Millions were killed in these camps, and hundreds of thousands died from malnutrition, overwork, and other excesses. Nor need the peril be that imminent in order to escape punishment. 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. The colonel takes the center of the floor. Left to right: Kthe Ohlendorf, wife of Otto Ohlendorf; Margot Schmidt, wife of Hans Theodor Schmidt, adjutant at Buchenwald concentration camp; von Ysenburg, who brought word to the wives of the reprieve; Magda Braune, wife of Werner Braune; and Elisabeth Naumann, wife of Erich Naumann. I agree. The crimes for which punishment was being meted out were the worst known in history, and they had to be atoned for in order to prevent their recurrence. Theres no backing out now. SS Gruppenfhrer and head of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) Inland. 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. He was among the last Nazis put to death on the authority of the United States for crimes committed during the Second World War. Otto Ohlendorf, one of the most notorious SS officials in Nazi Germany, was captured and interrogated extensively after the war. I ask. There is a slight crackle. The JAG lieutenant colonel seated next to me whispers, there but for the grace of God go I. I look around. Himmler then had an adjutant take the letter to Montgomery. Those damned Germans. I see Warrant Officer Britt efficiently rubbing the noose with wax, and his assistant, a sergeant, is busying himself with the black hoods which have been stored in an ordinary army foot locker. In 1941, Ohlendorf is appointed the commander of Einsatzgruppe D, which perpetrates mass murder in Moldova, south Ukraine, the Crimea, and, during 1942, the North Caucasus. 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. . Graham calls out: Attention! All in the room stand. His defense was simple: he was just following orders. Otto Ohlendorf (1907-1951) - Find a Grave Memorial The mass murder of Jews by Ohlendorfs men continued into 1942. St. John's Scholar | St. John's University Research 2235: Graham is discussing the business of last rites. Wives have been asked to say their final goodbyesfor the fourth time. In his opening statement, Ferencz underscored that: It is with sorrow and with hope that we here disclose the deliberate slaughter of more than a million innocent and defenseless men, women, and children. Preparations are being completed. Report on the Otto Ohlendorf IRR File | National Archives JAG officer observes that they cant do a thing until Graham has a piece of paper from the Department of the Army in the Pentagon. No matter what happens to our application on Monday in the District Court in Washington for a permanent injunction prohibiting the executions, there will be no executions. We also can examine how the commanders of the Einsatzgruppen, like Ohlendorf, summarized this barbarity. His pipe is fragrant. 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. The Bundestag adopted a unanimous resolution condemning the execution of any of the prisoners. His face is that of a storekeeper or a teacher. It would be far better to keep them in prison as an example to future generations. Historian Christian Ingrao quips that for Ohlendorf, Nazism was a "quest for race" in the historical continuum, and even though he never stated it that way, his faith in Germandom was akin to that of his fellow SS intellectuals. Beorn, Waitman Wade. Soon, the five foot five airman would make US military aviation history. Two of the defendants were found guilty on only count three. His only criterion was that justice must be done. This was done to avoid any possibility of poison or suicides. No one knows what they said, but theyve talked. An economist by education, he was head of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) Inland, responsible for intelligence and security within Germany. In 1947-48, Ohlendorf was the most notable of the 23 members of the Einsatzgruppentried by the Americans. 2120: Graham receives message from Heidelberg. 0003: The chaplain reads a prayer. Ohlendorf. Gerwarth, Robert. Each month, a courier brought the written reports directly to Berlin. Among those brought to trial were. [53], At the trial, Ohlendorf attempted to present the operations in the Soviet area "not as a racist programme for the annihilation of all the Jews but as a general liquidation order primarily aimed at 'securing' the newly won territory". June 6, 1951 Jason Dawsey, PhD, is a Research Historian at the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. The Registrar sits very still, his legs crossed, staring at the gallows. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. 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. 