Talk:Erich Kempka

A fact from Erich Kempka appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 28 February 2006. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Erich Kempka was a chauffeur of Adolf Hitler and was called to testify at the Nuremberg trials?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2006/February.

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Untitled[edit]

Are the timings off a bit here? If Kempka was being Chauffeur for Josef Terboven in Norway until 1942, how could he have driven Hitler in 1934? David | Talk 23:43, 25 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That should say 1932, a typo, sorry Sherurcij ^{(talk) (Terrorist Wikiproject)} 00:44, 26 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Salim Hamdan[edit]

I moved the following paragraph from the main article to here for discussion.

At the 2008 military trial for Osama bin-Laden's driver, Salim Hamdan, the defense argued for his innocence, noting that Kempa was not tried as a war criminal for being a chauffeur for Hitler.[1]

I am not sure how this paragraph furthers a reader's understanding of Erich Kempka. It seems more relevant for an entry on Salim Hamdan. I would like to hear what other editors think about this. --Zippy (talk) 04:45, 10 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't add it, but I think it is relevant information if a legal case fifty years later relies on his for precedent (or tries). It speaks to the legacy of the person, just like it doesn't help my understanding of Pelham to know there's a statue of him in Alabama, or that his spur was melted down and included in the casting of an Exhibition bell honouring war heroes - but it does speak to his relevance post-mortem. Kempka is the same. Sherurcij ^{(speaker for the dead)} 08:13, 10 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I did add it. If anything should be included, it is this. It shows his relevance even after 60 years. This is a rarely visited page, and if we wait until a consensus to develop, we might wait 5-10 years. With likely just three of us involved in this issue, it seems that the vote is 2-1 in favor. I will put it back. Thank you both for your interest. I added it to section "post-war".Mwinog2777 (talk) 03:08, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Errors[edit]

The article contains numerous factual errors, unfortunately. Thus for example Kempka never married to Gerda Daranowski. Christian Eckart was no general. His rank was Major in the Air Force. There are several other inconsistencies in the article. Studies of German sources would be helpful. Talk with me about it Patrizier

--Patrizier (talk) 14:04, 26 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You are correct that Kempka was engaged but not married to Gerda; I had corrected it some time ago on Gerda Christian's page with book cite. Thanks, for the note on this point; I corrected it, today.

Eckhard Christian was a Major in 1941; however, he later indeed reached general rank. He was promoted to Generalmajor and Chief of the Luftwaffe Command Staff at Hitler's request on 1 September 1944. see: Joachimsthaler, Anton (1996, 1999). The Last Days of Hitler: The Legends, The Evidence, The Truth, Brockhampton Press, p. 299; and Hamilton, Charles (1984). Leaders & Personalities of the Third Reich, Vol. 1, R. James Bender Publishing, p. 141; for detailed info. on him and Gerda. Kierzek (talk) 15:39, 26 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Third-party sources needed[edit]

I tagged the article as needing third-party sources, as some of the narrative is based on Kempka's memoirs. Hope someone more familiar with the topic can look into this. K.e.coffman (talk) 02:09, 10 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I have done quite a bit of the work on this article. You will see where I replaced some of it with a RS third party source and confirmed some of the rest; there are only 8 cites now to his book. And it is a case where the remaining information it not available elsewhere, so his work has to be used; since what he states is basic facts narrative and not controversial or POV pushing, I believe it should be left in. Kierzek (talk) 02:52, 10 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]