Sophus Kahrs

Sophus Magdalon Buck Kahrs
File:Vidkun Quisling og seks norske frontkjempere, bl.a. Arne Nilsen, Sophus Kahrs.jpg Sophus Kahrs with Vidkun Quisling
Born	28 March 1918 Bergen, Norway
Died	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	, Waffen SS
Years of service	World War II 1936–1944
Rank	Sturmbannführer
Unit	SS-Freiwilligen-Legion Norwegen SS Ski Jäger Battalion "Norwegen" Førergarden
Battles/wars	Siege of Leningrad Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive
Awards	World War II Iron Cross I Class

Sophus Magdalon Buck Kahrs (28 March 1918 – 18 November 1986) was a Sturmbannfuhrer (Major) in the Waffen SS during World War II. He was awarded the Iron Cross of the I class, which was awarded to recognize battlefield bravery during World War II. He served as the battalion commander of the SS Ski Jäger Battalion "Norwegen", seeing action in Finland in 1944, and later in Norway in 1945.

Early life

Kahrs was born in Bergen, Norway on the 28 March 1918 into a family of German origins. He joined the Nasjonal Samling in 1934. And around the same time he also joined the party's paramilitary wing, the Hird, and from 1936 the NS Battle Organization.

World War II

After the outbreak of the Second World War, he joined the Waffen SS with the rank of Obersturmführer. He served with the Norwegian volunteer unit SS-Freiwilligen-Legion Norwegen at the Siege of Leningrad. He was later promoted to Sturmbannfuhrer and by the summer of 1944 made acting battalion commander of the SS Ski Jäger Battalion "Norwegen". In late June 1944, the Battalion saw combat in Northern Karelia, and sustained heavy casualties.

Battle at the Hasselmann Position

In 2013 Norwegian daily Dagbladet's then correspondent in Germany said that "The Norwegian company commander failed—and fled the combat zone, while many were killed or captured". Kahrs disappeared early in the battle—later reappearing uninjured in the rear echelons, where he in his own report put himself in a positive light; thus avoiding court martial.

Later he was put in charge of Vidkun Quislings bodyguard detail, known as the Førergarde.

Post war

After the war, Kahrs was arrested and charged with treason. He was convicted and sentenced to 10 years of hard labour, and 19 years in prison. He escaped on 3 July 1947, along with three other inmates, from Espeland concentration camp. They soon joined up with three other former SS members and sailed on the boat Solbris to Buenos Aires, Argentina. He would soon be joined by his wife Wilny, and his son Petter who left Norway, unable to cope with the reprisals and harassment by the general public. He found work as an electrician, and later as a foreman at an American car company, until his death on 18 November 1986. His son returned to Bergen in 2005, a year later, he died.