Karl Schümers

War-time atrocities

• On 5 April 1944, Karl Schümers commanded the 7th unit of the 4th SS Polizei Panzergrenadier Division to the execution of 277 unarmed women, children and elders in the village of Kleisoura in Greece as a retaliation of the killing of 3 German soldiers. In the official investigations by his command hierarchy for the massacre he testified that his soldiers had to kill them all because guerrilla forces were hiding in the village, and was acquitted, while it was proven after the war that his testimony was false.
• On 24 April his 7th unit committed the Pyrgoi massacre where 368 children were slaughtered.
• Men from the same 7th unit, under the command of Hans Zampel and Fritz Lautenbach committed the Distomo massacre, on 10 June, where 228 civilians were brutally murdered for retaliation, one of the cruelest atrocities of WW II; no one was ever tried for this war crime.
• On 17 June 1944 Karl Schümers commanded the execution of 28 civilians and total destruction of Ipati, and the next day, the burning down of Sperchiada and the killing of 35 civilians.
• After he was assigned the command of the 4th Panzer Grenadier Division, on 22 July 1944, the 8th unit of his forces took part in the operation Kreuzotter in a failed attempt to eradicate ELAS bases from the mountains of central Greece,, that resulted, among others, in the killing of approximately 170 civilians and the partial or complete destruction of dozens of villages and cities.

Commands

• II.Battalion, 7th SS Polizei Panzer Grenadier Regiment
• 7th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment
• 4th SS Polizei Panzer Grenadier Division