Soldbuch to SS-Rottenführer Kurt Lötzke, who was killed in 1945 with the 18. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division "Horst Wessel". First issue from January 1943, when this 17 year old volunteer from the Samland district in Eastern Prussia trained with the SS-Artillerie-Ersatz-Regiment in Prague. His first active unit would be the leichte Artillerie-Abteilung of the 1. SS-Infanterie-Brigade, a unit primarily formed from former concentration camp guards! The brigade was mostly used in the rear and took part in numerous war crimes against (alleged) partisans and Jewish population.  

In December 1943, the 1. SS-Infanterie-Brigade filled a gap in the front lines with a counterattack following the Russian push towards Bobruisk, in Belarus. Lötzke earned the EKII here late December 1943, and soon after the Allgemeines Sturmabzeichen in January 1944. That same month, the brigade was retreated from the front, and disbanded to create the 18. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division "Horst Wessel".  

With SS-Artillerie-Regiment 18 of the "Horst Wessel" division, Lötzke continued fighting on the Eastern Front in Hungary, until he was wounded there in November 1944. Released from hospital the next month, he was already back with SS.Art.Rgt.18 in January 1945. The division ended the war in the Breslau area but sadly, Lötzke would not make it this far: the Volksbund lists him as killed in March 1945 in Langlieben, Oberschlesien - today Długomiłowice, west of Katowice, Poland. He is reportedly buried among the unknown in Nadolice Wielkie.  

The Soldbuch is in well used but complete condition, showing some water damage - undoubtly connected to the circumstances in which the Soldbuch was retrieved from his body. His EK2 award and most of his face are still visible in the nice portrait photo. Needless to say, any Soldbucher to this notorious division are rare to find, let alone a KIA example to a decorated veteran!