The trial of the German military command (or, officially, the United States of America v. Wilhelm von Leeb et al ; also known as the OKW process ) was the last of the twelve war crimes trials that the US authorities carried out in their occupation zone in Germany in Nuremberg after the end of World War II .
These twelve trials were carried out by the American military courts, and not by the International Military Tribunal, but were carried out in the same rooms in the Palace of Justice. The twelve American trials are collectively known as the “ Follow Nuremberg Trials, ” or, more formally, the “War Criminal Trials by the Nuremberg Military Tribunals.”
Composition of the Tribunal: President - Judge John C. Young; Members of the Tribunal - Judges Justin W. Harding and Winfield B. Gale. The main prosecutor was General Telford Taylor . The process took place from November 28, 1947 to October 28, 1948.
High-ranking Wehrmacht commanders were accused of this trial, some of them were members of the High Command of the Armed Forces of Nazi Germany . They were accused of participating in, or planning, or aiding in carrying out numerous war crimes and other atrocities committed in countries occupied by German troops during the war.
Admiral General Otto Schnyvind and Field Marshal Luftwaffe Hugo Sperle were acquitted, Colonel General Johannes Blaskowitz committed suicide during the trial, the rest were sentenced to different terms of imprisonment.
Content
Blame
The defendants were charged in four sections:
- Crimes against peace through the planning, preparation, unleashing and waging of aggressive wars against other countries in violation of international treaties, agreements and obligations.
- War crimes , which included liability for murders, ill-treatment and other crimes against prisoners of war and enemy soldiers.
- Crimes against humanity , namely: participation or orders to carry out murders, torture, deportation, hostage taking, etc. in relation to civilians in the occupied territories.
- Participation and organization of the formulation and implementation of the general plan and conspiracy to commit the above crimes.
All defendants were charged in all sections; All the defendants pleaded not guilty. On the fourth charge, the tribunal admitted that the accused jointly carried out the actions and deeds set forth in the remaining sections, but were individually responsible. On the first charge, the tribunal found all the defendants innocent, believing that they did not belong to the political leadership of Nazi Germany.
Defendants list
| Full name | Rank | Position | Accusations | The essence of the charges | Sentence | Subsequent fate | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| one | 2 | 3 | four | ||||||
| Field Marshal | Commander of Army Group North until January 1942. | ABOUT | ABOUT | AT | ABOUT | Enforcement of the “Order of the Commissioners” , the order “On special jurisdiction in the Barbarossa region” , the execution of prisoners of war, the mass killings of civilians, the looting of property. | 3 years in prison | The preliminary conclusion is read, released after the process. He died in 1956. | |
| Field Marshal | Commander of the 3rd Luftwaffe Air Fleet . | ABOUT | ABOUT | ABOUT | ABOUT | Illegal use of labor of prisoners of war and civilians. | Found not guilty | Released after the process. He died in 1953. | |
| Field Marshal | The commander of the 18th Army , later replaced von Leeb as commander of the Army Group North . | ABOUT | AT | AT | ABOUT | Enforcement of the “Order of the Commissioners” , “the Order of the Commandos ”, the order “On special jurisdiction in the Barbarossa region” , murders and ill-treatment, illegal use of prisoners of war and civilians, theft of civilians into slavery, and the looting of property. | 20 years in prison | The sentence was revised in 1951, upheld. He was released in 1953 for medical reasons. He died in 1968. | |
| Colonel General | Commander of the 8th Army in the Polish campaign , then Army Group "G" on the Western Front . | ABOUT | ABOUT | ABOUT | ABOUT | Case dismissed | February 5, 1948 committed suicide during the trial. | ||
| Colonel General | Commander of the 4th Tank Army . | ABOUT | AT | AT | ABOUT | Enforcement of the “Order of the Commissioners” , the order “On special jurisdiction in the Barbarossa region” , ill-treatment of prisoners of war and civilians, cooperation with Einsatzgruppen . | 15 years in prison | The sentence was revised in 1951, upheld. He was released on parole in 1954, the conclusion was fully credited in 1957. He died in 1971. | |
| Colonel General | Commander of the 3rd Panzer Army , later Army Group Center . | ABOUT | AT | AT | ABOUT | Enforcement of the “Order of the Commissioners” , “the Order of the Commandos ”, the order “On special jurisdiction in the Barbarossa region” , the murder, ill-treatment and illegal use of prisoners of war and civilians, theft of civilians into slavery, cooperation with the SD investigation groups , looting . | 15 years in prison | The sentence was revised in 1951, upheld. He was released in 1952 for medical reasons. He died in 1963. | |