4 February 1907-7 June 1951 . He studied at the University of Pavia, where he gained his doctors degree in jurisprudence; and by 1933 he obtained the position of a research directorship in the Kiel Institute for the World Economy(at that timeInstitut fr Weltwirtschaft und Seeverkehr Institute for World Economy and Maritime Transport). Many historians have written about the famous Buffalo Soldiers of the all-Black 92nd Infantry Division, who fought with distinction during World War II. This was not a small group, Geyer elaborated. We tell one another the prisoners could easily have spared themselves this inhuman waiting, simply by refraining from submitting petitions. The executions are scheduled to start at three minutes past midnight. OHLENDORF: From June 1941 to the death of Heydrich in June 1942, I led Einsatzgruppe D, and was the representative of the chief of the Sipo and the SD with the 11th Army. 0003: Britt steps back, glances at Graham. I light a cigarette. That was my biggest disappointment; nobody, including my mass murderers, ever said Im sorry. Search for Another Deceased Ancestor. No newsmen will be admitted to the executions, by unanimous decision of the High Commissioners staff and General Handys advisers. Ferencz says his goal from the beginning was to affirm the rule of law and deter similar crimes from ever. 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. Students consider the ways in which World War I intensified peoples loyalty to their country and resentment toward others perceived as a threat. After the launching of Barbarossa on June 22, Ohlendorf could also turn to the Army for ammunition, maps, and telecommunications. Dr. 2255: Borom, the lieutenant colonel from Heidelberg, is lighting his pipe. The Tribunal rendered its judgment on April 89, 1948. Ferencz presented the case in just two court sessions. What other motivations might have contributed to their participation in mass murder? Students deepen their thinking about memory and identity by reflecting on the stories of Holocaust and Armenian Genocide survivors and their descendants. 4, 1950, p. 412. [51] During the trial, Ohlendorf insisted that he, as a loyal Nazi, had acted properly and had done nothing wrong. Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings, Case #9, The Einsatzgruppen Case [46], In May 1945, Ohlendorf participated in Himmler's flight from Flensburg. As Ferencz told me during an interview for my book The Nazi Hunters, he still vividly recalls the protestations of Otto Ohlendorf, one of those condemned to death, that he was only doing his duty. There is a staff sergeant, stout and unsmiling, unarmed, standing at the door. In an interview, he pointed out that the prosecution had been waiting for one of the defendantsto address the witnesses who had survived and had their whole families annihilated with one humane wordit would have cleared the air. That never happened. [12] These public opinion polls on the social climate of Nazi Germany were both unpopular and controversial. It will be without levity, emotion, or demonstrations of any kind. Otto Ohlendorf, the head of the SD Domestic office in the RSHA, personally commanded Einsatzgruppe D. This unit deployed to southern Ukraine, Crimea, and the North Caucasus. Ohlendorf took part in Himmlers flight from Flensburg and was arrested with him near Lneburg, where Himmler committed suicide. You cant hurry them, you know, says the Colonel philosophically. One telegram to Graham pleads for the privilege of hanging in place of Pohl. [30] During September 1941, Ohlendorf's group slaughtered 22,467 Jews and communists at Mykolaiv near the Black Sea port of Odesa. 2210: We wait, smoking and looking uneasily at the clock. Over 90,000 murders are attributed to Ohlendorfs command, who testified to this effect during his trial at Nuremberg. He had studied the cases not with any political considerations in mind but purely in judicial terms. . Ten of the fifteen death cases under McCloys jurisdiction were commuted, five confirmed; two of the eleven death cases under General Handys jurisdiction were confirmed, nine commuted. Radio transmissions were conducted weekly or bi-weekly under conditions of absolute secrecy. 1900: Arrive with Bickel in army staff car. Hoheneggelsen, Province of Hanover, Prussia, German Empire, Otto Ohlendorf at the Einsatzgruppen Trial, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Ohlendorf. . I seat myself next to Lieutenant Colonel Borom. Graham is amused. Seventy years after the Nuremberg trials, something truly extraordinary happened in a German courtroom last week. The remainder of the trial, which lasted more than three months, was devoted to the defendants arguments. Otto Ohlendorf. 