Josef Strauch

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Josef Strauch (born July 7, 1910 in Königshütte ; † May 14, 1970 ) was a German officer in the Reichswehr and Wehrmacht , politician and head of department for adult education at the Hessian State Center for Political Education . Strauch was the commanding officer in the course of the Padule di Fucecchio massacre in Italy during World War II , in which 174 civilians were murdered. For this he was convicted as a war criminal.

Military career

Strauch began his military career when he joined the Reichswehr in 1929 as a simple soldier. In the Wehrmacht he reached the rank of captain . Strauch led various armored units in the western and eastern campaigns as well as against the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army . Strauch was temporarily used with replacement troops.

On June 30, 1944, he was assigned to the reconnaissance department of the 26th Panzer Division , before that he had belonged to the Panzer Grenadier Division Greater Germany . The 26th Panzer Division was stationed in Italy at the time and the then Colonel and Division Commander Eduard Crasemann ordered Strauch to carry out a military operation to "clean up the gang area" on the Fucecchio swamp on August 23, 1944. This operation developed into one of the bloodiest massacres during the German occupation of Italy by the Wehrmacht, with 174 civilian lives, the massacre at Padule di Fucecchio. At the end of the Second World War he was taken prisoner.

Prosecution

When General Eduard Crasemann was brought to justice by a British military tribunal in Padua in April 1947 for war crimes, Josef Strauch was summoned as a witness. Strauch stated that he had been personally instructed by Crasemann to relentlessly exterminate gangs and that he had tried to change his mind until the end, which was also confirmed by witnesses. The court did not believe Crasemann and sentenced him to ten years imprisonment and Josef Strauch later had to answer as a defendant before the military court in Florence . He was unable to defend the lawfulness of the murders of women and children before this court and was sentenced to six years in prison. The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Military Court in Rome on September 13, 1949. He was released in the spring of 1950. This happened on the intervention of the Adenauer government with the Italian President Luigi Einaudi , who pardoned him.

Politician

At the end of April 1950, after his release from prison, he returned to Germany and began a career as a politician. Soon after his return he joined the All-German Bloc party . His political ascent there went quickly: In April 1952 he became state manager of Schleswig-Holstein and federal manager from March 1953 to June 1962. When the party dissolved, he was employed as head of administration and personnel in a private company. From April 1, 1966 until his death in mid-May 1970 - as a convicted war criminal - he was employed in the position of head of department for adult training at the Hessian state center for political education . For the state elections in Hesse in 1966 , Strauch ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the All-German Party / BHE in 26th place on the list.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ludger Tewes , The Panzergrenadierdivision Grossdeutschland in the campaign against the Soviet Union 1942 to 1945 , Klartext Verlag Essen 2020, ISBN 978-3-8375-2089-7 , p. 320 from June 1943 to the end of the war, previously Inf. Div. (mot.)
  2. ^ Carlo Gentile : Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in Partisan War: Italy 1943–1945 . Schöningh, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-76520-8 . P. 382
  3. ^ Carlo Gentile: Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in Partisan War: Italy 1943–1945 . Schöningh, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-76520-8 . P. 384
  4. ↑ San Martino di Lupari (04.29.1944) , (Italian), on Straginazifasciste. Retrieved November 8, 2019
  5. ^ Carlo Gentile: Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in Partisan War: Italy 1943–1945 . Schöningh, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-76520-8 . P. 385
  6. ↑ State Gazette for the State of Hesse, No. 41/1966, p. 1304
personal data
SURNAME Bush, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, convicted war criminal
DATE OF BIRTH July 7, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Königshütte (Upper Silesia)
DATE OF DEATH May 14, 1970