Facing History & Ourselves uses lessons of history to challenge teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate. It was likely a final attempt to split the Anglo-Soviet alliance. Germany, 1951: Solidarity with Nazi mass murderers - DW There is insufficient attention paid to the long history of the Roma within European culture. EinsatzgruppeDs zone of operations covered, initially, Bukovina and Bessarabia (territories seized from Romania by Joseph Stalin), then southern Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula. Each chaplain is allowed all the time he needs in the cell with the condemned man before he is led to the gallows. After his sentencing, Ohlendorf told him: The Jews in America will suffer for this.. To put it bluntly, this was a coordinated effort of mass killing enacted by the SS-led Special Task Force and the Wehrmacht. USA.gov, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration They murdered on their own.. The Einsatzgruppen were special task forces of the SS and Police. Each month, a courier brought the written reports directly to Berlin. 0007: Borom says he wishes there were a seven-man gallows. The SS and police now pursued, rounded up, and executed women, children, and the elderly. 504-528-1944, Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy, Two Moments of Remorse for Nazi Crimes: Willy Brandt, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and the Memory of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Operation FLAX, April 1943: Severing the German, General William H. Simpsons Ninth US Army and the Crossing of the Rhine, Black Volunteer Infantry Platoons in World War II, Kasserine Pass: German Offensive, American Victory. He adds one thought, that none of us likes this business but weve got to go through with it. This was more than 100,000 men. He was the only top Nazi to be tried and hanged by the Israelis. After leaving Flensburg on the 9th, he regularly sent a man to Ohlendorf to see if Montgomery had replied. He repeats his caution against frivolity, although for the life of me I cant imagine how or why anyone would become frivolous. Ohlendorf, Naumann, Blobel, and Braune were hanged on June 7, 1951. I ask. The following diary records events of that night and of the following morning, Wednesday, June 7, on a 24-hour clock (7 P.M. is equivalent to 1900 hours, etc.). Father Unavailable. Otto Ohlendorf is born February 4, 1907 in Hoheneggelsen, Province of Hanover, Prussia, German Empire. He will take phone calls in Grahams office. 47% of Ohlendorf men worked as a Farmer and 40% of Ohlendorf women worked as a Housekeeper. [30] During September 1941, Ohlendorf's group slaughtered 22,467 Jews and communists at Mykolaiv near the Black Sea port of Odesa. [3] Believing their expertise invaluable, Ohlendorf, Ludwig Erhard, and other experts concerned themselves with how to stabilize German currency after the war. On September 10, 1947, the US Military Government for Germany created Military Tribunal II-A (later renamed Tribunal II). Referring first to the charge that the delay in carrying out the death sentences was inhuman, he said that if they had been carried out within four weeks after the final verdict, many men might have been unjustly executed: a good number of war criminals had already been released, after reviews of their sentences and their trials. I have lost my parents, my relatives and friends in the concentration camps. Theres no backing out now. His job was to wait for a possible last-minute reprieve by the Supreme Court. Otto Ohlendorf in MyHeritage family trees (Family site (Family Tree Legends)) view all Immediate Family Conrad Christoph Carl Ohlendorf father Ernestine Wilhelmine called Minn. mother Emilie Emmie von Roeder sister Carl Ohlendorf brother Julius Ohlendorf brother Albert Ohlendorf brother Herman Ohlendorf brother Ida Emilie Caroline Thoene sister A former Newsweek foreign correspondent and editor, Andrew Nagorski is the author of The Nazi Hunters, which will be released on May 10. . [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". We are to stand at attention during the hangings. I remember that I must dial 22, which is Bickels extension in Grahams office. In 1939 Ohlendorf was promoted within the newly constituted Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). He says, yes, yes, yes, right, OK, ONeill, thanks, OK. With the onset. It is a small room; I am sitting within ten feet of the gallows. GI alert units are much in evidence, tommy guns at the ready. All the while, Himmler encouraged the butchery, sanctioning it as indispensable for the final victory over Bolshevism. Students consider the ways in which World War I intensified peoples loyalty to their country and resentment toward others perceived as a threat. A total of 265 have been hanged since the end of the war. Otto Ohlendorf, Einsatzgruppe D, and the 'Holocaust by Bullets' 2246: The sergeant has announced coffee and doughnuts. However, Dehlers letter contributed to delaying the executions four more months, until the 7th of June, 1951. Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings, Case #9, The Einsatzgruppen Case Ohlendorf's testimony horrified the court and had a depressing effect on the defendants. Ohlendorf came from modest origins. Graham says prisoners have been gaining weight on the excellent prison fare. They matter particularly because there are only a dwindling number of Nazi war criminals still alive. Graham remarks acidly that the postage on this petition alone must have cost about 120 Deutsche Mark, or $30. The commandant, Colonel Graham, cigar between his teeth, is darting about, a sheaf of papers in one hand. If so, login to add it. The Einsatzgruppen led by the defendants organized and conducted mass shootings of Jews, Communists, and others in territory that Germany seized from the Soviet Union. In some of these cases, I found that the defendants could establish their resistance to superior orders, which resulted in no instance of the individuals being punished by their Nazi masters. 