ϟϟ-Sturmmann der Waffen-SS Funk and the Stuttgarter Illustrierte

Magazine Stuttgarter Illustrierte Nr 25 1944

Magazine Stuttgarter Illustrierte Nr 2 1941

The photograph of SS-Sturmmann Otto Funk taken in Rots in the Calvados department in Normandy is making the cover page of the Magazine Stuttgarter Illustrierte, on June 21 1944. Another one, also pictured in France, who made the cover of the Stuttgarter Illustrierte back in 1941 was the then SS-Hauptsturmführer Joachim Peiper. In a personal conversation with the author and historian Herbert Walter, Jochen Peiper told how he was embarrassed when he found the magazine in kiosks of Berlin – So it came to nationwide fame… The young Hitlerjugend volunteer Otto Funk got wounded near Cheux in the Calvados department just a few days after the magazine was released, on June 26 1944. Still he will continue fight till the bitter end. On May 8 1945, the survivors of 12.SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend surrendered to the U.S. 65th Infantry Division of the 7th Army, near Enns in Austria. In a final act of defiance, the division refused to drape their vehicles with white flags, as the Americans had ordered. Otto Funk survived the war and is still alive in 2011. Left image: Scan: Stuttgarter Illustrierte - June 21 1944. Right image: Scan: Stuttgarter Illustrierte - January 8 1941. Private Collection, with permission.