
Siegfried Böttcher
* 28 March 1921 –
Berlin
† 23 July 2006 –
Tübingen (Baden-Württemberg)
During the Civitella massacre in Val di Chiana on 29 June 1944, Siegfried Böttcher led the action as the highest-ranking officer present.
Böttcher was born in 1921 in Berlin. In 1939, he volunteered for service in the ‘General Göring‘ Regiment, from which the ‘Hermann Göring’ Division later emerged. He became a Nazi Party member that same year. In 1940, following a brief deployment he was gravely wounded in France. In 1944, he returned to the ‘Hermann Göring’ Division, which meanwhile was fighting in Italy.
After the war, Böttcher worked in various capacities before joining the Bundeswehr.
In 2002, the La Spezia military prosecutor initiated an investigation of Böttcher on account of the Civitella in Val di Chiana massacre. In 2006, the legal authorities in both Stuttgart and La Spezia charged him with crimes. The legal proceedings were terminated after his death on 23 July 2006.
- Nationality
- German
- Formation
- Wehrmacht
- Army branch
- Luftwaffe
- Joined the NSDAP
- 01 Sept. 1939 (membership no. 7089405)
- Armed force
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Wehrmacht
- Years of service
- 1939-1945
- Rank
- Leutnant
- Offensive
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France 1940
Occupation of the Netherlands 1943(?)-44
Italy 1944
Eastern Front 1944-45 - Confirmed Massacres
- Post war period
-
puppeteer
radio announcer
Bundeswehr officer
Following Böttcher’s death, the charges filed in Stuttgart and La Spezia in 2006 were dropped.
Training and wartime experience
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Volunteer in the 'General Göring' Regiment
In May 1940, as a member of the ‘General Göring’ Regiment Böttcher fought on the Western Front. Two weeks later, the young soldier was gravely wounded at the Canal de Lens near Courrières. Albeit indirectly, Böttcher’s wounding is connected with one of the first massacres perpetrated by the Wehrmacht in France.
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At the front in France
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Return to the front in Italy in summer 1944
Participation in massacres of civilians
In their investigations of 2004 and 2005, the Dortmund prosecutor’s office and the La Spezia military prosecutor both confirmed that on 29 June 1944, Böttcher was the highest-ranking officer in the village of Civitella in Val di Chiana.
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Highest ranking officer in Civitella
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Last months on the Eastern Front
Postwar period
-
Officer in the Bundeswehr
Sources:
Military court of La Spezia, proceeding no. 62/02 against Siegfried Böttcher, including various interrogations of Böttcher in 2004 and 2005 together with photocopies of the few existing personnel files.
Literature:
Carlo Gentile,
Carlo Gentile, Le stragi del 1944 in provincia di Arezzo ed i loro perpetratori (report written in connection with preparation of application by the Bucine, Cavriglia, Civitella in Val di Chiana and Stia communes for opening of investigation), Cologne, 1998, retrievable at: https://uni-koeln.academia.edu/CarloGentile
Authorship and translation:
Author: Carlo Gentile
Translated from German by: Joel Golb
© Project ‘The Massacres in Occupied Italy (1943-1945): Integrating the Perpetrators’ Memories’
2023