Career
The Knight"s Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Kurt Lottner was Kampfkommandant of Lübeck in April/May 1945. On 2 May, British troops prepared to conquer Lübeck.
Lottner, NSDAP-Kreisleiter Bernhard Clausen, mayor Otto-Heinrich Drechsler (1895-1945 (suicide)), Police chief Walther Schröder (1902-1973) and officers in place agreed that a fight against the advancing 11th Armoured Division was hopeless and senseless.
They gave orders to remove the explosive charges already put in place at bridges and harbour facilities. Lottner was taken Prisoner of war by British troops May 2, 1945, held in Island Farm and was released in 1947.
Iron Cross (1914) Bibliography Arthur Geoffrey Dickens: Lübeck Diary. Victor Gollancz Limited., London 1947.