| Hans von Salmouth | Colonel General | Commander of the 17th , later 2nd , 4th and 15th armies. | ABOUT | AT | AT | ABOUT | Enforcement of the “Order of the Commissioners” , “the Order of the Commandos ”, the order “On special jurisdiction in the Barbarossa region” , the murder, ill-treatment and illegal use of prisoners of war and civilians, theft of civilians into slavery, cooperation with the SD investigation groups , looting . | 20 years in prison | The sentence was revised in 1951, the term was reduced to 12 years. Released in 1953 for good behavior. He died in 1962. |
| Karl-Adolph Hollidt | Colonel General | Commander of the Hollidt Group , then the 6th Army . | ABOUT | AT | AT | ABOUT | Enforcement of the “Order of the Commissioners” , “the Order of the Commandos ”, the order “On special jurisdiction in the Barbarossa region” , the killing, ill-treatment and illegal use of prisoners of war and civilians, theft of civilians into slavery, and the looting. | 5 years in prison | Released on December 22, 1949 for good behavior. Died in 1985. |
| Admiral General | Chief of the Command Directorate of the High Command Kriegsmarine , Chief of Staff of the Naval War Administration, Fleet Commander | ABOUT | ABOUT | ABOUT | ABOUT | Distribution and execution of the "Decree on military proceedings" , " Order of the commandos ." | Found not guilty | Released after the process. He died in 1964. | |
| Infantry general | Commander of the rear area of Army Group South . | ABOUT | AT | AT | ABOUT | Enforcement of the “Order of the Commissioners” , the order “On special jurisdiction in the Barbarossa region” , murder, ill-treatment of prisoners of war, cooperation with Einsatzgruppes , mass executions, hostage-taking and repression of civilians. | 20 years in prison | He died on December 24, 1949. | |
| Hermann Reinecke | Infantry general | Head of the General Directorate of OKW , Head of the Prisoner of War Service. | ABOUT | AT | AT | ABOUT | Participation in the program for sorting and eliminating prisoners of war together with the security police and SD , cruel treatment of prisoners of war, execution of the " Commando Order ", illegal use of prisoners of war, murders and cruel treatment of civilians, looting property. | Life imprisonment | He was released in 1954. He died in 1973. |
| Artillery general | Deputy chief of staff of the operational management of OKV . | ABOUT | AT | AT | ABOUT | Development and execution of the “Order of the Commissioners” , “the Order of the Commandos ”, the order “On special jurisdiction in the Barbarossa region” , the “Gloom and Fog” directive , murders, ill-treatment, the use of illegal labor of prisoners of war, murders, ill-treatment, theft into slavery of the civilian population, the looting of property. | Life imprisonment | The sentence was revised in 1951, the term was reduced to 18 years. Released in 1954, died in 1976. | |
| Infantry general | Commander of the 8th Army , then Army Group South . | ABOUT | AT | AT | ABOUT | Enforcement of the “Order of the Commissioners” , “the Order of the Commandos ”, the order “On special jurisdiction in the Barbarossa region” , the killing, ill-treatment and illegal use of prisoner of war labor, mass executions, hostage-taking and repression of civilians, theft into slavery civilians, cooperation with Einsatzgruppe , looting. | 8 years in prison | He was released in 1951. He died in 1987. | |
| Colonel General of Justice | Head of Legal Department OKV . | ABOUT | AT | AT | ABOUT | Development of the “Order on the Commissioners” , “the Order on the Commandos ”, the order “On special jurisdiction in the Barbarossa region” , the directive “Gloom and Fog” , the order “On the fight against terror and sabotage”. | 7 years in prison | He was released in 1950. Died in 1955. | |
O - Accused, B - Accused and found guilty
All sentences took into account the time already spent by the defendants in prison from April 7, 1945.
Literature
- Annette Weinke: Die Nürnberger Prozesse . Beck, München 2006, ISBN 3-406-53604-2 .
- Jörg Friedrich: Das Gesetz des Krieges. Das deutsche Heer in Rußland 1941-1945. Der Prozeß gegen das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht. Piper, München u. a. 1993, ISBN 3-492-03116-1 .
- Valerie Geneviève Hébert: Hitler's Generals on Trial: The Last War Crimes Tribunal at Nuremberg. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, 2010. Zusammenfassung und Kritik des Buches: Detlev F. Vagts, American Journal of International Law Bd. 104 (2010), S. 548f.
- The trial of the Supreme High Command of the Hitler Wehrmacht: Sentence of the Fifth American Military Tribunal, delivered in Nuremberg on October 28, 1948 - M .: Progress, 1964.
Links
- Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals, Vol. XII, 1949 on the Library of Congress website.