Pardon after the Polish campaign

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On October 4, 1939, the secret pardon was issued by Adolf Hitler after the Polish campaign . In consultation with Wilhelm Keitel for the High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW) and Roland Freisler for the Reich Ministry of Justice , German crimes in Poland were amnestied in violation of international law shortly after the attack on Poland .

Decree

After war crimes against civilians and prisoners of war had been committed on Polish territory , the Wehrmacht judiciary initiated proceedings against members of the Wehrmacht , the SS and the ethnic German self-protection . By secret decree of October 4th, the prosecution was stopped and judgments already issued with the following wording were overturned:

  1. Acts that were committed in the occupied Polish territories from September 1, 1939 to the present day out of bitterness because of the atrocities perpetrated by the Poles will not be prosecuted.
  2. Pending criminal proceedings for such crimes have been discontinued.
  3. Legally recognized penalties are waived; the decree also extends to secondary penalties and legal secondary consequences.

The vague formulation chosen under point 1 could be applied to all German attacks committed on Polish soil in the course of September.

The amnesty was restricted by an interpretation guideline issued by the Commander-in-Chief of the Army , Walther von Brauchitsch , on October 7, 1939, since crimes that were committed out of self-interest , such as looting , robbery , fraud and theft , or out of selfishness , such as rape , continued should be pursued in order to prevent indiscipline in the force.

Rating

The historian Andreas Toppe regards the pardon as a forerunner of the martial law decree of May 13, 1941 because of the unilateral suspension of the prosecution of war crimes prescribed by Art. 1 of the IV Hague Agreement .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martin Moll: "Leader Decrees" 1939–1945. Steiner Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-515-06873-2 , p. 100.
  2. ^ Jochen Böhler: Prelude to the war of extermination. The Wehrmacht in Poland in 1939. Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 978-3-596-16307-6 , p. 153.
  3. ↑ Andreas Toppe: Military and International War Law , Oldenbourg, 2008, ISBN 978-3-486-58206-2 , p. 347.
  4. ^ Andreas Toppe: Military and international law of war , p. 347.