2242: Big clock is ticking. Otto Ohlendorf - Historical records and family trees - MyHeritage He didnt know what they were for a moment, suspected a suicide attempt. [16] Transfers from the RSHA to the Einsatzgruppen were in part due to personnel shortages but also to keep the initial killing operations confined to those who already knew the details, such as Ohlendorf, Arthur Nebe, and Paul Blobel. First Blobel, then the jurist Braune; Naumann, the SS General; Ohlendorf, the economist and lawyer who murdered 90,000; Pohl and Schallermair and Schmidteach in his turn. During this period, 5,000 prisoners died each month as a result of cruelties inflicted upon them by the SS. Students examine how choices made by individuals and groups contributed to the rise of the Nazi Party in the 1920s and 1930s. St. John's Scholar | St. John's University Research Seven times I secretly murmured kaddish, the prayer for the dead, not for the executed man but in memory of their victims. The defendants were arraigned between September 15 and 22, 1947. I have suffered grievously at the hands of the Nazis. He joined the SA in 1925 when he was only 18, then Heinrich Himmlers SS the following year. Graham says prisoners have been gaining weight on the excellent prison fare. Instead, the victims arrived at places where pits, ditches, trenches, or ravines awaited them. Christopher Browning and Jrgen Matthus have contended that the turning point from mass murder to genocide was reached with the liquidation of the Jewish community in Nikolayev in mid-September 1941. Receiving support from the 11th Army, Ohlendorfs men murdered 5,000 Jews there, including women and children. This type of evidence I have accepted in mitigation of the original sentence., The High Commissioner said that he had been struck by the extent of the misinformation in the letters and petitions which were being sent to him. A total of seven men, then, were to be executed at Landsberg. He served there with figures like Adolf Eichmann and Ernst Kaltenbrunner, both roughly his age, who aided Himmler and Heydrich in their policies of terror, mass extermination, and genocide across the European continent. [49] For several weeks after his arrest, Ohlendorf was carefully interrogated, during which he revealed the criminal nature of the German campaign in the East. The Einsatzgruppen were special task forces of the SS and Police. Like other talented academics such as Helmut Knochen and Franz Six, Ohlendorf had been recruited by SD talent scouts. I ask. 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. Extending the Genocidal Program: Did Otto Ohlendorf Initiate the Systematic Extermination of Soviet Gypsies? In Nazi Policy on the Eastern Front, 1941: Total War, Genocide, and Radicalization. Ehlers declared that while they held no brief for many individual war criminals, yet at a time when West Germany was being called upon to make a military contribution to Western defense, they felt bound to call for modification of the death sentence on the ground of political and psychological factors. Heinrich Hoefler, a founder of the Christian Democratic party, based his appeal on humanitarian grounds. OHLENDORF: Heydrich was wounded at the end of May 1942, and died on 4 June 1942. Bishops, lawyers, the man on the street, all felt the same impulseto hide things under the carpet. Will I be able to perform this simple act? 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. The cameramans flash goes off in a sudden stab of light. His remarks have a refreshing banality. He adds one thought, that none of us likes this business but weve got to go through with it. Father Unavailable. 10, Trials of War Criminals before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals, vol. . WILLY SEIBERT, EUGEN STEIMLE, ERNST BIBER- STEIN, WERNER BRAUNE, WALTER HAENSCH, GUSTAV NOSSKE, ADOLF OTT, EDUARD STRAUCH, EMIL HAUSSMAN, WOLDEMAR KLINGHOFFER, LOTHAR FENDLER, WALDEMAR VON RADETZKY, FELIX RUEHL, HEINZ SCHUBERT, and MATTHIAS GRAF, Defendants OPINION AND JUDGEMENT OF THE TRIBUNAL Captain Michael A. Musmanno, U.S.N.R., Presiding Judge [35][e] When gas van killing operations were conducted, it was usually at night to keep the population from witnessing the macabre affair. Bickel says he will not be a witness. 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. We are to stand at attention during the hangings. 