned English. He petitioned for clemency in late 1950 - somewhat surprisingly including an offer to serve in a Canadian or United Nations military force if released - and was partially supported: the government was willing to let him return to a German prison but not to release him outright. He was transferred to a British military prison in Werl, West Germany in 1951. He was released from prison on 7 September 1954 after the German government received advice to reduce his sentence to fourteen years. He had now spent nearly ten years in prison and factoring in the conventional reduction of a third for good behaviour, he was eligible for release as having served his sentence.

He took a job working as a distributor for the Andreas Brewery in Hagen. Ironically, one of his major clients was the Canadian army mess at Soest, where he spent much time as a guest. Meyer became active in the Waffen-SS veteran's organization HIAG, and was outspoken in its battle to have war pensions awarded to former members of the Waffen-SS. His memoirs, Grenadiere (1956), were published as part of this campaign and were a glorification of the SS's part in the war as well as of his role in it.

Politically, whilst he defended the role of the SS, he was more conciliatory; he told a reporter just after his arrival in Germany in 1951 that nationalism was past and that "a United Europe is now the only answer". At a HIAG rally in 1957, he announced that whilst he stood behind his old commanders, Hitler had made many mistakes and it was now time to look to the future, not to the past. He did not pursue a political career, partly due to ill-health; he needed a cane to walk, and suffered from heart disease and kidney problems.

After a series of mild strokes, he died of a heart attack in Hagen, Westphalia on 23 December 1961, his 51st birthday. Fifteen thousand people attended Kurt Meyer's funeral in Hagen. A cushion-bearer bore his medals.