[25] One of Ohlendorf's most trusted "proper" military-style murderers, SS-Haupsturmfhrer Lothar Heimbach, once exclaimed, "A man is the lord over life and death when he gets an order to shoot three hundred childrenand he kills at least one hundred fifty himself. Another defendant, Rudolf Hss, the commandant at Auschwitz, used the same defense. Schmidt had participated actively in these atrocities and it had been necessary to restrain him because he frequently assumed greater authority than he actually possessed. Ohlendorf joined the SD in 1936 and became an economic consultant of the organisation. I am listening half-heartedly, reply in the negative. I have a sinking feeling as I realize that in all probability seven men will be hanged in a little while, and that I am to witness the spectacle. The army set up a parallel line of communication with the Pentagon, via General Handys Heidelberg head-quarters. 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? After his sentencing, Ohlendorf told him: The Jews in America will suffer for this.. On Jan. 3, 1946, Col. John Amen, Assistant American Associate Trial Counsel at the Nuremberg Trial, called Otto Ohlendorf as a witness. 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. 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. as adjutant general and quartermaster general, etc. He died on 3 March 1989, in Riedlingen, Biberach, Baden-Wrttemberg, Germany, at the age of 96. There is still debate about how much local initiative taken by the leaders of the Einsatzgruppenand other SS officials (like the Higher SS and Police Leaders) pushed Berlin to broaden and escalate the violence from mass murder to genocidal destruction. And, he went on, American-German relations would improve greatly if the Landsberg death sentences were commuted. Otto Ohlendorf on Trial Chief among the SS officials put on trial following the conviction of the surviving Nazi government ministers were the commanders and senior staff of the four Einsatzgruppen that operated on the Eastern Front in conjunction with the Wehrmacht. Instead of engaging in the individual Genickschuss, a shot to the nape of the neck, Ohlendorf decided to have his men fire on those rounded up from a distance. Bickel says he will not be a witness. He was sentenced to death on 08-04-1948 and 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. Will I be able to perform this simple act? For dessert they had fresh cherries. Whos Who in Nazi Germany. Germany has come a very long way since then. On February 1, a special messenger delivered an urgent dispatch from the Federal Minister of Justice, Thomas Dehler, in Bonn. Mr. McCloys mail was marked by an increasingly large number of appeals for clemency, both signed and anonymous, and soon these appeals assumed the proportions of an avalanche. Soon, the five foot five airman would make US military aviation history. There is a telephone call. Graham gets his retirement discharge next week. 2008 - 2023 INTERESTING.COM, INC. There was one case in which the criminal admitted to having killed 60,000. Heinz Jost: Jost was in charge of Einsatzgruppe A. 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 obliquely mentioned this letter's existence at his trial in 1947 but this British interrogation provides more detail. The judges agreed that members of the Einsatzgruppen had not been threatened with physical harm if they did not murder their victims. 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. The tradition dated back to the 19th century. Fighting the Allies during the North African campaign of 1942-1943, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommels Afrika Korps (DAK) was resupplied by a concerted air and sea lift effort. He seems calm and placid as a lake. On the other side, Heinrich Himmler, who detested the state interventionstregime of Albert Speer as totally bolshevik and was himself hoping for a career in a militarily defeated Germany, protected the working group around Ohlendorf, Ludwig Erhard. American officials finally executed Otto Ohlendorf in June 1951. 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. Gustav Ohlendorf (1892-1989) FamilySearch "Our aim," said Ohlendorf, "was not to put up any resistance, but to let the Allies advance as far as the ELBE, having first concluded a tacit agreement that they'd halt there and thus to cover our rear for the continuation of the struggle against the East. 2235: Graham is discussing the business of last rites. Each chaplain is allowed all the time he needs in the cell with the condemned man before he is led to the gallows. 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. Presumably they are working on McCloy. Few defendants at any of the trials denied the accusations made against them, and often their own testimony was used to convict them. What other motivations might have contributed to their participation in mass murder? Case #9 is usually referred to as the Einsatzgruppen Case. Nazi sons Niklas Frank and Horst von Wachter look back at 'What Our Otto Ohlendorf is born February 4, 1907 in Hoheneggelsen, Province of Hanover, Prussia, German Empire. I am glad to talk. Articles describing the fine personal qualities of the war criminals were published by their wives, and a few mass-circulation magazines took to printing similar pieces by the families or former associates of top-rung Nazi leaders who had been executed long before. 14 officials of other Nazi organizations that engaged in racial persecution. 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW Ferencz, now 96, pointed out that right after the war, this refusal to admit guilt or show any compassion to the victims was widespread. How does Doris Bergens statement that the Nazis did not force people to be killers affect your opinion of the way Hss and Ohlendorf explain their choices? Our small talk is mostly about McCloy and his amazing courage. Each defendant pleaded not guilty. Even those who admitted playing a role in the mass killings denied their culpability. 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. Copyright 2023 Facing History & Ourselves. EinsatzgruppeDs zone of operations covered, initially, Bukovina and Bessarabia (territories seized from Romania by Joseph Stalin), then southern Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula. There are new instructions nowa reversal of the previous arrangement. . The High Commissioner listened intently, eyes fixed on his scratch pad. Please enter your email address. Ehlers called on the next speaker, Dr. Walter Strauss, of the Ministry of Justice. The public reaction to McCloys announcement was exactly as anticipated. . Birth 4 Feb 1907 - Unavailable. He is obsessed with fear of a suicide attempt. Nineteen nations expressed their adherence to this agreement, and the trials were conducted by quadripartite tribunals at Nuremberg in 1946 and 1947. In November 1944 he was promoted again to Gruppenfhrer. I think of the evil conspiracies which have been hatched within these high walls. 2147: Bickel receives confirmation from Frankfort: proceed with executions. He says: Thats it, boys. The suppers were served by GIs. CONTENT MAY BE COPYRIGHTED BY WIKITREE COMMUNITY MEMBERS. Ohlendorf took part in Himmlers flight from Flensburg and was arrested with him near Lneburg, where Himmler committed suicide. How silent it has become. Dr. Fine, he says. 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.. Radio cars were in the prison compound in anticipation of a possible breakdown of telephone communications. No newsmen will be admitted to the executions, by unanimous decision of the High Commissioners staff and General Handys advisers. There is a report from Bonn that the Ministry of Justice is working frantically for a last minute reprieve. Otto Ohlendorf 1907-1951 - Ancestry Otto Friedrich Ohlendorf (1893-1976) FamilySearch The 11th Army of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedts Army Group South, to which Ohlendorfs unit was attached, bore responsibility for providing EinsatzgruppeD with food, lodging, gasoline, and taking care of maintenance and repair of its motor vehicles. 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. There were threats, too, against McCloys life. Explore resources that meet the Massachusetts History and Social Science Framework. . It would be far better to keep them in prison as an example to future generations. 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. He repeats his caution against frivolity, although for the life of me I cant imagine how or why anyone would become frivolous. 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. 4, 1950, p. 30. Ohlendorf said that Gestapo Chief Heinrich Mueller was "ordered to stay in Berlin as long as the FHRER remained there, as he shared responsibility for the FHRER's safety."