Horst Günther
Horst Günther (23 September 1920 - 6 April 1944) was a German World War II prisoner of war. An Afrika Korps gefreiter, he was "captured on 9 May 1943 in Tunisia [and] murdered in Camp Aiken prisoner-of-war camp, South Carolina" United States.[1]
He was suspected of collaborating with the American authorities and was strangled by two fellow prisoners-of-war, Erich Gauss and Rudolf Straub, who hung his body from a tree in order to make it seem that Günther had killed himself.[2] Gauss and Straub were hanged on 14 July 1945 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. They were buried in the prison cemetery.[3] Straub is alleged to have said just before his execution: "What I did was done as a German soldier under orders. If I had not done so, I would have been punished when I returned to Germany."[4]
Notes and references
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- 1920 births
- 1944 deaths
- German military personnel of World War II
- Murdered military personnel
- World War II prisoners of war held by the United States
- German prisoners of war
- German people who died in prison custody
- Prisoners who died in United States military detention
- Prisoners murdered in custody
- German people murdered abroad
- People murdered in South Carolina
- German Army personnel stubs