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. Of the 28 death sentences, only seven were carried out in June 1951 Pohl and Ohlendorf among them. I really never gave much thought to whether it was wrong. However, the U. S. Military Governor (General Lucius Clay), and his successor (High Commissioner John J. McCloy) felt that the right of appeal should not be denied the convicted men. 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. 10, Nuernberg October 1946-April 1949, Volume IV: The Einsatzgruppen Case & The RuSHA Case. Such planning for the post-war time was strictly forbidden, on one side. Graham calls out: Attention! All in the room stand. Thus, his entire socialization as a young man occurred within the organizations of the Nazi Party. Ferencz, now 96, pointed out that right after the war, this refusal to admit guilt or show any compassion to the victims was widespread. 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. Otto Ohlendorf served in the Nazi Party in World War II. He said that reviewing the sentences of the Landsberg prisoners was the most difficult task he had been charged with since coming to Germany. You will receive a link to create a new password via email. [44] Sometime in November 1944, he was promoted to Gruppenfhrer. Dr. I light a cigarette. Wistrich, Robert. I visit the latrine. Allied Control Council no. Behind him is Paul Blobel whose Sonderkommando SS unit was involved in sixteen instances of mass murder, including the killing of 33,000 Jews in the Kiev massacre alone. [caption=0c5326ca-3fd0-4df0-8f36-5840fd057055], [credit=0c5326ca-3fd0-4df0-8f36-5840fd057055], United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, Mass Shootings of Jews during the Holocaust, Trials of War Criminals before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals, German Invasion of Western Europe, May 1940, Genocide of European Roma (Gypsies), 19391945, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Library bibliography: The Nuremberg Trials, Poster Set: Justice and Accountability (PDF), Holocaust Survivors and Victims Resource Center. There, he was sentenced to death and died in Belgian custody. I will be vindicated by God and history. The cameramans flash goes off in a sudden stab of light. There had been three last-minute reprieves prior to June 7the most recent on May 24, ninety minutes before the actual hangings were due to take place. Bickel says the criminals should have been hanged earlier. Attorneys for the defense of the condemned men (including counsel engaged in Washington, D.C., and paid for by the federal government) made plans to appeal to the Supreme Court. [35][e] When gas van killing operations were conducted, it was usually at night to keep the population from witnessing the macabre affair. To this day no one has found an example of a German who was executed for refusing to take part in the killing of Jews or other civilians. Otto Ohlendorf's Instagram, Twitter & Facebook on IDCrawl 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. We hear a murmur, then the soft voice of the medical officer. ), 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. Some less common occupations for Americans named Ohlendorf were Clerk and Bookkeeper. They report to the commandant, Colonel Graham. 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. Pohl had been the head of an organization, the WVHA (Wirtschafts-und Verwaltungshauptamt), Economic and Administrative Department of the Nazi government, which, as an adjunct of the SS, had administered the concentration camps. Klein, Peter, ed. Defense attorneys of people accused of war crimes have looked hard for such a case because it would support the claim that their clients had no choice. He had to wait, though, for his appointment with the hangman. Our small talk is mostly about McCloy and his amazing courage. as adjutant general and quartermaster general, etc. Across the corridor, the GI service unit was still listening to the ball game being broadcast from Ebbets Field, Brooklyn. It just seemed a necessity. Graham shows me a great heap of letters and telegrams from German sympathizers offering comfort to the criminals. Reference to telephone orders by Himmler days before Hitler's suicide. Ohlendorf Name Meaning & Ohlendorf Family History at - Ancestry An economist by education, he was head of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) Inland, responsible for intelligence and security within Germany. . According to Dehler, Pohl did not select them personally; he had delegated this authority to someone else. They argued that they had acted legally and in obedience to superior orders. [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. Reichsfhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler once characterized Ohlendorf as "an unbearable Prussian" who was "without humour". In June 1941, Reinhard Heydrich appointed Ohlendorf to be commander of Einsatzgruppen D ((mobile killing unit D) which operated in southern Ukraine and Crimea. The army executioner, Mr. Britt, suddenly puts in an appearance, trim and neat in his tight-fitting uniform. In Germany he was serving his country not only as supreme representative of the United States government, but as the exponent of certain international agreements to which the U. S. government was a signatory. There is a slight fluff in the air pocket. The letter used the terminology that has become so familiarinhuman to keep men waiting so long to die, etc. Their names were Paul Blobel, Werner Braune, Erich Naumann, Otto Ohlendorf, Oswald Pohl, Georg Schallermair, and Hans Schmidt. Another popular leaflet was a catalogue of the good deeds of Otto Ohlendorf who, by his own uncontroverted testimony, was responsible for slaughtering 60,000 Jews and Gypsies. Britt adjusts the noose over the mans hooded head. These, in turn, were handed over to Himmler and Hitler. Radio cars were in