Karl Boehm on left
1909 Born in Oregon, the son of Hans Boehm and Helen Willis.
1914 He returns to Germany with his mother, and appears to spend his life after that in Germany, until he returned at some point to the USA where he was buried alongside his mother.
1920s His name changed from Boehm to Boehm-Tettelbach when the whole family made the change
1937. As Karl Boehm-Tettelbach, he had been a high ranking Nazi army officer (Oberstleutnant or Lieutenant Colonel) and aide to Field Marshall Werner von Blomberg and later had served in Hitler’s headquarters during the war. He accompanied Field Marshal von Blomberg to London in 1937 for the coronation of King George VI. The German delegation took the opportunity to have talks with senior British politicians. Boehm-Tettelbach followed behind Hitler and Blomberg on a long walk in the mountains when the report of the trip was given to the Führer. On the way back to Berlin, Boehm-Tettelbach asked Blomberg what Hitler had said about the news. 'Nothing,' replied Blomberg. But shortly afterwards more resources still were planned for the army, something which Boehm-Tettelbach believes 'was the answer and reaction from the coronation'.
As an Air Force Major he commanded Zerstörergeschwader 26 from October 1943 – June 1944. This was was a Luftwaffe heavy/destroyer Fighter Aircraft wing
A committed Nazi right up to May 1945, he was a member of the delegation which signed the surrender. He recalls that it was an act performed twice . . . once with General Eisenhower and the following day with Marshal Zhukov of the Soviet Union.
After WW2, Karl Boehm became the Pan Am station manager at the Nürenberg airport. A Pan Am employeee said he was one of the most kind and understanding men I had ever met. He would do almost anything to help his employees do their work more effectively or with their personal problems. As a result, the Pan Am station was the most pleasant place I had ever worked up to that point. He affected everyone he came into contact with: the staff, flight crews, Customs, even the BP fuel-crews would go out of their way to help us. This mostly because Karl Boehm was such a kind and likable human being.
A documentry programme by the BBC interviewed Karl Boehm. The interviewer was Rees, who asked Karl Boehm-Tettelbach, a Nazi army officer who served in Hitler’s headquarters in East Prussia during the war, how German people could respect Hitler and what he was doing for Germany when Jews were being forced to lose their jobs and leave the country. Boehm-Tettelbach replied:
Karl Boehm-Tettelbach went on to say that he liked Himmler more than the other Nazis he met:
2001 Died and buried with his mother at Riddle Cemetery, Douglas County, Oregon, as plain Carl Boehm
