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The Wilhelmstrasse Case

The Wilhelmstrasse business is the largest of the twelve subsequent Nuremberg trials of 1945-1946. Like all subsequent trials , the Wilhelmstrasse trial was conducted by the American Military Tribunal at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg .

The defendants in this process were large state officials, heads of various ministries and departments of the Third Reich . Since most of these institutions were located in Berlin on the government street Wilhelmstrasse , the process received the informal name "Wilhelmstrasse". In English-language literature, it is most often called the “Ministerial Process”, and its official name was “The United States of America vs. Ernst von Weizsäcker and others” ( Eng. The United States of America vs. Ernst von Weizsäcker et al. ) [1] .

The process began with the announcement of the indictment on November 15, 1947. The hearing lasted from January 6 to November 18, 1948. The verdict was announced on April 11, 1949. Of the 21 defendants, two were acquitted, and the rest were found guilty of at least one of the counts and received sentences of 3 to 25 years in prison.

Preparing for the process

Initially, it was planned to conduct sixteen trials as part of the follow-up to the International Military Tribunal , litigated by the American Military Tribunals in Nuremberg . The eleventh trial (the twelfth was assigned to the case of the Wehrmacht High Command) was to be devoted exclusively to senior officials of the Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs . But it was supposed to carry out three other processes: one against representatives of the Imperial Ministries, the Reich Chancellery and the Chancellery of the Reich President, another against the representatives of the German economic elite and the third against the functionaries of the Main Imperial Security Directorate [2] However, due to lack of money, it was decided to collect everything cases in one and limit the number of accused [3] . In addition, by that time, some of the alleged defendants had either died (for example, Reich Minister of Labor Franz Seldte ), or committed suicide (as Reich Minister of Food and Agriculture Herbert Bakke [4] ).

Defendants

In the front row, from left to right: Ernst von Weizsacker, Gustav Adolf Steengracht van Moyland, Wilhelm Kepler, Ernst Wilhelm Bole. Second row: Otto Dietrich, Gottlob Berger, Walter Schellenberg, Ludwig Schwerin von Krozig.

Of the 21 defendants, eight were senior officers of the Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( Reichsaußenministerium ), four were representatives of industry and banking, including the Imperial Bank ( Reichsbank ), and the Four-Year Plan Office ( Vierjahresplanbehörde ), the rest were representatives of the Reich Chancellery ( Reichskanzlezlei ) ( Presidialkanzlei ) (since 1935 - “Office of the Reichspresident”), the Imperial Ministry of Food and Agriculture ( Reichsministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft ), the Imperial Ministry of Finance ( Reichsfinanzministerium ), The Imperial Ministry of War Industry ( Reichsministerium für Rüstung und Kriegsproduktion ), the Imperial Ministry of Education and Advocacy ( Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda ), the Imperial Ministry of the Interior ( Reichsministerium des Innern ), the General Imperial Security Administration ( Reichsministerium des Innern ) Hauptamt ). The representative of the latter (G. Berger) also represented the Imperial Ministry of the Occupied Eastern Territories ( Reichsministerium für die besetzten Ostgebiete ).

