The United States charged 24 defendants with war crimes, crimes against humanity, and membership in a criminal organization. Germany has come a very long way since then. In November 1944 he was promoted again to Gruppenfhrer. Mr. McCloy invited the delegation to advise him on some of the difficult cases he had to review. Explore resources that meet the California HistorySocial Science Framework standards. Blobels muffled voice is heard, but what he says is a mystery to those of us in the second circle. The letter cited alleged mistakes in the biographical section of the document, Landsberg, A Documentary Report, which had been published in connection with the final announcement of McCloys decisions. God have mercy on those who murder me. Photos and Memories (0) Do you know Gustav? Report on the Otto Ohlendorf IRR File | National Archives 2354: Nine minutes left. 'A treasure of humanity': 102-year-old Nazi prosecutor is still pushing The Nazi system, however, did not work that way. . In 1939 Ohlendorf was promoted within the newly constituted Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). What did the shift entail? Twenty-two of the defendants were tried. Few defendants at any of the trials denied the accusations made against them, and often their own testimony was used to convict them. Copyright 2023 Facing History & Ourselves. [33] From that month forward, the Einsatzgruppen had begun the process of systematically shooting not just men but women and children, a transition that historian Peter Longerich terms "a decisive step on the way towards a policy of racial annihilation". 2355: Quite a few people are now in the loft. All 22 defendants were found guilty, and four of them, including Ohlendorf, were hanged. Case #9 tried leading members of the Einsatzgruppen. He thinks the reason is that people no longer believe the USA will carry out the executions. He is a German SS functionary and Holocaust perpetrator during the Nazi era. Because of Ohlendorfs work in this field, petitions for leniency were filed after he was sentenced to death by hanging. Otto Ohlendorf's Instagram, Twitter & Facebook on IDCrawl His murderous activity certainly influenced the decision-making process of the other Einsatzgruppenleaders, insofar as Ohlendorfs formal transgressions were obviously in no way restricted, neither by the Reichssicherheitshauptamt[RSHA] nor by the relevant military commander. In September 1941, the earliest known murder of Soviet Roma by EinsatzgruppeD occurred at Nikolayev. Otto Ohlendorf (German pronunciation: [to olndf]; 4 February 1907 7 June 1951) was a German SS functionary and Holocaust perpetrator during the Nazi era. He says, were all set; well call you right after the first one is pronounced dead, and after the last. Born in February 1907 into a peasant family in Hoheneggelsen, a small town in Lower Saxony in northwest Germany, he was not yet a teenager when Germany suffered a crushing defeat in World War I. These men, who were sober enough in all other respects, still believed that we had a sporting chance against the East.". While some perpetrators in the Holocaust claimed, and may have believed, that they would be physically harmed if they did not follow orders to participate in mass murder, historian Doris Bergen notes that the Nazis did not harm those who refused: Germans were not forced to be killers. The lieutenant colonel from the Judge Advocate Generals Office in Heidelberg, has reversed himself and is now offering 6 to 5 that there will be no stay of execution. 504-528-1944, Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy, Two Moments of Remorse for Nazi Crimes: Willy Brandt, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and the Memory of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Operation FLAX, April 1943: Severing the German, General William H. Simpsons Ninth US Army and the Crossing of the Rhine, Black Volunteer Infantry Platoons in World War II, Kasserine Pass: German Offensive, American Victory. 