The Einsatzgruppen trial (officially, The United States of America vs. Otto Ohlendorf, et al.) 2353: I return to the Death House, climb up the last stairway, see the gallows for the first time. It found 20 defendants guilty on all three counts. spent three years in detention before being hanged at the Landsberg Prison in Bavaria on 07-06-1951, age 44, and he buried on the Spottinger prison cemetery. [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". Such actions continued right through December 1941. The tribunal noted in its judgment that, the charge of purposeful homicide in this case reaches such fantastic proportions and surpasses such credible limits that believability must be bolstered with assurance a hundred times repeated.2. Ferencz presented the case in just two court sessions. This is what passed for compassion within the ranks of the SS. 1945: Dinner in the prison mess. There are new instructions nowa reversal of the previous arrangement. It just seemed a necessity. After his sentencing, Ohlendorf told him: The Jews in America will suffer for this.. [40] Another historian, Mark Mazower, described Ohlendorf as a "gloomy, driven, self-righteous Prussian". If the Justices agree, there will be another two month delay, since the Court goes into summer recess. The Einsatzgruppen were special task forces of the, membership in organizations declared criminal by the International Military Tribunal, Four of the defendants who were charged had commanded Einsatzgruppen units sent into the Soviet Union and Soviet-controlled territory as part of. 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. Students analyze images and film that convey the richness of Jewish life across Europe at the time of the Nazis ascension to power. 0001: Two soldiers wearing neatly pressed olive drab uniforms are first to arrive in the loft. After a talk by Hans Joachim Von Merkatz, a functionary of an influential right-wing political group, Ehlers introduced Bundestag Deputy Jakob Altmeier, a Socialist party member. On the 31st of January, the High Commissioners final decisions were promulgated and published. [34], Between February and March 1942, Himmler ordered that gas vans should be used to murder women and children so as to reduce the strain on the men, but Ohlendorf reported that many of the Einsatzkommandos refused to utilize them since burying the victims proved an "ordeal" afterwards. During the subsequent Einsatzgruppen trial, Ohlendorf was the chief defendant, and was also a key witness in the prosecution of other indicted war criminals. [31], Due to the Wehrmacht's insistence that Ukraine's agricultural production was needed to sustain its military campaign, Ohlendorf was asked during October 1941 to refrain from killing some of the Jewish farmersa request he honoredbut one which earned him Himmler's contempt. And for providing the also rapidly dwindling number of Holocaust survivors the chance to face their tormenters. I stare out into the lovely June night, watch the big searchlights swinging around the heavily guarded compound. The other Einsatzgruppen commanders charged in Case #9 were: The remaining defendants were commanders or deputy commanders of subordinate units. In the aftermath of the Battle of Kasserine Pass, US II Corps passed to the command of General Harold Alexanders 18th Army Group. As chief of the Public Relations Division for the High Commissioners Office, I was sent to Landsberg to handle the two hundred or so newspaper men covering the story of the hanging. Family tree. 4, 1950, p. 30. Graham mutters something to the effect that theyve got to get started on the final arrangements NOW if they are to meet their schedule. 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 has executed scores of criminals and has been flown from Texas to perform his job again. Mother Unavailable. Washington, DC 20024-2126 I took a cup of coffee and a couple of the doughnuts being handed out by the mess sergeant, and sat down to listen to the game. He says we must realize the seriousness of the occassion. 2008 - 2023 INTERESTING.COM, INC. Otto Ohlendorf Biography - German SS officer and Holocaust perpetrator Are there some basic moral teachings that are so fundamental that every person should be expected to know and try to follow them, no matter what society they live in. After him are Konstantinos Karamanlis, Giovanna of Italy, Compay Segundo, Erich Mielke, Daniel Bovet, and Barbara Stanwyck. Otto Ohlendorf - Historical records and family trees - MyHeritage 0004: Britt springs the trap. 2246: The sergeant has announced coffee and doughnuts. An economist by education, he was head of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) Inland, responsible for intelligence and security within Germany. The mass murder of Jews by Ohlendorfs men continued into 1942. ; 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. Otto Ohlendorf - Axis History Forum 2249: Graham answers the telephone. The cameramans flash goes off in a sudden stab of light. It would be bad for the soul of the German people, McCloy went on, to put these things under the carpet. [23] All forms of contact between the firing squads and victims were limitedper Ohlendorf's insistenceuntil the last moments before the killing started, and up to three rifleman were allocated to each person about to be shot. Otto Ohlendorf testified at the IMT that Einsatzgruppe D, the mobile security unit he commanded in the Crimea between June 1941 and 1942, was responsible for the murder of approximately 90,000 people. . was the ninth of the twelve trials for war crimes and crimes against humanity that the US authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany in Nuremberg after the end of World War II. Each assumed the right to decide the fate of men, and death was the intended result of his power and contempt. 