  1. Weizsacker, Ernst von - State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (04/01/1938 - 03/31/1943), Head of the Political Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1936-1938), German Ambassador to the Papal Court in the Vatican (05/05/1943), SS brigadeführer .
  2. Steengracht van Moyland, Gustav Adolf - State Secretary of the Foreign Ministry of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (03/31/1943 - 05/08/1945), head of the protocol department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (from October 1938), member of the Personal Staff and chief adjutant of the Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs I. f. Ribbentrop in the rank of messenger of the 1st class (since 1941).
  3. Keppler, Wilhelm Karl - State Secretary for Special Assignments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1938–1945), entrepreneur, member of the board of various companies, representative of the NSDAP economic policy (since 1932), A. Hitler ’s economic affairs representative (since July 1933), personal representative G. Goering and at the same time the head of the planning department in the Office for the four-year plan , Obergruppenführer SS .
  4. Bole, Ernst Wilhelm - State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (01/30/1937 - 11/14/1941), Head of the NSDAP Foreign Organization with the rank of Gauleiter (05/08/1933 - 05/08/1945) and Commissioner for Foreign Party Organizations of the NSDAP in the Headquarters of the Deputy Führer (from 03/10/1933 ), Obergruppenführer SS .
  5. Werman, Ernst - junior state secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1940-1943) and head of the Political Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( April 1, 1938 - 1943 ).
  6. Ritter, Karl - ambassador for special assignments to the Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs I. von Ribbentrop , in 1940-1945. - Liaison officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the High Command of the Wehrmacht.
  7. Erdmansdorf, Otto von - Ministerial Executive Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, since September 1941 - Deputy Head of the Political Department of the Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  8. Weesenmeier, Edmund - Plenipotentiary Representative of the Reich in Hungary (03/18/1944 - August 1944), brigadefuhrer SS .
  9. Lammers, Hans Heinrich - Head of the Imperial Chancellery with the rank of Imperial Secretary of State (01/30/1933 - 11/26/1937), Reich Minister without portfolio and chief of the Imperial Chancellery (11/26/1937 - 1944), Deputy Chairman of the Reich Defense Council (from 11/30/1939 ), Obergruppenführer SS .
  10. Stuckart, Wilhelm - State Secretary of the Imperial Ministry of the Interior for Administration and Law (06/30/1935 - 04/30/1945), Reich Minister of the Interior (05/03/1945 - 05/23/1945), Obergruppenfuhrer SS .
  11. Darre, Richard Walter - Reichsleiter and Head of the Imperial NSDAP Department for Agrarian Policy (04/04/1933 - 04/01/1944), Imperial Head of Peasants (05/29/1933 - 04/01/1944), Reich Minister of Food and Agriculture (04/04/1933 - 04/01/1944 ), Obergruppenführer SS .
  12. Meissner, Otto - head of the Office of the Reich President (04/01/1920 - 04/30/1945), State Secretary of the Imperial Government (since 1923), Reich Minister without a portfolio (1937-1945).
  13. Dietrich, Otto - Reichsleiter , NSDAP press secretary (08/01/1931 - 03/31/1945), imperial NSDAP press chief (from 02/28/1934), imperial government spokesman (11/26/1937 - 03/31/1945), imperial state secretary Ministry of Education and Propaganda and President of the Imperial Press Chamber (April 1938 - 03/31/1945), Obergruppenführer SS .
  14. Berger, Gottlob - Head of the Main Directorate of the SS (04/01/1940 - 05/08/1945), State Secretary (July 1942-1944) and Head of the Political Department (1943-1945) of the Imperial Ministry of the Eastern Occupied Territories , senior leader of the SS and police in Slovakia ( 08/31/1944 to 09/20/1944), the chief commander of the reserve troops under the SS Reichsfuhrer G. Himmler and the supreme head of the Service for Prisoners of War (10/31/1944), chief of staff of the German Volkssturm (from 09/25/1944), SS Obergruppenfuhrer and general of the SS troops .
  15. Schellenberg, Walter Friedrich - Head of the VI Directorate of the Main Imperial Security Directorate (Foreign Intelligence) (02.24.1943 - May 1945; 07/02/1941 - acting), SS brigadeführer and police major general, major general of the SS troops.
  16. Schwerin von Krozig, Ludwig (Lutz) Johann - Reich Minister of Finance (02/02/1932 - 05/23/1945), member of the Reich Defense Council (1935-1945), Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs and. about. Reich Chancellor (05/02/1945 - 05/23/1945).
  17. Poole, Emil Johan - Director and Vice President of the Reichsbank , State Secretary of the Imperial Government ( February 11, 1939 - May 8, 1945 ).
  18. Körner, Paul - State Secretary of the Office for the Four-Year Plan (10/22/1936 - 1945), Chairman of the General Council of the Office (1939-1942), Deputy Chief of Staff of the Vostok Economic Management (1941-1945), Obergruppenführer SS .
  19. Pleiger, Paul - head of the planning and production department at the Office for the Four-Year Plan , general director of the German Goering concern and chairman of the board of the companies belonging to the concern, general commissioner for coal industry in the occupied territories and the imperial commissioner of industry in the eastern regions in the system of the Imperial Ministry of Arms and ammunition, member of the Council of the defense industry, guard of the NSDAP , Prussian state adviser.
  20. Curl, Hans - Head of the Planning and Raw Materials Directorate of the Imperial Ministry of Arms and Ammunition (1943-1945), one of the leaders of the German Goering concern, general assistant of the Imperial Ministry of Economics, SS brigadeführer .
  21. Rache, Karl - General Director of the Dresdener Bank (Dresdener Bank), Chairman of the Supervisory Boards of dozens of companies and banks, Obersturmbannführer SS .

Indictment

The indictment of November 15, 1947 contained the following points:

  1. Crimes against peace, planning and conducting aggressive wars against other countries and violation of international treaties;
  2. Participation, organization and execution of the general plan and conspiracy to commit the above crimes against peace;
  3. War crimes: killings and ill-treatment of the enemy and prisoners of war;
  4. Crimes against humanity: atrocities and crimes against German citizens for political, racial and religious reasons from 1933 to 1939;
  5. War crimes and crimes against humanity: atrocities and criminal acts committed against civilians in occupied countries;
  6. War crimes and crimes against humanity: robberies and robberies in the occupied territories;
  7. War crimes and crimes against humanity: deportations, forced labor and ill-treatment of the civilian population in Germany and in occupied countries, as well as prisoners of war;
  8. Membership in criminal organizations (SS, SD, Gestapo, the leadership of the NSDAP).

The court rejected paragraph No. 2 due to lack of evidence, as well as paragraph No. 4, stating that its consideration was outside its jurisdiction as it relates to events that took place before the outbreak of war.