945 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 70130info@nationalww2museum.org Otto Ohlendorf - Wikipedia Only Ohlendorf, his deputy in EinsatzgruppeD, Willy Seibert, and the telegraphist, a man named Fritsch, could remain in the radio station when these happened. The men chosen for these units trained at a school for border police in the town of Pretzsch and the nearby towns of Dben and Bad Schmiedeberg in Saxony in May and June 1941. There were pleas from churchmen and politicians, university men and students, former soldiers, disinherited royalty. It takes a special human type to shoot small children in a pit before the very eyes of their parents, themselves destined to die as well. All 22 defendants were found guilty of at least one charge. In 19411943, Einsatzgruppen conducted mass shootings of hundreds of thousands of Jews, Communists, and others during Nazi Germanys campaign against the Soviet Union. Excellent. I tell him Blobel has been pronounced dead at 0014, June 7. The Bundestag adopted a unanimous resolution condemning the execution of any of the prisoners. Benjamin Ferencz, International Law Scholar and Former Nuremberg Prosecutor, shares his experience as Chief Prosecutor at the trial of the Einsatzgruppen commanders. We may be seated and smoke after each drop. The queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach comes back. A first-generation American of Lebanese descent, James Jabara was intent on being a fighter pilot. ; War crimes: atrocities committed against persons or property constituting violations of the customs of war; murder, ill treatment, deportation to slave labor camps, plunder of public or private property, killing of hostages, wanton destruction of towns, devastation not justified by military necessity, etc. He shakes hands also with Bickel when I introduce them. Also new is mention of Himmler's belief on May 6 that Field Marshall Ferdinand Schoerner, the new Commander-in-Chief of the Army, might protect him, and his consideration of joining Schoerner's army so that he could be killed in battle. He wears black shirt, black trousers, leather belt and sandals. I stare out into the lovely June night, watch the big searchlights swinging around the heavily guarded compound. I feel as though I am moving in a weird dream as I watch these macabre figures around me, figures in the khaki of the U.S. Army uniform. I ask. 2229: A German Evangelical chaplain named Ermann, employed for two years by the prison, was intercepted smuggling mail out for the prisoners, and was sacked. ), condemning a total of twenty-six men to death, fifteen under the jurisdiction of the High Commissioner and eleven under the jurisdiction of the army. 1945: Dinner in the prison mess. [45] Hoping to salvage the reputation of the SD, Ohlendorf offered his services in the hopes that he could shape the postwar reconstruction of Germany, but along "National Socialist lines", remaining convinced as was Admiral Karl Dnitz (who gave Ohlendorf the economics portfolio), that some form of Nazism would ultimately survive. Ohlendorf, Otto. - WW2 Gravestone They acted on their own. Schmid also made the argument that in view of West Germanys abolishing of capital punishment, it would be ill advised for the U. S., although the occupying power, to act in violation of German law. Here I look at the case of Otto Ohlendorf (1907-1951), the leader of one of the Einsatzgruppen, the SS Special Task Forces assembled by Reinhard Heydrich for Nazi Germanys invasion of the Soviet Union. For some reason, Warrant Officer Britt seems just right for his job. Such planning for the post-war time was strictly forbidden, on one side. Otto Ohlendorf (1907-1951) FamilySearch Start your risk free trial with unlimited access. Three times the gallows had been prepared, three times the official army executioner was instructed to have his gear ready, three times the wives of the condemned men visited their husbands for the last time. Three times the prisoners ate their last meal.. Bickel says the criminals should have been hanged earlier. Otto Ohlendorf was born on the 4th of February 1907. Hans Theodor Schmidt was trailed and hanged in Landsberg prison, on 07-06-1951, age 51.. They murdered on their own.. Under what circumstances is it permissible or necessary for a person to disobey either an order from an authority figure or the law of a country? It just seemed a necessity. His face is that of a storekeeper or a teacher. A former Newsweek foreign correspondent and editor, Andrew Nagorski is the author of The Nazi Hunters, which will be released on May 10. He died on 3 March 1989, in Riedlingen, Biberach, Baden-Wrttemberg, Germany, at the age of 96. Emil Hausmann committed suicide. Many historians have written about the famous Buffalo Soldiers of the all-Black 92nd Infantry Division, who fought with distinction during World War II. They offer a last chance for confronting not just the legal but the moral issues that the perpetrators have so consistently