Other than his military record, death and body being found...... i cannot find out anything about his family. Did he have a parent or sibling that survived the war.? Did he have a Wife/Sweet-Heart ? If ever there was a movie begging to be made....... He was a fascinating young man
Quick search on Google Knispel, Kurt - TracesOfWar.com https://nl.findagrave.com/memorial/143403489/kurt-knispel Tiger 101 and Kurt Knispel TIGER ONE German language Search - Forum der Wehrmacht
He enjoys a certain prominence in Germany BUT: A lot of Knispel's work is also the creation of legends after the war. Most of it can be traced back to the heroic saga that Franz Kurowski created and which contains a great deal of, let's say politely, "artistic freedom" For example, the fact that he "only" became a sergeant with 168 kills and "only" received the DKiG was often attributed to his unpolitical non-conformist nature, which is why he was largely ignored by the Nazis. But no evidence can be found, for example, that he was allegedly proposed for the Knight's Cross 4 times. In fact, he achieved most of his kills as a gunner, but in the Wehrmacht it was usually the commanders who were honoured for kills. He was certainly a talented Panzerman,, but not the figure that was made of him after the war. Such sometimes almost mystical exaggerations in the post-war period can also be found with other aces, with Michael Wittman certainly being one of the most prominent. Knispel was thankfully used in certain German circles because he was supposedly not a Nazi friend and was therefore better suited to hero worship than Wittman, who was in the SS
Another article from 2021 in the magazine Stern, Kurt Knispel – er war der gefährlichste Panzermann aller Zeiten, aber die Nazis hassten ihn And in Die Welt from 2024 Wehrmacht: 168 Treffer machten ihn zum erfolgreichsten Panzerschützen - WELT A bit more background about what Itdan just mentioned.
I cannot get my translator to work on your first link, but from what i read of the second link and all the others above, none of them address the question in my OP. I might have missed it.?
Little is known about Knispel's personal background. He does not appear to have had any siblings, at least nothing is documented about this He joined the Wehrmacht at the age of 19 and was then constantly deployed at the front. He must have had little time or opportunity for any love affairs. His family home was in the Sudetenland, it can be assumed that his family was expelled or even died.
Interesting the mention of Tiger 101. Was this his tank photographed by Major DCL Shepherd Battery Commander 266 Battery after the fighting was over Easter 1943 at Gueriat el Atach Tunisia. A member of the forum examined the photo identifying it as Tiger101 circa 2019.
I find the fascination with 'Panzer Aces' really peculiar. Doesn't really exist in the same way for allied tankers, give or take people like Pool (And to be honest, he was briefly pushed forward more as a direct counter to the adulation given to Wittman etc.). Signal Magazine still has a power in discussion of German tank crews, and by extension of that: Silly-bugger-Goebbels. Kurowski remains the Barbara Cartland of German WW2 historiography, to the extent I now largely dismiss anything he ever said, or even expressed an interest in. I'm not sure it's appreciated enough that he actually wrote for wartime propagandakompanie, and continued to do so for 50 years postwar. .
Streitmacht • Thema anzeigen - Feldwebel Kurt Knispel Sorry again in German, looks like a good biography, only some writen private things.
Slightly mischievous image at: but no takers then ... WW2 Haircuts A brief background and detailed offering for his final days is also at: Feldwebel Kurt Knispel’s last combat mission
One for the wargamers. 28mm model of him. German Feldwebel & Panzer Ace - Kurt Knispel – STOESSIS HEROES
