Matthias Graf

Matthias Graf during the task force process

Matthias Graf (born May 5, 1903 ; † unknown) was a German SS member. As SS-Oberscharführer in Einsatzkommando 6 of Einsatzgruppe C , he was involved in the murder of the Jews in occupied Ukraine . Graf was sentenced in the Einsatzgruppen trial in 1948 to a prison term equal to the amount of the pre-trial detention he had already served and was released.

Life

Graf attended high school and received his Abitur in 1920 . Then he worked as a commercial assistant . In 1932 he tried to emigrate to South America, but was unable to realize this project due to foreign exchange restrictions .

After the " seizure of power " Graf joined the SS in April 1933 . (SS membership no. 272.603) Immediately afterwards he became a member of the NSDAP on May 1, 1933 at the age of 30 ( membership number 3.423.504). In 1936 Graf was expelled from the SS because of "lack of attendance and general indifference to the goals of the organization". From October 1935 to the beginning of 1940 Graf worked as a self-employed businessman. In 1940 he tried to emigrate again, but this plan failed due to the war . In January 1940 he was drafted into service with the District Administrator in Kempten . From March 1, 1940, he was employed as a "civil servant for the duration of the war" (BaK) in the Kempten SD branch . In 1940 Graf tried to be transferred to the Wehrmacht as a translator by the SD and took a language test, which he failed, however. In April 1941 he again asked unsuccessfully to be transferred to the Wehrmacht.

Graf was assigned the rank of SS-Unterscharführer from the SD branch in Kempten in 1941 to serve with the Einsatzgruppen. His unit, the Sonderkommando 6, belonged to Einsatzgruppe C . Graf became the assistant of the SS officer Grimminger, who carried out the duties of Amt III (SD and Abwehr) in the special command. During the attack on the Soviet Union, Einsatzgruppe C operated in the rear area of Army Group South in central Ukraine . After Grimber's death in July 1941, Graf took over his duties in Sonderkommando 6.For a short period of his deployment in the occupied Soviet Union, Graf was assigned to the commander of the Security Police and the SD (KdS) in Stalino , then for five weeks as a liaison officer at AOK 17 . A vacation of five weeks and absence due to illness reduced Graf's actual time at the Sonderkommando by another four months. During his eight months in Sonderkommando 6, Graf never had command responsibility. When Graf was supposed to lead a partial command in September 1942, he refused. He was then placed under troop arrest. The disciplinary proceedings initiated against him were discontinued, and Graf was ordered back to Germany in October 1942.

From 1947 to 1948 Graf was one of 24 defendants in the Einsatzgruppen trial ; his defense attorney was Dr. Eduard Belzer with the assistance of Joseph Mayer. The judge was Michael A. Musmanno . On April 9, 1948, Graf was acquitted on the first two counts - (1) crimes against humanity , (2) war crimes - given his low rank and lack of command responsibility for the murders committed by his unit during his membership, and on the third count - (3) Membership in a criminal organization - Found guilty. His dissociation from the SS in 1936 was viewed as a mitigating circumstance, even if Graf had rejoined the SS in 1940 in connection with his commitment to the SD. Graf was sentenced to a prison term equal to the amount of pre-trial detention he had already served ( time served ) and released from custody. This made Graf the only defendant in the Einsatzgruppen trial to be released at the end of the trial. Of his co-defendants, 14 were sentenced to death.

literature

Earl, Hilary: The Nuremberg SS-Einsatzgruppen Trial, 1945–1958: Atrocity, Law, and History . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2009, ISBN 978-0-521-45608-1 .
Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10 , Vol. 4 : United States of America vs. Otto Ohlendorf, et al. (Case 9: “Einsatzgruppen Case”) . US Government Printing Office, District of Columbia 1950. In: National Archives Microfilm Publications, NM Series 1874-1946, Microfilm Publication M936. National Archives and Record Service, Washington 1973. (Excerpts from the grounds of the judgment on Matthias Graf: p. 584 ( Memento of August 31, 2002 in the Internet Archive ) - 587 ( Memento of May 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ).)

Individual evidence

^ Earl, Hilary: The Nuremberg SS-Einsatzgruppen Trial . Cambridge 2009, p. 121 - "Table 3 - Education of the Defendants".
^ ^A ^b ^c ^d Records of the United States Nuremberg War Crimes Trials , Vol. 4, US Government Printing Office, District of Columbia 1950, pp. 584-587.
^ Earl, Hilary: The Nuremberg SS-Einsatzgruppen Trial . Cambridge 2009, p. 129 - "Table 5 - Joining Date of the SA, SS, SD and Gestapo".
^ Earl, Hilary: The Nuremberg SS-Einsatzgruppen Trial . Cambridge 2009, p. 126 - "Table 4 - Joining Date of Defendants".
↑ Records of the United States Nuremberg War Crimes Trials , Vol. 4, United States Government Printing Office , District of Columbia 1950, p. 11.

personal data
SURNAME	Count, Matthias
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Count, Mathias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German SS member
DATE OF BIRTH	May 5, 1903
DATE OF DEATH	after 1948

[1] Earl, Hilary: The Nuremberg SS-Einsatzgruppen Trial . Cambridge 2009, p. 121 - "Table 3 - Education of the Defendants".

[verdict-2] A ^b ^c ^d Records of the United States Nuremberg War Crimes Trials , Vol. 4, US Government Printing Office, District of Columbia 1950, pp. 584-587.

[earl-129-3] Earl, Hilary: The Nuremberg SS-Einsatzgruppen Trial . Cambridge 2009, p. 129 - "Table 5 - Joining Date of the SA, SS, SD and Gestapo".

[4] Earl, Hilary: The Nuremberg SS-Einsatzgruppen Trial . Cambridge 2009, p. 126 - "Table 4 - Joining Date of Defendants".

[personae-5] Records of the United States Nuremberg War Crimes Trials , Vol. 4, United States Government Printing Office , District of Columbia 1950, p. 11.