tried to dodge in the past. [35][e] When gas van killing operations were conducted, it was usually at night to keep the population from witnessing the macabre affair. The waiter is a former Malmdy murderer, one of Pfeiffers flunkeys. He is a small, slight man with soft, kindly eyes. The slaughter perpetrated by Ohlendorf and his fellow commanders was face-to-face, and the murdered usually perished relatively close to their homes. Defending his actions, Ohlendorf compared Einsatzgruppenactivities to the Biblical Jewish extirpation of its enemies; he likewise claimed that his firing squads were no worse than the press-button killers who dropped the atom bomb on Japan. Ferencz says his goal from the beginning was to affirm the rule of law and deter similar crimes from ever. [4] Nonetheless, Ohlendorf was instrumental as a member of the SD in shaping Nazi economic doctrine, which became "increasingly virulent as the war progressed" as he attempted to mould the economy "in an ethnic context". Claudia Bautista,Santa Monica, Calif. You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. And Ive never ordered anyone to kill a Jew. That gave him a certain peace of mind, he added, although he was under no illusions about his ultimate fate. Die Truppe des Weltanschauungskrieges: Die Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD 1938-1942. The public reaction to McCloys announcement was exactly as anticipated. Apart from all this, illustrated weeklies went in for special feature stories denouncing the cruelty of the American authorities in keeping the condemned men waiting so long for a final verdict. He closes with a soft amen. Britt throws the black hood over Blobels head. At age 27, Benjamin Ferencz was the chief prosecutor in the Nuremberg trial of the commanders of the Einsatzgruppen, the special squads that conducted mass killings of Jews, Gypsies and other civilian enemies on the Eastern Front before the killings shifted to the gas chambers in the camps. and other experts, who planned, e.g., how to introduce the new German currency Deutsch Mark. Mr. McCloy then took up the specific arguments which had been advanced by the delegation. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. . It was a fine point of law, Mr. McCloy insisted, to claim that traditional German legal methods should be applied to cases such as these. Either Ohlendorf or Seibert dictated every word to Fritsch. He had had no previous experience as a governor in such problems, although he was, as a lawyer, trained in legal procedures. There were enough willing perpetrators so that coercive force could be reserved for those deemed enemies. This deep interest in economics carried over into work for the Reich Trade Group, where he quickly ascended the ladder. Then he saw them off as they left Pretzsch to get ready for the invasion. I agree. At the start, the Special Task Forces were charged with political security. This euphemism conceals more than it reveals. USA.gov, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration Marking the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, The National WWII Museum connects two instances of remorse for Nazi criminality by leading German politicians. Gaps, recalled Schubert, existed in what was transmitted. He refuses to comment. They killed on their own. 2045: Hulse calls Bickel. 2008 - 2023 INTERESTING.COM, INC. Otto Rasch: Rasch led Einsatzgruppe C. This unit perpetrated mass murder in Ukraine, including the shooting of more than 33,000 Jews of Kiev at. I have committed no crime. Two cameramen, both GI noncoms, are fooling with their apparatus. Graham remarks acidly that the postage on this petition alone must have cost about 120 Deutsche Mark, or $30. Interest in the condemned men in Landsberg prisonthe so-called Lands-berg menbegan to mount in Germany around mid-December of 1950 when it became known that High Commissioner McCloy and his colleague, General Handy, had the cases under study. Army still awaiting receipt of confirming cable. Martin Holler has argued convincingly that Otto Ohlendorf became to a certain degree the trailblazer for the complete solution of the Gypsy question on Soviet soil. Blobel, Braune, Naumann, and Ohlendorf had all been leaders of the Extermination Squads (Einsatzgruppen), which were the chief instruments devised by the Nazis for wiping out the Jews of Europe. [6], Ohlendorf joined the SD in 1936 and became an economic consultant of the organisation. Then the members of the Special