otto ohlendorf descendants

I watch a woman pushing a baby carriage across the street and well outside the range of the prison gates. They are brought in on huge trays by a young prisoner whose face could be that of a friendly, smiling Kansas farmer. Oswald Pohl, who received more support than any of his fellow prisoners, although his crimes (i.e., the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto) were among the worst, had great success with a booklet called The Way to God in which he explained his reason for converting to the Catholic faith. 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. 2249: Graham answers the telephone. One telegram to Graham pleads for the privilege of hanging in place of Pohl. Afterwards, Ohlendorf secured a position as director of research at the Institute for World Economy and Maritime Transport in Kiel. ", Historian Martin Gilbert reported that in front of the Nuremberg Tribunal, Ohlendorf described the use of gas vans for killing operations as "unpleasant" and that the, "Story 34Mass Murderers Seek to Justify Genocide (19461949)", Otto Ohlendorf, Einsatzgruppe D, and the Holocaust by Bullets, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Otto_Ohlendorf&oldid=1149039801, This page was last edited on 9 April 2023, at 20:51. 10, Trials of War Criminals before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals, vol. After the sentencing, Ferencz decided to meet with Ohlendorf in a courtroom holding cell. Reichsfhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler once characterized Ohlendorf as "an unbearable Prussian" who was "without humour". 0004: Britt springs the trap. Subsequently, he was a witness during the proceedings of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. On January 2, 1942, Ohlendorf reported that his unit had killed 17,645 Jews between November 16 and December 15, 1941, in western Crimea. He shakes hands also with Bickel when I introduce them. However, Dehlers letter contributed to delaying the executions four more months, until the 7th of June, 1951. Two of the men have fathers who were high-up servants of Hitler and soaked in the blood of the Holocaust. The IMT prosecuted German leaders for international crimes defined in the Nuremberg Charter. Students deepen their thinking about memory and identity by reflecting on the stories of Holocaust and Armenian Genocide survivors and their descendants. For dessert they had fresh cherries. Writer was one Frederick Wiehl, Pohls counsel in Germany: There will be no execution on Tuesday. My eyes are fixed on the rope. Over 90,000 murders are attributed to Ohlendorfs command, who testified to this effect during his trial at Nuremberg. For Germanys most famous Nazi hunter, the behavior of those relatively few mass murderers who were ever held to account for their crimes was exasperating for another reason. To say this is a case of too little too late is a vast understatement. Educated at a humanistic Gymnasium in Hildesheim, he later studied law at the . He is amazingly efficient and cold-blooded. [43], Ohlendorf devoted only four years (19391943) of full-time activity to the RSHA, for in 1943, in addition to his other jobs, he became a deputy director general in the Reich Ministry of economic affairs. Otto Ohlendorf joined the Nazi Party in 1925 and in 1926. Each one was charged with committing all three counts between June 1941 and July 1943. The Supreme Court has rejected final appeal, Justice Robert Jackson (who served as chief prosecutor in the Nuremberg trials) abstaining after disqualifying himself. 2359: One minute before midnight. His hand is moist, clammy. Fourteen of the thirty-two men who served as judges in these tribunals had sat in the highest courts of their home states, eleven had sat in state appellate or trial courts, and the others included a law school dean and several eminent bar association members. The JAG lieutenant colonel seated next to me whispers, there but for the grace of God go I. We left the death chamber after Schmidt, of Buchenwald infamy, had been pronounced dead and after I had signed the affidavits as the governments official witness. Jason Dawsey, PhD, is a Research Historian at the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. I have photographs of the seven men in my hands. Hans Theodor Schmidt was trailed and hanged in Landsberg prison, on 07-06-1951, age 51.. The resources Im getting from my colleagues through Facing History have been just invaluable. Ohlendorfs record as the leader of EinsatzgruppeD in 1941-42 places him among the most fanatical and efficient of these ideological fighters. According to recent scholarship, his unit and the three others operating behind and alongside the German Army murdered between 1.5 and 2 million Jews. 