Paul Albers (SS member)

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Paul Albers (born September 13, 1919 in Bonn ; † September 22, 2009 ) was SS-Obersturmführer and was convicted as a war criminal in Italy for his involvement in the massacres of Marzabotto and Fivizzano .

Life

Before he joined the SS in 1937 at the age of 17, Albers was a member of the Hitler Youth for three years and soon made a career in the SS.

He has received several awards, including the Iron Cross II. And I. Class, and rose to the rank of SS-Obersturmführer in the Waffen-SS during the Second World War .

On February 14, 1943, Albers, who had previously served in the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler , was transferred to the newly established Reichsführer SS Sturmbrigade in France , which in autumn 1943 was expanded to form the 16th SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Reichsführer SS" . There he was promoted to SS-Untersturmführer in March . From December 1943 until the division surrendered in 1945, Albers was on the staff of SS Panzer Reconnaissance Department 16 as a departmental adjutant and liaison officer under the command of Walter Reder . Members of this intelligence department were involved in numerous war crimes in the area of ​​the Goths in central Italy in 1944.

In his function as adjutant, his superior Reder described him as a Nazi convinced, strict and energetic officer of the Waffen SS with leadership qualities. The Ib-enemy situation officer of the division SS-Obersturmbannführer Helmut Looß was also present during the planning of operations . Albers himself was entrusted with the preparation of the operational reports of the large association, so that all information about the course of the operations and the fight against partisans came together with him as adjutant.

In 1950 Albers was interrogated as a witness for the first time in the proceedings against Walter Reder. In 1960 his personal file was put in the cabinet of shame with the note "temporarily archived" and remained under lock and key until 1994. Investigations against him were only initiated in the late 1990s.

In 2005, the La Spezia military prosecutor brought charges against Albers and another 20 SS members for participating in and complicity in the Marzabotto massacre. Albers and ten other defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia in the first instance in 2007 . The sentence was in 2008 by the Appeals Tribunal in Rome upheld on appeal, against the Albers appeal lodged. However, there was no trial before the Supreme Court of Cassation because Albers had died earlier.

In a second trial in 2008, Albers and nine of twelve other defendants were sentenced to a second life imprisonment by the Military Court in Rome for their involvement in and complicity in the massacres committed between August 19 and 24, 1944 in the municipal areas of Fivizzano and Fosdinovo . The judgment was upheld by the Court of Appeal in 2011 in the second instance.

According to the law of the Federal Republic of Germany, there was no extradition or charge - the last place of residence was Saarbrücken .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Sentenza di primo grado per il processo sulla strage di Marzabotto 13.01.2007. In: memorieincammino.it. Retrieved September 25, 2019 (Italian).
  2. ^ Paul Albers. In: trialinternational.org. Retrieved September 25, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b Press release: Calling Nazi war criminals to account! , from November 7, 2007. from November 30, 2007, on Antifa-Saar. Retrieved September 24, 2019
  4. ^ I processi. In: eccidiomarzabotto.com. Retrieved September 25, 2019 (Italian).
  5. ↑ Silvia Buzzelli, Marco De Paolis, Andrea Speranzoni: La ricostruzione giudiziale dei crimini nazifascisti in Italia. Questioni preliminari. Giappichelli, Turin 2012 ISBN 978-88-348-2619-5 pp. 147-148
  6. ↑ Silvia Buzzelli, Marco De Paolis, Andrea Speranzoni: La ricostruzione giudiziale dei crimini nazifascisti in Italia. Questioni preliminari. Giappichelli, Turin 2012 ISBN 978-88-348-2619-5 pp. 151-152
  7. ↑ Court judgments on Fivizzano, Fosdinovo and Casalecchio sul Reno , on resistance. Retrieved September 24, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Albers, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German SS-Obersturmführer and war criminal
DATE OF BIRTH September 13, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Bonn
DATE OF DEATH September 22, 2009