Task Force marched them off, ostensibly to a place of transportation. He was sentenced to death on 08-04-1948 and. Death 7 Jun 1951 - Unavailable. IMPORTANT PRIVACY NOTICE & DISCLAIMER: YOU HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO USE CAUTION WHEN DISTRIBUTING PRIVATE INFORMATION. Each assumed the right to decide the fate of men, and death was the intended result of his power and contempt. A handsome Negro captain, Artillery, a huge bunch of keys dangling from his belt, tells me in answer to a question that she is Mrs. Oswald Pohl. The other defendants had their sentences commuted or were paroled. There is a telephone call. .. Dehler indicated that an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court would be based on these alleged mistakes. There was one case in which the criminal admitted to having killed 60,000. Ferencz called no witnesses and based the case on wartime SS reports that detailed mass shootings conducted by the Einsatzgruppen. Between July 1941 and April 1942, Heydrichs staff in the RSHA prepared 195 reports, condensing and consolidating all the horror in these documents for use by Nazi officials. 2210: We wait, smoking and looking uneasily at the clock. Bickel says he will not be a witness. [50], Ohlendorf was called as a witness by the prosecution during the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg on 3 January 1946. He married Lena Hausmann on 23 April 1921, in Belleville, St. Clair, Illinois, United States. [20][b] Ohlendorf's Einsatzgruppe in particular was responsible for the 13 December 1941 massacre at Simferopol, where at least 14,300 people, mostly Jews, were killed. 2120: Graham receives message from Heidelberg. Case #9 is usually referred to as the Einsatzgruppen Case. Everyone present agrees that the only hope is John J. McCloy. Blobel is dressed for death. I never had a German come up to me and say Im sorry all the time I was in Germany, he told me. Top Home Latest TRENDING Studio9 Specials State INDIA WORLD SPORTS Altmeiers opening words came as a shock to the High Commissioner who, for the first time in the meeting, kept his eyes glued to the speaker. Another voice in my head says, No, you must see it through. Someone is looking for Warrant Officer Britt, the official executioner. On February 1, a special messenger delivered an urgent dispatch from the Federal Minister of Justice, Thomas Dehler, in Bonn. Explore the scintillating May 2023 issue of Commentary. He was not yet a teenager when Germany suffered a crushing defeat in World War I. ". Whos Who in Nazi Germany. Eduard Strauch, the head of Einsatzkommando 2 (a subunit of Einsatzgruppe A), who received a death sentence, was extradited to Belgium. Re: Otto Ohlendorf by Helge 05 May 2012, 10:55 The children were two boys and three girls: 1) Henning - Born February 11, 1938 2) Behrend - Born September 18, 1943 3) Irmtraut - Born March 25, 1936 4) Meinhard - Born October 30, 1940 5) Ulrike - Born May 11, 1945 Sota ei pt kuka on oikeassa, vain sen ett kuka on jljell. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 1981. The defendants were arraigned between September 15 and 22, 1947. 0002: There is no wavering in voice or manner, never a sign of fear. After a decade in the SS, he entered Reinhard Heydrichs SD in 1936 as an advisor on economic issues. In 19411943, On September 10, 1947, the US Military Government for Germany created Military Tribunal II-A (later renamed Tribunal II). Edited by Alex J. Kay, Jeff Rutherford, and David Stahel. The chief prosecutor was 27-year-old Ben Ferencz. Otto Ohlendorf is born February 4, 1907 in Hoheneggelsen, Province of Hanover, Prussia, German Empire. Otto Ohlendorf - Historical records and family trees - MyHeritage Ultimately, only four of the 14 death sentences were carried out. Not to elicit a. Commentary: Long overdue, a Nazi finally says sorry | Reuters Each one was charged with committing all three counts between June 1941 and July 1943. Thus, his entire socialization as a young man occurred within the organizations of the Nazi Party. 1920: Bickel reports to Fred Hulse, in McCloys office in Frankfort. One of the lieutenant colonels from Heidelberg offers odds of 6 to 5 that it wont happen tonight. There is some new detail concerning Himmler's state of mind on May 6, 1945 after Hitler's Last Testament appointed Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz as the successor while expelling Himmler from the Nazi Party.
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