Air killings (Borkum)
A war crime committed on the East Frisian island of Borkum during the Second World War , in which all seven captured US crew members were murdered after the emergency landing of a Boeing B-17 G (“Flying Fortress”) is referred to as aviation murder .
history
On August 4, 1944, an American Boeing B-17 G ("Flying Fortress") bomber of the 486th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) had to make an emergency landing on the mussel field on the north beach of Borkum. The aircraft, which was already damaged on the approach to the German Reich without enemy action (collision in the approach formation), had previously been hit by flak fire from German troops stationed on the island of Borkum. The machine was part of a bomber fleet of 181 B-17 bombers that had previously bombed oil refineries in Hamburg and cities in the north of the German Reich. Seven American crew members were captured immediately after the successful emergency landing.
The prisoners of war , one of whom was injured during the emergency landing, were taken to the "Ostland Battery". The then island commander , frigate captain Kurt Goebell , who then appeared in person in the "Batterie Ostland", decided, contrary to the law, to send the prisoners of war on foot through the town of Borkum to the Seefliegerhorst Reede and not, as is usually the case, to hand them over to the German air force immediately .
The prisoners of war then marched in a row and a distance of about six to seven meters with raised hands towards the center of Borkum. A guard was assigned to each prisoner of war. The guards accompanying them were explicitly instructed by Reich Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels , which stated that the guards would not have to intervene in the event of any attacks by the German civilian population on these "Anglo-American terrorist aviators" (the language used at the time).
A chance encounter with men from the Reich Labor Service (RAD) led to the first attacks on the prisoners of war. This had to go through a trellis running men of RAD, with blades smashing and fists on it. There were further attacks in the village of Borkum, including by civilians who were encouraged by calls from the mayor at the time. One of the prisoners of war fell at the town hall of Borkum and was thereupon taken care of by employees of the "Security and Auxiliary Service" (SHD) stationed there. While the prisoner of war lying on the ground was being cared for, the situation got completely out of control. A corporal of the army who happened to be present to guard French prisoners of war shot his pistol at the American lying on the ground without the accompanying guards intervening. The shot prisoner of war was taken to the SHD building, where he died an hour later as a result of the gunshot wound.
The other prisoners of war had previously continued their way towards the roadstead. The corporal followed the prisoners and caught up with them a short time later during a rest. Guards and prisoners of war stood separately in two groups, the corporal turned to the Americans and began to shoot them one after the other with a headshot. He followed a fugitive and shot him too. The guards did not intervene here either.
Immediately after the crime, the corporal turned himself in to his superior. As a reason for his act, he cited revenge for the death of his family in bombing attacks. The head of the security team also immediately reported to his superior, but, unlike the perpetrator, claimed that all prisoners of war had been killed by the civilian population. In doing so, he tried to explain the failure of the guards to intervene, supposedly justified by the instructions of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. The following day, a message blackout was imposed on the entire process. Issued death certificates that stated “shot in the head” as the cause of death had to be changed to “death from blows to the head” by order.
Court process
In February and March 1946, 15 people involved were tried in Ludwigsburg . The people involved were charged with jointly violating international martial law and violating the Geneva Conventions . The main culprit could no longer be convicted because he had died in a probation company on the Eastern Front after the act . In this process, there were five convictions to death by the train , even life imprisonment , eight prison terms from 2 to 25 years and one acquittal .
Commemoration
On August 4, 2003, an additional memorial stone to commemorate the seven murdered members of the bomber crew was unveiled on the square with the war memorial for the fallen of the First and Second World Wars on the island of Borkum. Two former crew members of the bomber were present at the official ceremony. These two survived because they were able to jump off before the aircraft made an emergency landing.
The memorial plaque was donated by the Rotary Club Borkum and bears the following inscription:
“In memory of the soldiers of the US Air Force who tragically lost their lives on August 4th, 1944 after being captured on our island.
2nd. Lt. Harvey M. Walthall
2nd. Lt. William J. Myers
2nd. Lt. Howard S. Graham
Sgt. Kenneth Faber
Sgt. James W. Danno
Sgt. William F. Dold
Sgt. William W. Lambertus
With them we also commemorate the millions of soldiers in many countries who violated international agreements on the treatment of prisoners of war in captivity had to give up their lives. "
literature
- Tönjes Akkermann: Late honor for American aviators - Borkum history from 1944 processed. In: Borkumer Zeitung of July 1, 2003.
- Volker Apfeld: Borkum - fortress in the sea. 2nd, improved and expanded edition, Borkum 2008.
- Hartmut Dirks: Cowardly murder of defenseless victims. In: Nordwest-Zeitung (NWZ), Oldenburg, No. 179 from August 4, 2003.
- KW Hammerstein: Landsberg, executioner of the law? Wuppertal 1952.
- Heinz Klinger: Paths and byways. Memories of a Hamburg doctor. Hamburg 1976, pp. 112 ff. And 128-132.
- Jürgen Petschull : The air murder in Borkum. In: Stern Biography No. 3/2004.
- Heinrich Pflanz: The Spöttinger cemetery in Landsberg am Lech. Documentation, St. Ottilien 2004, p. 192 ff.
- Helmut Scheder: Crash of an American B-17 near Quelkhorn on August 4, 1944. 5-page typescript, unpublished, April 2003.
- Wilke Specht: Borkum is reminiscent of murdered US prisoners. In: Borkumer Zeitung from 5./6. August 2003.
- Helmut Scheder: Memorial: Respect and Recognition (Letter to the Editor). In: Borkumer Zeitung of July 22, 2003.
Other sources
- Federal Archives Koblenz: All files Prov. 7 / 165-171 (storage signature of the microfilms: FC 6259 P - FC 6265 P)
- Court files (15 pages, translation by Silke Scheder) of the US Military Court of Dachau, Case No. 12-489 (Borkum)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Volker Apfeld: Borkum - fortress in the sea. ( Memento of March 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) 2nd, improved and expanded edition, Borkum 2008.
- ↑ Local history museum Borkum: information boards in the local history museum by Wilfried Krahwinkel jr.
- ↑ Klaus-Michael Mallmann: “People's Justice Against Anglo-American Murderers.” The massacres of Western Allied airmen and parachutists in 1944/45. In: Alfred Gottwaldt, Norbert Kampe, Peter Klein (eds.): Nazi tyranny. Contributions to historical research and legal processing. (= Publications of the House of the Wannsee Conference Memorial and Education Center; Vol. 11). Edition Hentrich, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89468-278-7 , p. 208; Summaries of judgments in justice and Nazi crimes: US043 ( Memento from April 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), US044 ( Memento from July 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Digitized minutes of the court hearing Case No. 12-489 and Case No. 12-485
- ↑ Fallen memorials: Borkum (Memorial), District of Leer, Lower Saxony , accessed on August 15, 2012.
- ↑ Wilke Spricht: "Borkum Remembers Murdered US Prisoners" , English translation of the report in the Borkumer Zeitung of August 5, 2003, accessed on August 14, 2012.
Web links
- "Borkum Island Court Room" - film document from the 1946 trial in Ludwigsburg , accessed on August 13, 2012.
- “Borkum Island Court Room” - Pictures from the 1946 trial in Ludwigsburg , accessed on August 13, 2012.