Mug-shot of defendant Werner Braune at the Einsatzgruppen Trial.
Overview
- Caption
- Mug-shot of defendant Werner Braune at the Einsatzgruppen Trial.
- Date
-
1947 July 29 - 1947 July 31
- Locale
- Nuremberg, [Bavaria] Germany
- Variant Locale
- Nurnberg
- Photo Credit
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Benjamin Ferencz
- Event History
- On September 10, 1947, the U.S. Military Government for Germany created the Military Tribunal II-A (later renamed Tribunal II) to try the Einsatzgruppen Case. The 24 defendants were all leaders of the mobile security and killing units of the SS, the Einsatzgruppen. On July 29, 1947 the defendants were indicted on three counts of criminality: crimes against humanity, war crimes and membership in organizations declared criminal by the International Military Tribunal. Each of the 24 defendants was charged with all three counts, covering the period of their activity from May 1941 to July 1943. Each defendant pleaded "not guilty." Their defense hinged upon the argument that they had acted legally, as soldiers, and had merely been following orders. The defendants were arraigned between September 15 and 22, 1947, and the trial ran from September 29 to February 12, 1948. The prosecution's case took up only two court sessions. The remainder of the time was devoted to the direct testimony of the defendants. While 24 defendants had been indicted, only 22 were tried. Emil Hausmann had committed suicide in July 1947, and Otto Rasch was deemed too ill to stand trial. The Tribunal rendered its judgment on April 8-9, 1948, finding 20 defendants guilty on all three counts and two guilty on count three alone. The sentences were announced on April 10. In all, 14 defendants were sentenced to death, two were sentenced to life terms and five received sentences that ranged from 10 to 20 years. Only Matthias Graf was released with time served. Ultimately, only four of the 14 death sentences were carried out on June 7, 1951. Head of Einsatzkommando II, Eduard Strauch, who received a death sentence, was extradited to Belgium where he received a further death sentence. The remainder of the defendants had their sentences commuted or were paroled. All of the convicted defendants in this case were released from prison in 1958.
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007080.
Rights & Restrictions
- Photo Source
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumProvenance: Benjamin FerenczSource Record ID: Collections: 1994.A.037Second Record ID: Collections: RG-12.019National Archives and Records Administration, College Park
Copyright: Public DomainSource Record ID: 238-OMT-IX-D-20
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Biography
- SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Werner Braune (1909-1951) was the commanding officer of Einsatzkommando 11b of Einsatzgruppen D. Braune joined the NSDAP on May 15, 1931 and the SD on November 18, 1934. Braune was one of the earliest members of the SD. In 1937, he transferred to the Gestapo, quickly advancing to the position of Chief of the Gestapo Office in Halle der Salle. He was transferred to Einsatzgruppen D under the command of Otto Ohlendorf in the Crimea in 1941. As commander of Einsatzkommando 11b, Braune was responsible for ordering the death of thousands of Jews, Roma, and alleged Communists, including the massacre of seven hundred Jews and Communists in Simferopol. He returned to the Gestapo in September 1942 and later became commander of SD and Security Police in Oslo, Norway from December 1944 to the end of the war. He was arrested and tried in the Einsatzgruppen trial of USA vs. Otto Ohlendorf et. al. for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and belonging to criminal organizations. He was executed in 1951.
Sources: The Holocaust (Mendelsohn) 18:1-13; The Destruction of the European Jews (Hilberg) 3:1092
- Record last modified:
- 2021-04-09 00:00:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1056328