Court and Prosecution

 
Judges in the Wilhelmstrasse case (from left to right): Member of the Court Leon Powers, President of the Court William Christianson and Member of the Court Robert Maguire

The trial was presided over by William Christianson, a former judge of the Supreme Court in Minnesota who was already involved in one of the Nuremberg trials ( Flick trial (Case No. 5)). Other judges included Robert Maguire, a district judge in Oregon, and Leon Powers, who had recently resigned from Denison, Iowa , who was a judge in the Iowa High Court from 1934 to 1936.

Robert Kempner acted as the main prosecutor at the trial, and the Rawlings Ragland supported the indictment against economic accused.



Sentence

No.DefendantsA photoSentence

(April 11, 1949)

Notes
one.Weizsacker, Ernst von 7 years in prisonreleased in 1950
2.Steengracht van Moyland, Gustav Adolf 7 years in prisonreleased at the end of January 1950
3.Keppler, Wilhelm Karl 10 years in prisonsubsequently reduced to 5 years and 9 months in prison, released on 02/01/1951
four.Bole, Ernst Wilhelm 5 years in prisonreleased 12/21/1949
five.Werman, Ernst7 years in prisonreleased 01/18/1950
6.Ritter, Karl4 years in prisonreleased early
7.Erdmannsdorf, Otto vonjustifiedfreed
eight.Weesenmayer, Edmund 20 years in prisonsubsequently reduced to 10 years in prison, released on 12/15/1951
9.Lammers, Hans Heinrich 20 years in prisonin January 1951, the sentence was reduced to 10 years in prison, released on 12/15/1951
ten.Stuckart, Wilhelm 3 years, 10 months and 20 daysreleased in January 1951
eleven.Darre, Richard Walter 7 years in prisonreleased on 09/05/1950
12.Meissner, Otto justifiedfreed
13.Dietrich, Otto 7 years in prisonreleased 08/16/1950
14.Berger, Gottlob 25 years in prison01/31/1951 term reduced to 10 years in prison, released on 12/16/1951
15.Schellenberg, Walter 6 years in prisonreleased in December 1950
sixteen.Schwerin von Krozig, Ludwig 10 years in prisonsubsequently reduced to 5 years and 9 months in prison, released on 01/31/1951
17.Poole, Emil 5 years in prisonreleased 12/21/1949
18.Körner, Paul 15 years in prisonsubsequently reduced to 10 years in prison, released on 12/15/1951
nineteen.Pleiger, Paul15 years in prisonsubsequently reduced to 9 years in prison, released in March 1951
20.Curl, Hans 15 years in prisonsubsequently reduced to 5 years and 9 months in prison, released on 02/03/1951
21.Rache Carl 7 years in prisonreleased in August 1950

Notes

  1. ↑ Unlike the main process, these cases were not heard by the International Military Tribunal , representing all 4 allies, but the “Nuremberg Military Tribunal”, created only by the US military command in accordance with the law given by the Control Commission to all allies, to independently judge the Nazis within their occupation zone ( Nuremberg was part of the American zone). Accordingly, the cases were formulated as “United States Against ...”, and prosecutors and investigators were also Americans. Hearings in all cases took place in the same Nuremberg Palace of Justice as the main trial.
  2. ↑ Dirk Pöppmann: Robert Kempner und Ernst von Weizsäcker im Wilhelmstraßenprozess. Zur Diskussion über die Beteiligung der deutschen Funktionselite an den NS-Verbrechen. In: Irmtrud Wojak / Susanne Meinl: Im Labyrinth der Schuld, Frankfurt aM 2003, S. 166.
  3. ↑ Dirk Pöppmann: Robert Kempner und Ernst von Weizsäcker im Wilhelmstraßenprozess, aaO, S. 172.
  4. ↑ Former Reich Minister of Food and Agriculture Herbert Ernst Bakke hanged himself in a cell in Nuremberg prison on April 6, 1947 while in custody awaiting trial.

Links

  •   Wikimedia Commons has media related to the Case of Wilhelmstrasse
  • [one]
  • [2]
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  • [five]
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  • [7]
  • https://web.archive.org/web/20100918022954/http://www.nachfolgeprozesse.nuernberg.de/prozesse/prozesse12.html
  • United States v. Ernst von Weizaecker, et al. on the website of the Holocaust Memorial Museum (USA) .

Literature

  • Robert Kempner, “The Accuser of the Epoch”: Memories of Life. In collaboration with Yogt Friedrich. Ulstein Publishing House. Frankfurt / Berlin, Vienna, 1983 (Robert MW Kempner: Ankläger einer Epoche. Lebenserinnerungen. In Zusammenarbeit mit Jörg Friedrich. Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin, Wien 1983, ISBN 3-548-33076-2 ).
  • C. Tuerck (Hg.): Das Urteil im Wilhelmstrassen-Prozess. München 1950.
  • NATIONAL ARCHIVES COLLECTION OF WORLD WAR II WAR CRIMES RECORDS
  • Records of the US Nuernberg War Crimes Trials RG 238: Ernst von Weizsaecker et al. (Case XI), Nov. 4, 1947 - Apr. 14, 1949. Microfilm Publication M897 (Ministries Case). 173 rolls.
Source - https://ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wilhelmstrasse_ business&oldid = 97193458


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Clever Geek | 2019