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. Few defendants at any of the trials denied the accusations made against them, and often their own testimony was used to convict them. Students develop a contract establishing a reflective classroom community as they prepare to explore the historical case study of this unit. The Germans knew what had happened to thembut they did not know, they did not want to know what had happened to other people. This tribunal was tasked with trying Case #9 of the. 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. The suppers were served by GIs. He says, whatever I have done, I did as a soldier who obeyed orders. 2354: Nine minutes left. 0015: I make my way down the steps to call Bickel. Millions were killed in these camps, and hundreds of thousands died from malnutrition, overwork, and other excesses. 14 officials of other Nazi organizations that engaged in racial persecution. Ohlendorf. . He says: Thats it, boys. 100-year-old tried for war crimes: Germany's continued confrontation Like other talented academics such as Helmut Knochen and Franz Six, Ohlendorf had been recruited by SD talent scouts. And the way we treat them.. 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. They came from every state in West Germany, and even from the United States. They did not need commands. The chief prosecutor was 27-year-old Ben Ferencz. It is a report from Denmark, of all places, to the effect that the men have already been executed. . He says the big brass has conferred, McCloy has talked with General Handy. 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. At the Arcadia Conference, held in Washington, DC, from December 24, 1941 to January 14, 1942, the Western Allies agreed to a Germany First policy to govern global strategy, but the question where to engage Germany, and when, remained unsettled. We are to stand at attention during the hangings. . Britt removes it, places it back on the mans head for the second time, tightens it with the knot at the nape of the neck. Leave a message for others who see this profile. With Ohlendorf, he apparently was briefed by Heydrich on the new phase in mid-August during a visit to Berlin. Ninety-nine out of one hundred of these communications showed as much understanding of the cases as your dog, Professor Schmid.. Dr. Birth 4 Feb 1907 - Unavailable. He had had no previous experience as a governor in such problems, although he was, as a lawyer, trained in legal procedures. Describes how the neck is broken in the fall, how the stomach bulges . I have lost my parents, my relatives and friends in the concentration camps. Soon, the five foot five airman would make US military aviation history. I tell him I will be down to make a call after the first drop. He coordinated plans to rebuild the German economy after the war. As the leader of EinsatzgruppeD, Otto Ohlendorf was responsible for the murder of 90,000 Soviet Jews, Roma, and Communists. He explained: Dont you see, we SS men were not supposed to think about these things; it never even occurred to us. 2147: Bickel receives confirmation from Frankfort: proceed with executions. The executioners, frequently intoxicated, became more and more numb to the end results of their deeds. 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. He believes that the executions will do no harm politically and will prove that we meant to carry out our war aims, regardless of the fact that we now want the Germans to oppose Communism. They killed on their own. The trial ran from September 29, 1947, to February 12, 1948. 08-06-1951, age 44, hangedat theLandsberg PrisoninBavaria. 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. . Emil Hausmann committed suicide. Some 20 newspaper-men have converged on the Hotel Goggol, the towns leading hotel, where they are waiting for news and filing background and human interest stories. He is obsessed with fear of a suicide attempt. 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. [46], In May 1945, Ohlendorf participated in Himmler's flight from Flensburg. 0003: The chaplain reads a prayer. ; Crimes against humanity: extermination, enslavement, rape, persecution on political, racial, or religious grounds whether or not such persecution violated the laws of the country in which it was perpetrated; membership in organizations declared criminal by the International Military Tribunal (that a man had acted pursuant to the order of his government or of a superior does not free him from responsibility for a crime, but may be considered in mitigation). Another defendant, Rudolf Hss, the commandant at Auschwitz, used the same defense. Dehler indicated that an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court would be based on these alleged mistakes. [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. There, he was sentenced to death and died in Belgian custody. 