Murder And Ill-Treatment
[Page 45]
Article 6 (b) of the Charter defines war crimes in these
words:
In the course of the war, many Allied soldiers who had
surrendered to the Germans were shot immediately, often as a
matter of deliberate, calculated policy. On the 18th
October, 1942, the Defendant Keitel circulated a directive
authorised by Hitler, which ordered that all members of
Allied "Commando" units, often when in uniform and whether
armed or not, were to be "slaughtered to the last man" even
if they attempted to surrender. It was further provided that
if such Allied troops came into the hands of the military
authorities after being first captured by the local police,
or in any other way they should be handed over immediately
to the SD. This order was supplemented from time to time,
and was effective throughout the remainder of the war,
although after the Allied landings in Normandy in 1944 it
was made clear that the order did not apply to "Commandos"
captured within the immediate battle area. Under the
provisions of this order, Allied "Commando" troops, and
other military units operating independently, lost their
lives in Norway, France, Czechoslovakia, and Italy. Many of
them were killed on the spot, and in no case were those who
were executed later in concentration camps ever given a
trial of any kind. For example, an American military mission
which landed behind the German front in the Balkans in
January, 1945, numbering about twelve to fifteen men and
wearing uniform, were taken to Mauthausen under the
authority of this order, and according to the affidavit of
Adolf Zutte [sic] the adjutant of the Mauthausen
Concentration Camp, all of them were shot.
[Page 46]
In March, 1944, the OKH issued the "Kugel" or "Bullet"
decree, which directed that every escaped officer and NCO
prisoner of war who had not been put to work, with the
exception of British and American prisoners of war, should
on recapture be handed over to the SIPO and SD. This order
was distributed by the SIPO and SD to their regional
offices. These escaped officers and NCO's were to be sent to
the concentration camp at Mauthausen, to be executed upon
arrival, by means of a bullet shot in the neck.
In March, 1944, fifty officers of the British Royal Air
Force, who escaped from the camp at Sagan where they were
confined as prisoners, were shot on recapture, on the direct
orders of Hitler. Their bodies were immediately cremated,
and the urns containing their ashes were returned to the
camp. It was not contended by the defendants that this was
other than plain murder, in complete violation of
international law.
When Allied airmen were forced to land in Germany, they were
sometimes killed at once by the civilian population. The
police were instructed not to interfere with these killings,
and the Ministry of Justice was informed that no one should
be prosecuted for taking part in them.
The treatment of Soviet prisoners of war was characterized
by particular inhumanity. The death of so many of them was
not due merely to the action of individual guards, or to the
exigencies of life in the camps. It was the result of
systematic plans to murder. More than a month before the
German invasion of the Soviet Union, the OKW were making
special plans for dealing with political representatives
serving with the Soviet Armed Forces who might be captured.
One proposal was that "political Commissars of the Army are
not recognized as Prisoners of War, and are to be liquidated
at the latest in the transient prisoner of war camps." The
Defendant Keitel gave evidence that instructions
incorporating this proposal were issued to the German Army.
On the 8th September, 1941, regulations for the treatment of
Soviet prisoners of war in all prisoner of war camps were
issued, signed by General Reinecke, the head of the prisoner
of war department of the High Command. Those orders stated:
The Soviet prisoners of war were left without suitable
clothing the wounded without medical care; they were
starved, and in many cases left to die.
On the 17th July, 1941, the Gestapo issued an order
providing for the killing of all Soviet prisoners of war who
were or might be dangerous to National Socialism. The order
recited:
[Page 47]
the beginning to seek out among the prisoners
elements which appear reliable, regardless of
whether there are Communists concerned or not, in
order to use them for intelligence purposes inside
of the camp, and if advisable, later in the
occupied territories also. By use of such
informers, and by use of all other existing
possibilities, the discovery of all elements to be
eliminated among the prisoners must proceed step
by step at once .."
"Above all, the following must be discovered: all
important functionaries of State and Party,
especially professional revolutionaries ..all
People's Commissars in the Red Army, leading
personalities of the State ..leading personalities
of the business world, members of the Soviet
Russian Intelligence, all Jews, all persons who
are found to be agitators or fanatical Communists.
Executions are not to be held in the camp or in
the immediate vicinity of the camp .... The
prisoners are to be taken for special treatment if
possible into the former Soviet Russian
territory."
[
Previous |
Index |
Next ]
Home ·
Site Map ·
What's New? ·
Search
Nizkor
© The Nizkor Project, 1991-2012
This site is intended for educational purposes to teach about the Holocaust and
to combat hatred.
Any statements or excerpts found on this site are for educational purposes only.
As part of these educational purposes, Nizkor may
include on this website materials, such as excerpts from the writings of racists and antisemites. Far from approving these writings, Nizkor condemns them and
provides them so that its readers can learn the nature and extent of hate and antisemitic discourse. Nizkor urges the readers of these pages to condemn racist
and hate speech in all of its forms and manifestations.
Of Prisoners Of War
(Part 1 of 2)
"War crimes: namely, violations of the laws or
customs of war. Such violations shall include, but
not be limited to, murder, ill-treatment or
deportation to slave labor or for any other
purpose of civilian population of or in occupied
territory, murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of
war or persons on the seas, killing of hostages,
plunder of public or private property, wanton
destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or
devastation not justified by military necessity."
"The Bolshevist soldier has therefore lost all
claim to treatment as an honorable opponent, in
accordance with the Geneva Convention .... The
order for ruthless and energetic action must be
given at the slightest indication of
insubordination, especially in the case of
Bolshevist fanatics. Insubordination, active or
passive resistance, must be broken immediately by
force of arms (bayonets, butts, and firearms) ....
Anyone carrying out the order who does not use his
weapons, or does so with insufficient energy, is
punishable .... Prisoners of war attempting escape
are to be fired on without previous challenge. No
warning shot must ever be fired .... The use of
arms against prisoners of war is as a rule legal."
"The mission of the Commanders of the SIPO and SD
stationed in Stalags is the political
investigation of all camp inmates, the elimination
and further 'treatment' (a) of all political,
criminal, or in some other way unbearable elements
among them, (b) of those persons who could be used
for the reconstruction of the occupied territories
.... Further, the commanders must make efforts
from
The
original plaintext version of this file is available via
ftp.