Men from Brettheim

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The linden trees at the entrance to the cemetery where the men were hanged

The men of Brettheim were three citizens of the community of Brettheim in the north of Württemberg , who were hanged in 1945 at the end of World War II for disarming some Hitler Youths . A memorial is located in the Brettheim town hall.

The happening

Brettheim at the time

On the morning of April 7, 1945, the US tanks could be heard in the village of Brettheim as they moved from Rot am See , six kilometers from Brettheim, to Crailsheim . The villagers expected to surrender soon to prevent the village from being destroyed. The weakened German Wehrmacht was no longer able to defend the area and had withdrawn all soldiers. The SS, on the other hand, demanded that the population erect anti-tank barriers and defend the village. For this purpose four Hitler Youths were sent to Brettheim armed with bazookas , hand grenades and a rifle .

Disarming of the Hitler Youth and the court courts

In order to prevent the pointless resistance, some residents, including the farmer Friedrich Hanselmann, disarmed the Hitler Youth, threw their weapons into a pond and sent the 15-year-olds away. The Hitler Youth reported the incident to their superiors, and that same evening the male villagers were summoned to the town hall for interrogation. During the interrogation conducted by SS-Sturmbannführer Gottschalk with threats and insults, Hanselmann surrendered to protect the village.

Gottschalk sentenced Friedrich Hanselmann to death in a court martial shortly afterwards for undermining military strength . Mayor Leonhard Gackstatter and the teacher and NSDAP local group leader Leonhard Wolfmeyer, who had been appointed as assessors, refused to sign the death warrant. For this reason, Hanselmann was tried again two days later, on April 9, in Rothenburg . As before, he refused to name other people involved or to reveal their whereabouts, so that his death sentence was read out without further consultation and also signed by the assessors - this time members of the Wehrmacht.

The next day on April 10, Mayor Gackstatter and teacher Wolfmeyer at Schillingsfürst Castle were also sentenced to death for undermining military strength, as they had previously supported Hanselmann. When Wolfmeyer pleaded for his life, SS General Max Simon , who was present as the judge , became angry and ordered that the death sentence be carried out by hanging .

Execution of the death sentences

On April 10, 1945, a beam was placed over branches of the linden trees at the cemetery entrance in Brettheim for the purpose of a gallows .

The villagers were clueless, they had not been informed of the convictions. The three men were hung around their necks with signs that read: "I am the traitor Hanselmann", and Gackstatter and Wolfmeyer: "I stood protectively from the traitor." The bodies were not allowed to be removed. If this decree were violated, ten other men should be hanged. It was not until the fourth night that they could be removed and buried secretly and without a name.

Destruction of the village

On April 17th, Brettheim was taken. The Americans had asked the population to surrender, but nobody dared to hoist the white flag. The SS declared Brettheim to be the "cornerstone of German defense" and fired at US tanks. This provoked the destruction of Brettheim by incendiary and fragmentation bombs. 17 people died and 85 percent of the homes were destroyed.

Legal processing

The legal appraisal of the murder of the men from Brettheim began in 1948 and dragged on for twelve years until 1960. In this context, the usual term `` processing '' tends to cover up the real facts: the judiciary, which is still often enforced by former Nazi lawyers, repeatedly suspended proceedings and ultimately acquittals that horrified the public and the media. The occupation of the Ansbach regional court with chairman Andreas Schmidt, who joined the NSDAP in 1927, was particularly criticized.

There were a total of three criminal court proceedings at the regional courts of Ansbach and Nürnberg-Fürth because the judgments of the first two trials were overturned by the Federal Court of Justice. The defendants Max Simon and Ernst Otto were acquitted in all three criminal court proceedings with regard to all three cases for lack of evidence. The defendant Friedrich Gottschalk was also acquitted in two cases for lack of evidence. In the case of the murder of Friedrich Hanselmann, Friedrich Gottschalk was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for manslaughter with the approval of mitigating circumstances. It was possible to prove to him that in the court martial the verdict was passed on Friedrich Hanselmann on the basis of a judgment drawn up before the hearing. The court rated this as "deliberate perversion of justice in a sham trial".