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. The waiter is a former Malmdy murderer, one of Pfeiffers flunkeys. Otto Ohlendorf was the Head of Amt lll of the Reich Main Security Office during the Second World War and organiser of mass murders in the Southern Ukraine in 1941 and 1942. The Testimony of SS General Otto Ohlendorf, Einsatzgruppe D 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. The mass murder of Jews by Ohlendorfs men continued into 1942. Graham says prisoners have been gaining weight on the excellent prison fare. 2350: I look into the telephone shack to see exactly where I have to call Bickel after the first drop. He hangs up. The Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness, 56 high-ranking SS and other police officers, including 24 leaders of the, 23 doctors who participated in the Nazi medical killing program that targeted mentally and physically disabled people and conducted experiments on camp prisoners; and. 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. I ask him if he will pronounce the men dead. A tall, gray-faced woman is signing out. Otto Ohlendorf - Axis History Forum And for providing the also rapidly dwindling number of Holocaust survivors the chance to face their tormenters. In the summer of 1942 Ohlendorf was transferred from the Soviet Union back to desk work in the RSHA. Thus, his entire socialization as a young man occurred within the organizations of the Nazi Party. The rope dangles slightly, then suddenly is very still. 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. 2 (a subunit of Einsatzgruppe A), who received a death sentence, was extradited to Belgium. Claudia Bautista,Santa Monica, Calif. You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. The tradition dated back to the 19th century. The commandant, Colonel Graham, cigar between his teeth, is darting about, a sheaf of papers in one hand. Ferencz, now 96, pointed out that right after the war, this refusal to admit guilt or show any compassion to the victims was widespread. He was sentenced to death on 08-04-1948 and. There is a fire extinguisher resting on a stone ledge at the end of the wall. The High Commissioner therefore undertook a review of the sentences with the help of an Advisory Board on Clemency which began work in Washington early in 1950, and continued in Munich in July 1950. JAG officers speculate on how any judge in Frankfort could have granted an appeal, with full knowledge of the facts. I return to Grahams office. He had studied the cases not with any political considerations in mind but purely in judicial terms. He says, yes, yes, yes, right, OK, ONeill, thanks, OK. How are you feeling? Schmidt had been in charge of Buchenwald for three years. We were all so trained to obey orders without even thinking that the thought of disobeying an order would simply never have occurred to anybody, and somebody else would have done just as well if I hadnt. Ohlendorf, Otto. - WW2 Gravestone Blobel is dressed for death. [41] His commitment to the Nazi cause kept him in Ukraine longer than any of his comrades, and while he may have disliked the political direction in which Germany was headed, he never registered complaints about murdering Jews. 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. The town is tense with excitement but no real trouble is expected. A former Newsweek foreign correspondent and editor, Andrew Nagorski is the author of The Nazi Hunters, which will be released on May 10. The crimes they committed were crimes against you. 945 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 70130info@nationalww2museum.org If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA. 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. 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. In 19411943, Einsatzgruppen conducted mass shootings of hundreds of thousands of Jews, Communists, and others during Nazi Germanys campaign against the Soviet Union. He seems calm and placid as a lake. [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". In the United States, there was sharp criticism of the decisions as having been too lenient, while in Germany, McCloy was attacked for having been too severe. I tell him Blobel has been pronounced dead at 0014, June 7. One of the lieutenant colonels from Heidelberg offers odds of 6 to 5 that it wont happen tonight. These, in turn, were handed over to Himmler and Hitler. Heinrich Hoefler, a founder of the Christian Democratic party, based his appeal on humanitarian grounds. I wonder how he can sleep with himself. How did Heydrich ascertain the blood-drenched progress of the Special Task Forces? The colonel takes the center of the floor. 2100: Graham is excited over report from Munich newspaper to the effect that there has been another stay of execution. 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." 