Great War Crimes Trial (Copenhagen)
The 1948 trial before the Copenhagen District Court against the four German defendants Werner Best , Hermann von Hanneken , Günther Pancke and Otto Bovensiepen is known as the Great War Crimes Trial . You were convicted for crimes committed in Denmark during the German occupation of Denmark , with Hanneken being acquitted on appeal.
Legal basis
Denmark joined the London Statute of August 8, 1945 for the prosecution of major war criminals in September 1945 . According to this and the previous Moscow Declaration , war criminals were to be tried in national courts in those countries where they had committed war crimes. On July 12, 1946, based on the IMT Statute and the Norwegian Law on the Prosecution of War Criminals, the Danish War Crimes Law, which allowed for appeal, came into force. The Danish legislature went further than the IMT statute but left out the charge of conspiracy. War crimes were therefore crimes that violated the rules of international law and had damaged Danish interests. The following should also be punished:
Crimes against humanity such as murder, mistreatment of civilians, prisoners and seafarers, killing of hostages, looting of public and private property, robbery of money or other assets, interference in state administration, ordering collective punishments, demolition or other destruction, all so far Act in conflict with the rules of international law applicable to occupation and war, as well as for deportation or other persecution for political, racial or religious reasons in conflict with Danish legal principles.
process
The trial took place before the Copenhagen District Court ( Byret ) from June 16 to September 20, 1948 under the presidency of Judge Olaf Bærentsen and was also called the "Danish Nuremberg". From May 9 to July 18, 1949, the appeal hearing took place before the Higher Regional Court East ( Østre Landsret ) and the judgment in the appeal hearing of Best and Bovensiepen was issued on March 17, 1950 by the Højesteret .
| accused | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best | from Hanneken | Pancke | Bovensiepen | |
| Position in Denmark: | Reich plenipotentiary 1940–45 |
Wehrmacht commander in chief 1942–45 |
Higher SS and Police Leader 1943–45 |
Head of Sipo and SD 1944–45 |
| Charges: | Arrange for the deportation of Jews and counter terror | Deportation of the Danish police officers | Deportation of the dan. Police officers and anti-social workers ; Mistreatment | Deportation of the dan. Police officers and anti-social workers ; Torture and murder |
| Judgment on September 20, 1948: | Death sentence | 8 years | 20 years | Death sentence |
| Appeal judgment July 18, 1949: | 5 years | acquittal | 20 years | life sentence |
| Revision judgment March 17, 1950: | 12 years | - | - | life sentence |
| Release from prison: | August 24, 1951 | - | June 1953 | December 1, 1953 |
See also
literature
- Matthias Bath: Danebrog against the swastika, The Resistance in Denmark 1940-1945 , Wachholtz 2011, ISBN 978-3-529-02817-5 .
- Karl Christian Lammers : Late trials and mild sentences. The war crimes trials against Germans in Denmark . In: Norbert Frei (ed.): Transnational politics of the past. How to deal with German war criminals in Europe after the Second World War. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2006, pp. 351-369 ISBN 978-3-89244-940-9 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Matthias Bath: Danebrog against the swastika, The Resistance in Denmark 1940-1945 , p. 329 f.
- ^ Karl Christian Lammers: Late trials and mild punishments , p. 359.
- ^ Karl Christian Lammers: Late trials and mild punishments , p. 359.
- ^ Karl Christian Lammers: Late trials and mild sentences , p. 361.
- ^ Matthias Bath: Danebrog against Hakenkreuz, The Resistance in Denmark 1940-1945 , pp. 330 ff.