945 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 70130info@nationalww2museum.org He also cited examples from other cases, including the High Command Case in which military commanders carried out the so-called Fuehrer Order calling for the murder of undesirable elements such as Jews and Gypsieswomen, men, and children alike who were offensive to the Germans. And he further noted that a great number of terrible and terrifying crimes had been committed in the name of maintaining the ethnic purity of the German people. How did Ohlendorf and Hss defend their actions at their trial? There is a report from Bonn that the Ministry of Justice is working frantically for a last minute reprieve. The Military Tribunals, Mr. McCloy went on, had been set up by men of peace, good will, and great character. Encased in the statistics from EinsatzgruppeD were the extinguished lives of 90,000 people. Eventually, auxiliaries drawn from the peoples of the USSR, including the recently annexed Baltic States, augmented their ranks. But the judges at Nuremberg maintained that it would have been impossible for members of Einsatzgruppen not to know that murdering civilians was both illegal and immoral. 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. ; 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. To the end, he exhibited hardly any remorse about what he had done. An act of grace from you, Mr. McCloy, would be a great gesture of reconciliation between the American and the German people, and it will never be forgotten.. Educated at a humanistic Gymnasium in Hildesheim, he later studied law at the . We are to proceed with executions unless instructions are received to the contrary. In the summer of 1942 Ohlendorf was transferred from the Soviet Union back to desk work in the RSHA. The High Commissioner listened intently, eyes fixed on his scratch pad. Ohlendorf joined the SD in 1936 and became an economic consultant of the organisation. Ohlendorf, Otto. CONTENT MAY BE COPYRIGHTED BY WIKITREE COMMUNITY MEMBERS. [15] Joining the Einsatzgruppen was an unappealing prospect and Ohlendorf refused twice before his eventual appointment. I wonder what the architect Blobel is thinking down in his cell as he waits to be led out. This was the tragic fulfillment of a program of intolerance and arrogance.Each of the defendants in the dock held a position of responsibility or command in an extermination unit. Because of Ohlendorfs work in this field, petitions for leniency were filed after he was sentenced to death by hanging. "[26][d], Many of the killing operations were personally overseen by Ohlendorf, who wanted to ensure they were "military in character and humane under the circumstances". I am listening half-heartedly, reply in the negative. He was not yet a teenager when Germany suffered a crushing defeat in World War I. 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. Some less common occupations for Americans named Ohlendorf were Clerk and Bookkeeper. This is what passed for compassion within the ranks of the SS. 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 objected to the sentence: The destruction of the Warsaw ghetto, including the deportation or extermination of more than 56,000 Jews, was personally committed by him [Oswald Pohl]. According to Dehler, Pohl destroyed the ghetto but not its inhabitants. After him are Konstantinos Karamanlis, Giovanna of Italy, Compay Segundo, Erich Mielke, Daniel Bovet, and Barbara Stanwyck. Ohlendorf led the mobile SS death squad in Crimea. Translated by Tom Lampert. 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. On September 10, 1947, the US Military Government for Germany created Military Tribunal II-A (later renamed Tribunal II). Arrested by British officials in May 1945 along with members of the short-lived Dnitz government, Ohlendorf supplied much information about the SS and Nazi annihilation policy in Eastern Europe to interrogators. He repeats his caution against frivolity, although for the life of me I cant imagine how or why anyone would become frivolous. The official cameramen photograph the prisoner after one of the GI assistants places the nameplate across the condemned mans chest. Please enter your email address. 100-year-old tried for war crimes: Germany's continued confrontation The routine, carefully prepared in advance, is followed to the letter. There are no newspapermen around prison grounds. To say this is a case of too little too late is a vast understatement. He then concluded: If I can find one honest man in Sodom, Ill save the city!. COL. AMEN: And when was Heydrich's death? Forced at gunpoint to jump down into these pits, they were shot after pleading for their own lives and those of their families and neighbors. Lost your password? This was more than 100,000 men. There is a fire extinguisher resting on a stone ledge at the end of the wall. He has executed scores of criminals and has been flown from Texas to perform his job again. The opinions expressed are his own. [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. [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". It is quiet and orderly; beautifully manicured grounds with only a knoll of American soldiers near the big gates to destroy the illusion of a rest camp. He is obsessed with fear of a suicide attempt. 