Adolf Wolfert

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2009 stumbling block for the murder victim

Adolf Wolfert (born June 12, 1901 in Dirmstein , † October 11, 1946 in Hameln ) was a functionary of the NSDAP in the German Reich during the Nazi era . He became known because in February 1945, shortly before the end of World War II , he and a second perpetrator murdered Cyril William Sibley , a member of the Royal Air Force who was shot down over Dirmstein (now Rhineland-Palatinate ) . In 1946 Wolfert and his accomplice were convicted of murder and hanged .

During the Second World War there were hundreds of such air murders , some of which were encouraged by appropriate orders ; Over 150 Germans were sentenced and executed for this after the war.

Since March 27, 2009 there has been a stumbling block for the murder victim in the center of Dirmstein next to the old town hall ( ⊙ ). The documentation published at the same time lists the names of the Dirmstein victims of National Socialism and - as far as is known - the names of the perpetrators.

Life

Wolfert was originally employed as a field rifle in his home town in the Palatinate, Dirmstein , and primarily had to monitor the vineyards . At first he worked as a temporary worker, in August 1934 he was taken on as a civil servant , and from 1938 he was a civil servant for life .

He joined the NSDAP on September 1, 1930 and made a career there. In May 1932 he became SA-Sturmführer , 1943 local group leader of the NSDAP. In 1934/35 he was temporarily a member of the Dirmstein municipal council .

Murder of Cyril William Sibley

Dirmstein train station

When Sibley's execution  - a few hours after his capture - on February 21, 1945 behind the Dirmstein train station , Wolfert and two other men were present.

process

In May 1946 Wolfert and the two other men were tried in Bad Lippspringe ( British zone of occupation ) before a British military tribunal and charged with murder. Wolfert appealed to an orderly emergency ; his superior, the Frankenthaler NSDAP district leader Hieronymus Merkle (1887–1970), had already issued instructions earlier not to make enemy aircraft crews shot down in his area of ​​responsibility into prisoners of war. Accompanying Georg Hartleb (1893–1946) denied the existence of such an instruction; He also stated that Wolfert had a killing plan that he, Hartleb, had been privy to. The third defendant, Heinrich Kress, alleged that because of his hearing loss he was completely clueless.

Wolfert's testimony before the court, recorded in English , reads in German back translation:

“We led the plane behind the station building ( ⊙ ). He said nothing, and we didn't talk to him either. Hartleb grabbed him in his left hand, turned him around and held the revolver close to his face. So I took my revolver and shot the plane from about six feet, once in the head and once in the chest. The plane fell to the ground and Hartleb fired another shot when he had already fallen. "

Verdict and execution

Hameln prison

Wolfert and Hartleb were classified as murderers for having both shot at Sibley and sentenced to death on May 17, 1946 . After confirmation of the judgment by the Supreme Army Court in London they were five months later, on 11 October 1946 at the prison of Hameln executed and then buried anonymously.

Even though he hadn't fired a shot, Kreß had been sentenced to ten years in prison in the first instance. However, he was acquitted on appeal and released from prison in September 1946.

literature

  • Walter Göbel: The British military trial in Bad Lippspringe . In: Schlänger Bote . Serpentine (No. 211, p. 18 f .; No. 212, p. 17 f., Both 1998; No. 213, pp. 3-5, 1999).
  • Marie-Christine Werner, Johannes Weiß (Red.): Stumbling blocks: Cyril William Sibley, Dirmstein (=  SWR2 manuscript service ). Mainz March 24, 2014 ( swr.de [PDF; 142 kB ]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marie-Christine Werner: The English aviator . The murder of Cyril William Sibley. Mainz 2001 (typescript of the broadcast of the Südwestrundfunk from February 10, 2001, 9 to 10 p.m.).
  2. ↑ a b c Hannes Ziegler: Dirmstein in National Socialism . In: Michael Martin (ed.): Dirmstein - nobility, farmers and citizens . Chronicle of the Dirmstein community. Chapter Dirmstein in the Second World War . Self-published by the Foundation for the Promotion of Palatinate Historical Research , Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 2005, ISBN 3-9808304-6-2 , p. 197 ff., 206 f .
  3. ^ Municipality of Dirmstein (ed.), Albert H. Keil (red.): "Dirmstein remembers". 2009, p. 3 f., 13 f. , accessed October 8, 2013 .
  4. ^ Archive Report: Allied Forces. aircrewremembered.com, accessed November 28, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Peter Krone: Historical documentation "Executed Graves" at the Wehl cemetery in Hameln . Hameln 1987, p. 69 .
personal data
SURNAME Wolfert, Adolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German NSDAP functionary, executed for Nazi war crimes
DATE OF BIRTH June 12, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Dirmstein , Germany
DATE OF DEATH October 11, 1946
Place of death Hameln , Germany