How did the confusion over the spelling of Diekmanns name arise?
I have seen his name spelt as, ‘Diekmann’, ‘Dickmann’ and ‘Dieckmann’, all of which are common surnames, as can be seen by looking at a current German telephone directory. However the correct spelling from his SS records was, ‘Diekmann’ and his first name was, ‘Adolf’, not, ‘Otto’, as appears in many publications. The original confusion, in my opinion, came about at the time of the trial in Bordeaux in 1953. The trial was widely reported in the world’s press, most of whose reporters did not speak German. The name Diekmann to an unfamiliar ear sounds like Dickmann, which to English speakers is a more natural spelling. From the newspaper reports that I have read this is when the confusion first began and subsequent authors have perpetuated the error. As an example of this, Max Hastings in his book, ‘Das Reich, the march of the 2nd SS-Panzer Division through France’ published in 1982 quotes the name as Otto Dickmann and Sarah Farmer in her book, ‘Oradour Martyred Village’ published in 199
