Oberst Dr. Ernst Kupfer Photos

[Ed Taylor]

I am writing a biography of Oberst Dr. Ernst Kupfer and am looking for any photos of him and any interesting anecdotes or personal stories. Kupfer was a Stuka pilot in St.G.2 Immelmann in the Balkans, Greece, Crete, and Russia (Kronstadt, Stalingrad, Crimea, Kuban, Kursk). He flew over 600 combat missions and became the Kommodore of St.G.2 before becoming the first General der Schlachtflieger. He died as a passanger in a He111 flying from Greece to Berlin in November 1943. He was an interesting personality. Before the war he was a Rittmeister with the 17th Bavarian Cavalry Regiment and had a doctorate in law from Heidelberg. He received the DKG for sinking the British heavy cruiser HMS Gloucester off Crete and he also received the RK with Oakleaves and Swords. He is also credited with sinking the Russian cruiser Kirov and damaging the Russian battleship October Revolution in Kronstadt harbor. He commanded the ground attack unit after the battle of Kursk that turned back a massive tank attack in the Orel salient.

I currently have over 100 photos of him (about half original personal photos), but am hoping to locate more. If they are original photos I would hope to be able to obtain permission to publish, but would be interested in seeing any photos even if only for my eyes.

[Gerdan]

I do not know if this is his doctoral thesis but it could fit:


Titel: Militärgerichtsbarkeit und Parteigerichtsbarkeit der NSDAP : ein Vergleich / Ernst Kupfer
Verfasser: Kupfer, Ernst
Erschienen: [S.l.], 1937
Umfang: 96 S.
Hochschulschrift: Erlangen, Univ., Diss.


Gerdan

[Ed Taylor]

Thanks Gerden:

It is his doctoral thesis. I have a copy that I received from the university. He took his course work in the late 1920s at Heidelberg. He then went into the 17th Bavarian Cavalry Regiment. A number of years later he requested permission from the army to complete his thesis. He was given permission to enter the reserves, but was required to continue to wear his uniform and regulary attend formations in Bamberg where his unit was stationed. He therefore completed his thesis at the university at Erlangen.

The theme of his thesis is interesting in that he compared the military jurisdictional system with that of the newly developing Nazi party jurisdictional system. In his words: Because being a soldier was a way of life in the Third Reich and the political structure of the Reich was connected closely to the military, both became the educators of the German people and both had in common dominance, power display, leadership, giving of orders and authority on one side, and obedience, a willful and joyful submission, and emotional sacrifice to the last man on the other. In his conclusions he found that despite its long history, the military jurisdictional system, similar to the party system, was in fact not fully developed. He found that the internal structure and basic principles of the military and party jurisdictional systems, were already the same despite external differences. He also concluded that the new German jurisprudence system would show that the established armed forces jurisdictional system would deserve a part in the restructuring as would the jurisdictional system of the party. The military and party jurisdictional systems would only reach this goal if they stayed in tune with each other, and if they learned from each other. The first from its experiences from the old German traditions of law and the latter from the dynamic and youthful strength of the national socialist ideology.

I have not found any evidence that Kupfer was a member of the Nazi party and that he was anything other than a highly patriotic career military officer and pilot. He only practiced law for less than a year while working for his father-in-law in Dresden before he was called to active service in 1937 and transfered to the Luftwaffe.