2205: A German newspaper calls from Ulm to advise Graham there has been a stay of execution. The United States charged 24 defendants with war crimes, crimes against humanity, and membership in a criminal organization. Twenty Einsatzgruppen leaders were found guilty by the court, and four, including Ohlendorf, were eventually executed. He tweets @AndrewNagorski. The sergeant aide is looking into the pit where architect Blobel is hanging. 0002: There is no wavering in voice or manner, never a sign of fear. Holmes starts discussing the injustices of the law. 0003: The chaplain reads a prayer. He died on 3 March 1989, in Riedlingen, Biberach, Baden-Wrttemberg, Germany, at the age of 96. The waiter is a former Malmdy murderer, one of Pfeiffers flunkeys. Otto passed away on December 29 1896, at age 6 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Even one of the most notorious architects of the Final Solution, Adolf Eichmann, organizer of the mass deportation of Jews to Auschwitz and other concentration camps, portrayed himself as a mere functionary who had no animosity towards his victims. [44] Sometime in November 1944, he was promoted to Gruppenfhrer. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011. 2359: One minute before midnight. In an office across the corridor from Colonel Grahams a few GIs are listening to a shortwave broadcast of a big league baseball game in New York. One hour and some 25 minutes are left now. In 19411943, Einsatzgruppen conducted mass shootings of hundreds of thousands of Jews, Communists, and others during Nazi Germanys campaign against the Soviet Union. [4] He participated in major debates between the SS, the German Labour Front, and the Quadrenniel Organization on economic policy. Graham shows me a letter from one of the former prison chaplains, a German who refuses to accept an invitation to administer last rites to prisoners. Ohlendorf stated that he tried to mitigate any "unnecessary agitation" for the victims during the, Justifying the murder of children, Ohlendorf stated, "the children were people who would grow up and surely being the children of parents who had been killed, they would constitute a danger no smaller than their parents. An economist by education, he is head of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) Inland, responsible for intelligence and security within Germany. They seem collected and self-controlled, and I make an effort to get a grip on myself. There is insufficient attention paid to the long history of the Roma within European culture. We tell one another the prisoners could easily have spared themselves this inhuman waiting, simply by refraining from submitting petitions. The slaughter perpetrated by Ohlendorf and his fellow commanders was face-to-face, and the murdered usually perished relatively close to their homes. I cannot understand, he continued, how human beings can commit such crimes. The sentences were reduced in a number of cases where there appeared a basis for clemency. Otto Ohlendorf 1907-1951 - Ancestry For instance, if the individual could prove that he was ignorant of the fact that the order was illegal, he would not be responsible. 2147: Bickel receives confirmation from Frankfort: proceed with executions. One of the lieutenant colonels from Heidelberg offers odds of 6 to 5 that it wont happen tonight. [6], Ohlendorf joined the SD in 1936 and became an economic consultant of the organisation. Reichsfhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler once characterized Ohlendorf as "an unbearable Prussian" who was "without humour". My eyes are fixed on the rope. I have suffered grievously at the hands of the Nazis. On June 17, as the day of the assault on the USSR loomed, Heydrich summoned Ohlendorf and the commanders of EinsatzgruppenA, B, and C to Berlin for a crucial meeting. That is in large part the product of the efforts of Nazi hunters like Ferencz, Bauer and others who pushed for such trials, not allowing the past to be buried along with its victims. Have you taken a DNA test? 2140: Graham receives confirmation from Heidelberg: proceed with executions. Army still awaiting receipt of confirming cable. Another exception, the judges said, would be if a person obeyed an illegal order to avoid physical harm, torture, or death. Within the RSHA, he directed Office III, which, tellingly, undertook surveillance on the German population, monitoring attitudes towards the Hitler dictatorship and producing reports about what it discovered. 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW There is a slight fluff in the air pocket. He was sentenced to death on 08-04-1948 and. He straps prisoners ankles and steps back. Bickel says the criminals should have been hanged earlier. Otto Ohlendorf, one of the most notorious SS officials in Nazi Germany, was captured and interrogated extensively after the war. Ohlendorf. Of course, the biographical matter issued in connection with the final announcements was not part of the official documentation and was intended simply to help people remember Pohls crimes. Holler, Martin. Mr. McCloy emphasized that the cause for delay was a humane one: There are probably no prisoners anywhere in the world whose cases have received the same painstaking attention given to the Landsberg cases. Is their defense persuasive to you? Jesus famously said when he was crucified: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. The Nazi criminals knew all too well what they were doing. Report on the Otto Ohlendorf IRR File | National Archives In a webinar in December 2020 with The National WWII Museum, historian Michael Geyer stressed the significance of those ideological fighters who implemented the Third Reichs vicious programs of mass murder. He makes notes on a piece of paper. Allied Control Council no. Across the corridor, the GI service unit was still listening to the ball game being broadcast from Ebbets Field, Brooklyn. The CIC agents tell us that the newspaper reporters, some of them Germans, have been interviewing the wives of the seven. No newsmen will be admitted to the executions, by unanimous decision of the High Commissioners staff and General Handys advisers.

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