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. Then: Any news? Hulse tells him that counsel for the criminals in Washington has brought the case before the Supreme Court, in session at this moment3 P.M. Washington timeasking for another stay of execution. [6], Ohlendorf joined the SD in 1936 and became an economic consultant of the organisation. Whos Who in Nazi Germany. It just seemed a necessity. Ferencz says his goal from the beginning was to affirm the rule of law and deter similar crimes from ever. He died on 3 March 1989, in Riedlingen, Biberach, Baden-Wrttemberg, Germany, at the age of 96. Is their defense persuasive to you? [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. The Registrar sits very still, his legs crossed, staring at the gallows. Third mistake: Pohl was a man of many titles . Start your risk free trial with unlimited access. . how it requires 15 to 19 minutes in some cases for final consummation. He says we must realize the seriousness of the occassion. An economist by education, he was head of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) Inland, responsible for intelligence and security within Germany. Mother Unavailable. Case #9 is usually referred to as the Einsatzgruppen Case. BillionGraves FREE Dr. Phil Otto Ohlendorf, 1879 - 1913 was born in 1879. Otto Ohlendorf (1907-1951) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree Ohlendorf obliquely mentioned this letter's existence at his trial in 1947 but this British interrogation provides more detail. Holmes starts discussing the injustices of the law. [13], In June 1941, Reinhard Heydrich appointed Ohlendorf to be commander of Einsatzgruppe D,[14] which operated in southern Ukraine and Crimea. Lincoln and Jerusalem: University of Nebraska Press and Yad Vashem, 2004. I was there myself, Excellency. I look at him with astonishment. Otto Ohlendorf, one of the most notorious SS officials in Nazi Germany, was captured and interrogated extensively after the war. 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 An officer reports that hes taking a bath. General William H. Simpson, commander of Ninth Army, has received little attention in the historiography of World War II. To put it bluntly, this was a coordinated effort of mass killing enacted by the SS-led Special Task Force and the Wehrmacht. [3] Ohlendorf was active in the National Socialist Students' League in both Kiel and Gttingen and taught at the Nazi Party's school in Berlin. This meant he received an excellent education preparing him for university. . Modern mechanized armies need a robust logistics chain to provide fuel, ammunition, and other sinews of war to sustain combat operations. Twenty-two of the defendants were tried. No, he says rather unhappily. Blobel speaks in a detached, remote voice. We may be seated and smoke after each drop. The queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach comes back. The decision made it harder for the shooter to know who he killed. 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. An economist by education, he was head of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) Inland, responsible for intelligence and security within Germany. However, Ohlendorf, suspecting Roma of sabotage and aiding resistance activity, murdered them wherever he found them. All of the remaining convicted defendants in this case were released from prison in 1958. He then concluded: If I can find one honest man in Sodom, Ill save the city!. Otto Ohlendorf Biography - German SS officer and Holocaust perpetrator The latter have invented stories about how their husbands are being mistreated. . The sergeant aide is looking into the pit where architect Blobel is hanging. They report to the commandant, Colonel Graham. . He nods. I really never gave much thought to whether it was wrong. Attached to the SS with the rank of SS-Hauptsturmfhrer, by 1939, he had obtained the rank of SS-Standartenfhrer and was appointed as head of Amt III (SD-domestic branch), of the Reichs Main Security RSHA ) , a position he kept until 1945. . He was the leader of the SS in Austria prior to the Anschluss and played a principal role in the betrayal of his native country to the Nazi conspirators. Radio cars were in the prison compound in anticipation of a possible breakdown of telephone communications. The court examined Ohlendorf concerning Einsatzgruppen operations in particular. 2346: Graham addresses us briefly. Ohlendorf said that Himmler until the very end believed that an agreement could be struck and that he hoped to be the Allies' "confidence man in Europe. [55], Despite his attempts to establish moral equivalency for atrocities upon the Allies, Otto Ohlendorf was convicted of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during World War II. That was the mentality.. He tweets @AndrewNagorski. The Military Tribunals, Mr. McCloy went on, had been set up by men of peace, good will, and great character. I ask. . 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.

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