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. An economist by education, he is head of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) Inland, responsible for intelligence and security within Germany. . 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. ), 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. The 24 defendants in Case #9 were all leading members of Einsatzgruppen that operated on the Eastern Front during World War II. Roughly 600 men (the smallest of the four), drawn from the SS and the various police agencies in the Reich, would serve under him. 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW 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. Now I dont think I can stick it out. On the 31st of January, the High Commissioners final decisions were promulgated and published. Another newspaper calls to inquire whether it is true that the executions will go forward. 2 (a subunit of Einsatzgruppe A), who received a death sentence, was extradited to Belgium. There are new instructions nowa reversal of the previous arrangement. 2346: Graham addresses us briefly. The Sicherheitsdienst (SD) | Holocaust Encyclopedia Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2012. Otto Ohlendorf, the former commandant of Einsatzgruppe D, was sentenced to death for the murder of about 90,000 Jews, Roma, and Sinti after admitting that he had ordered his men to kill children as well as adults. This meant he received an excellent education preparing him for university. 1920: Bickel reports to Fred Hulse, in McCloys office in Frankfort. Photos and Memories (0) Do you know Gustav? 2240: Bickel has telephoned Hulse in Frankfort confirming receipt of cable from Washington. There were threats, too, against McCloys life. ". Hitlers Hangman: The Life of Heydrich. Extermination of all Roma did not happen with the other Special Task Forces until the spring of 1942. Die Einsatzgruppen in der besetzten Sowjetunion 1941/42: Die Ttigkeits-und Lageberichte des Chefs der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD. There is a slight fluff in the air pocket. It is three times as difficult for me as it is for my colleagues, he continued, to plead with you for commutation of the death sentences. 100-year-old tried for war crimes: Germany's continued confrontation with Nazi past The man, who has not been named due to German privacy laws, is charged with "knowingly and willingly" assisting in the murder of 3,518 people as a former SS guard at Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Categories: Death by Hanging | Executed | Nazi Party, World War II | Nazis, WIKITREE HOME | ABOUT | G2G FORUM | HELP | SEARCH. Otto Ohlendorf 1907-1951 - Ancestry Whos Who in Nazi Germany. We hear a murmur, then the soft voice of the medical officer. What did the shift entail? [50], Ohlendorf was called as a witness by the prosecution during the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg on 3 January 1946. 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. Facing History & Ourselves uses lessons of history to challenge teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate. They are followed by the chaplain, wearing a white tunic and reading from his prayer book. With the onset. Otto Ohlendorf. The decision made it harder for the shooter to know who he killed. Thats enough. In June 1941, Reinhard Heydrich appointed Ohlendorf to be commander of Einsatzgruppen D ((mobile killing unit D) which operated in southern Ukraine and Crimea. Obeying Orders | Facing History & Ourselves He says this takes considerable time. It found 20 defendants guilty on all three counts. Find topics of interest and explore encyclopedia content related to those topics, Find articles, photos, maps, films, and more listed alphabetically, Recommended resources and topics if you have limited time to teach about the Holocaust, Explore the ID Cards to learn more about personal experiences during the Holocaust. He explained: Dont you see, we SS men were not supposed to think about these things; it never even occurred to us. I look at him with astonishment. [3] Believing their expertise invaluable, Ohlendorf, Ludwig Erhard, and other experts concerned themselves with how to stabilize German currency after the war. Joseph Stalins calls for partisan warfare in early July 1941 gave the Nazis a pretext for further radicalization. Reference to telephone orders by Himmler days before Hitler's suicide. [22][c], Ohlendorf disliked the use of the oft-employed Genickschu (shot to the back of the neck) and preferred to line up victims and fire at them from a greater distance so as to alleviate personal responsibility for individual murders. Then there is another sound, the sound of the cover being nailed onto the coffin.
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