Wehrmacht investigation center

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Wehrmacht Investigation Center for Violations of International Law (WUSt) was established by a decree of Wilhelm Keitel , Chief of the High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW), of September 4, 1939 as a subdivision of the Wehrmacht legal department in the OKW. On behalf of the OKW, it was supposed to investigate feared future war crimes of the Allies against German soldiers and at the same time to clear up allegations made against the German Wehrmacht from abroad that Germany had committed war crimes.

background

The task of the Wehrmacht investigation body was to "determine the violations of international law committed by the opposing military and civilians against German Wehrmacht members and at the same time to clarify the allegations made against the German Wehrmacht in this regard". The purpose was to conduct trials against suspects who had fallen into German hands, substantiate diplomatic protests and support the propaganda , although the WUSt itself did not initiate any proceedings.

Permanent members of the WUSt were the lawyer and notary Johannes Goldsche, who had already worked as the deputy head of the military investigation center of the Prussian army during the First World War . In addition, were Feldkriegsgerichtsrat Dr. Martin Heinemann, who held the post of Chamber Judge in Berlin before the war , and Senior War Judge of the Reserve Dr. Hermann Huvendick (as judge in the civil profession) and judge-martial of the reserve Dr. Lothar Schöne (also a judge before the start of the war) permanent members of the WUSt. There were also a number of so-called non-permanent members.

The WUSt did not conduct any investigations itself, but relied on the support of the local courts in gathering evidence and interrogating witnesses and experts. War crimes investigations were carried out by the Ic / AO units (enemy intelligence / defense officer) at the divisional headquarters or local command offices. They were supported by military judges . The results of the investigation were compiled in collaboration with the Foreign Office on the white papers published in the service of Nazi propaganda .

Of the approximately 8,000 investigative cases, around half of the files in 226 volumes have been preserved, the rest was destroyed as a result of several fires and a major air raid on Potsdam in April 1945. Of the 226 volumes received, only one deals with German war crimes, but the WUSt's investigations were unsuccessful and did not result in any proceedings. For example, in the case of the US soldiers shot by SS forces in the Malmedy massacre , the WUSt claimed , according to a report by the historian Alfred de Zayas , “ that no American prisoners of war were shot. The report allegedly made to the American State Department by 15 alleged survivors is therefore inaccurate ”. Zayas reports this statement as true with the partial use of testimony from eyewitnesses and explains the dead found in Malmedy with the fighting on the day of the alleged massacre. For this and other reasons, the historian Daniel-Marc Segesser accuses Zayas in his book on the prosecution of war crimes, to a large extent “the efforts of the Wehrmacht with regard to the prosecution of crimes in a favorable light and the knowledge of the National Socialist To relativize crimes within the armed forces justice . "

The files were confiscated by US forces at the end of the war . In 1950 the holdings were brought to Alexandria in the US state of Virginia , and in 1965 they were allowed to be viewed for the first time. Finally, the holdings were returned to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1968 and are currently stored in the Federal Archives-Military Archives in Freiburg im Breisgau. From the mid-1970s, the files were subjected to a scientific evaluation for the first time by a research group led by the American historian Alfred de Zayas . Later historians criticize his publications for being largely based on Nazi sources. De Zaya's assertion that “ the judges of the Wehrmacht could maintain an independent judiciary even under the conditions of a total dictatorship ” has been refuted by several historians.

literature

  • Alfred de Zayas : The Wehrmacht investigation center: German investigations into allied violations of international law in the Second World War. With the collaboration of Walter Rabus, Verlag Universitas Langen-Müller, Munich 1979. Numerous new editions. 2012 as
    • The Wehrmacht Investigation Center for Violations of International Law - Documentation of Allied war crimes in World War II , expanded new edition. Lindenbaum Verlag, Beltheim-Schnellbach 2012, ISBN 978-3-938176-39-9 .
  • Manfred Messerschmidt, Fritz Wüllner: The Wehrmacht Justice in the Service of National Socialism. Destroying a legend . Nomos, Baden-Baden 1987, ISBN 3-7890-1466-4 .
  • Fritz Wüllner: The Nazi military justice and the misery of historiography. A basic research report . Nomos, Baden-Baden 1995, ISBN 3-7890-4578-0 .
  • Eduard Rabofsky, Gerhard Oberkofler: Hidden Roots of the Nazi Justice. Criminal armaments for two world wars . Europaverlag, Vienna 1985, ISBN 3-203-50906-7 .
  • Andreas Toppe: Military and international law. Legal norms, professional discourse and war practice in Germany 1899-1940 , Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-486-58206-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christoph Rass: Abused Crimes. The “Wehrmacht Investigation Center for Violations of International Law” was little more than an auxiliary force for Nazi propaganda , in: Die Zeit , No. 47, November 12, 2009, p. 110 (online November 16, 2009).
  2. ^ Sven Felix Kellerhoff ; Lars-Broder Keil : German Legends: From the »stab in the back« and other myths of history . Chr. Links Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 9783862842216 , p. 112.
  3. ↑ a b Federal Archives (Ed.): Europe under the swastika. The occupation policy of German fascism (1938-1945). Eight-volume document edition. Vol. 8, Analyzes, Sources, Register, Heidelberg 1996, ISBN 3-7785-2338-4 , p. 349.
  4. ↑ a b Encyclopedia of National Socialism. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-423-34408-1 , p. 870.
  5. ^ Alfred de Zayas, p. 65.
  6. ↑ Alfred de Zayas, p. 66 f.
  7. ↑ Andreas Toppe: 2008, p. 190.
  8. ↑ Andreas Toppe: 2008, p. 240.
  9. ^ Alfred de Zayas, p. 215.
  10. ↑ Daniel-Marc Segesser: Law or Vengeance through Law? The Punishment of War Crimes in the International Scientific Debate 1872-1945 . Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn 2010, ISBN 978-3-506-76399-0 , p. 312.
  11. ^ Alfred de Zayas, p. 76.
  12. ↑ Andreas Toppe: Military and international law. Legal norms, specialist discourse and war practice in Germany 1899-1940 , Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-486-58206-2 , p. 197 f.