the prison compound in anticipation of a possible breakdown of telephone communications. What kind of tasks did Heydrich have in mind for this group? Since Jews were automatically assumed to be ultra-Bolsheviks and to be the ruling class of the Soviet Union, they were singled out. Die Truppe des Weltanschauungskrieges: Die Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD 1938-1942. Another newspaper calls to inquire whether it is true that the executions will go forward. Graham is amused. Holmes, of the Military Post, asks me whether I know anything about the controversial hunting law which allows GIs to hunt in German reserves against the will of the owners. [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. I cannot understand, he continued, how human beings can commit such crimes. No newsmen will be admitted to the executions, by unanimous decision of the High Commissioners staff and General Handys advisers. There, he was sentenced to death and died in Belgian custody. The Nazi system, however, did not work that way. Showing real aptitude as a student, Ohlendorf attended Gymnasium in nearby Hildesheim. The High Commissioner listened intently, eyes fixed on his scratch pad. 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. Nonetheless, this does not diminish the significance of Hannings remarks. Himmler, these men hoped, would lead this government and Hitler would be pushed aside if necessary. 4, 1950, p. 412. The Holocaust and other wartime atrocities are routinely taught in schools; as a whole, the country now has a commendable record of facing the darkest chapter in its history and seeking to atone for it. Someone suggests that the prisoners must be well heeled to have been able to lay out the money it cost to circulate the petition. I have photographs of the seven men in my hands. American officials finally executed Otto Ohlendorf in June 1951. 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. Ehlers called on the next speaker, Dr. Walter Strauss, of the Ministry of Justice. But those who were most directly involved in the machinery of death were largely immune to any appeals to conscience. At years end, Ohlendorf could report that his men had eliminated 55,000 Jews. 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. Seven times I have listened as they swore, in their dying words, that they had merely carried out orders; that they had been fighting for their country; that the Americans were their enemies. 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. 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. Why might it be difficult to disobey the order of a superior or authority figure? 2353: I return to the Death House, climb up the last stairway, see the gallows for the first time. The opinions expressed are his own. But I should like to emphasize that if you execute these men, their lives will be wasted! Born in February 1907 into a peasant family in Hoheneggelsen, a small town in Lower Saxony in northwest Germany, he was not yet a teenager when Germany suffered a crushing defeat in World War I. Holmes starts discussing the injustices of the law. His face is yellow in the lamplight. [46], In May 1945, Ohlendorf participated in Himmler's flight from Flensburg. They are followed by the chaplain, wearing a white tunic and reading from his prayer book. I watch the preparations. After he had started his blood bath, he was asked whether he would say something for the survivors. It is only now that at least one of them is admitting as much. Hanning declared he was sincerely sorry and ashamed that he had belonged to a criminal organization that committed mass murder and countless atrocities, and that he had never done anything to prevent such actions. He says we must realize the seriousness of the occassion. Himmler communicated approval directly to the heads of some of the Special Task Forces. 2210: We wait, smoking and looking uneasily at the clock. He is talking in his friendly Alabama drawl, but I scarcely know what he is saying. 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. Categories: Death by Hanging | Executed | Nazi Party, World War II | Nazis, WIKITREE HOME | ABOUT | G2G FORUM | HELP | SEARCH. Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2012. 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). 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. [20][b] Ohlendorf's Einsatzgruppe in particular was responsible for the 13 December 1941 massacre at Simferopol, where at least 14,300 people, mostly Jews, were killed. Jesus famously said when he was crucified: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. The Nazi criminals knew all too well what they were doing. Otto Ohlendorf 1907-1951 - Ancestry In November 1944 he was promoted again to Gruppenfhrer. Top Home Latest TRENDING Studio9 Specials State INDIA WORLD SPORTS Nor need the peril be that imminent in order to escape punishment. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. OHLENDORF: Heydrich was wounded at the end of May 1942, and died on 4 June 1942. Fritz Bauer, a German prosecutor from a secular Jewish family who had spent most of the Nazi era in exile, returned after the war determined to make his countrymen face up to the horrors committed in their name. 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. He shakes hands also with Bickel when I introduce them. The rope dangles slightly, then suddenly is very still. He studied at the University of Pavia, where he gained his doctor's degree in jurisprudence; and by 1933 he obtained the position of a research directorship in the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Even the drinking water was hauled in from Augsberg. . 1915: I look through Grahams window at the prison compound. They were the parents of at least 2 sons. When Gustav Ohlendorf was born on 19 October 1892, in Heinrichswalde, Elchniederung, East Prussia, Prussia, Germany, his father, Gottlieb Ohlendorf, was 38 and his mother, Amalie Wenzel, was 25.