The murder victims and their families did not get justice, even after the fact. On the contrary: In the first trial, judges and defense lawyers even insulted and humiliated the relatives of the victims and the citizens of Brettheim.

prehistory

date institution process
Summer 1948 Ansbach public prosecutor's office The investigation begins
May 15, 1951 Ansbach district court Refusal to open main proceedings
7th December 1951 Bavarian Supreme Court Instructions for carrying out the main proceedings
March 5, 1954 Ansbach district court Opening of the main proceedings. It was delayed by Max Simon's illness for over a year and the waiting for an amnesty law.
October 15, 1954 Ansbach district court Termination of the main proceedings
May 4th 1955 Bavarian Supreme Court Revocation of the decision to hire

Criminal proceedings

date dish process
October 19, 1955 Ansbach district court Acquittal for lack of evidence
7th December 1956 Federal Court of Justice Repeal of the Ansbach judgment, referral to the jury court Nürnberg-Fürth
April 23, 1958 District Court Nuremberg-Fürth Acquittal for lack of evidence
June 30, 1959 Federal Court of Justice Annulment of the Nuremberg judgment, referral back to the Ansbach jury court
July 23, 1960 Ansbach district court Acquittal for lack of evidence

graduation

The revision of the public prosecutor's office on the last judgment of the Ansbach regional court was rejected by the Federal Court of Justice at the end of 1960. Max Simon died shortly afterwards on February 1, 1961.

Memorial

Memorial inscription at the cemetery entrance

On May 8, 1992 the memorial place Die Männer von Brettheim was inaugurated. It was created on the basis of an initiative by the Baden-Württemberg State Center for Civic Education and the commitment of the former Brettheim mayor Friedrich Braun and a support association. Based on the fates of the three hanged men, she illustrates the events of the last days of the war. Original quotes from various participants are noted on black columns and the events are described, some of the original objects provide insights into this time. In a second exhibition room, the exhibition provides information about the National Socialist education of young people about war. location

Remembrance day

Every April 10th, at the hour of death of the hanged, there is a memorial service under the linden trees at the entrance to the cemetery.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Description of the event on the website “ The Men of Brettheim Memorial ” ( Memento of the original from August 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (8 pages to flip through). Retrieved February 10, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.brettheimmuseum.hohenlohe.net
  2. ↑ Hang the guys . In: Der Spiegel . No. 32 , 1960, pp. 17-21 ( online ).
  3. ^ Andreas Eichmüller: No general amnesty . Oldenburg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-486-70412-9 , p. 170.
  4. ^ Jörg Osterloh, Clemens Vollnhals: Nazi trials and the German public . Contribution by Andreas Eichmüller, Verlag Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, ISBN 978-3-525-36921-0 , p. 69.
  5. ↑ #Bracher 16 , serial. No. 494a, page 557.
  6. ↑ #Bertram 2005 , pages 114–117, #Merkl 2010 , page 473.
  7. ↑ #Merkl 2010 , page 464.
  8. ↑ #Merkl 2010 , page 466.
  9. ↑ #Bracher 16 , serial. No. 494b, page 495, #Merkl 2010 , page 466.
  10. ↑ #Merkl 2010 , pages 464–468.
  11. ↑ #Merkl 2010 , page 466.
  12. ↑ #Merkl 2010 , pages 470–471.
  13. ↑ #Bracher 13 , serial. No. 421a, pages 361-381.
  14. ↑ #Bracher 13 , serial. No. 421b, pages 382-404.
  15. ↑ #Bracher 14 .
  16. ↑ #Bracher 16 , serial. No. 494b, pages 581-590.
  17. ↑ #Bracher 16 , serial. No. 494a, pages 495-580.
  18. ↑ #Bertram 2005 , page 134.
  19. ↑ Description of the memorial on the website of the same name “ The Men of Brettheim Memorial ” ( Memento of the original from February 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved February 10, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.brettheimmuseum.hohenlohe.net
  20. ↑ Gunter Haug: Memory of death sentences. Stuttgarter Zeitung , April 6, 2015, accessed on March 18, 2018 .
  21. ↑ New book about the men of Brettheim , Südwestpresse, Ulm, May 12, 2019