Otmar von Verschuer

Born: July 16, 1896

Died: August 8, 1969

“Verschuer should be considered not as a collaborator, but one of the most dangerous Nazi activists of the Third Reich.” –the Commission in charge of rebuilding the Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft.

Von Verschuer was a human biologist and geneticist (apparently!).  His area of concern was racial hygiene and twins research.  In 1944, he received authorization from Heinrich Himmler to work at the concentration camp in Auschwitz, where he was teamed up with one of his most famous subordinates – Josef Mengele.

Von Verschuer has been implicated in Mengele’s criminal research.  Not only was Verschuer aware of experimental details, he even collaborated with and encouraged Mengele to further monstrosities. 

“My assistant, Dr. Mengele (M.D., Ph.D.) has joined me in this branch of research. He is presently employed as Hauptsturmführer and camp physician in the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Anthropological investigations on the most diverse racial groups of this concentration camp are being carried out with permission of the SS Reichsführer [Himmler]; the blood samples are being sent to my laboratory for analysis.” –excerpt of 1944 letter from von Verschuer to German Research Council. 

Apparently, Von Verschuer had quite the collection of eyeballs.  He was interested in people whose eyes were of a slightly different colour than the other.  If you were unfortunate enough to have two different eyes (??), you would’ve been murdered and your eyes removed.  Of special interest were the eyes of twin children.

 

This abhorrent collection of eyes was never found.  The popular belief is that von Verschuer had the collection destroyed in an effort to prevent implications in war crimes / crimes against humanity. Von Verschuer also destroyed many of the documents which linked him to Mengele.  These must’ve been important, valuable scientific documents to have been so easily destroyed. At the end of the war, von Verschuer was tried as a ‘Nazi fellow traveler’, fined 600 marks and set free. 

We live in a strange civilization.  Here’s a man who promoted, fostered, and administered over some of the worst crimes imaginable, but he had something to offer to science, so he was absolved of his guilt.  I wonder if this absolved his conscience?!

He died in a car accident in 1969.  None of his public eulogies made any mention of his criminal Nazi past.  Among his greatest crimes was the quasi-scientific legitimization he lent to Nazi racism.

Dailide Guilty? (Unequivocal YES)

A comment which provoked some thought was recently posted on the entry for ALGIMANTAS DAILIDE.  The commenter felt this entry was untrue, unfair and bigoted.  I was upset by the accusation, but I can only imagine how she feels, given that the entry concerns a relative.

Dailide was accused of and convicted (in Lithuania) for his involvement in the death of fourteen people.  However, being more than 86 years old, the Lithuanian court did not think it would be prudent to imprison him.

“He was a 20 year old clerk.  He was charged for being there.  He was a young man trying to support himself and his mother.” [excerpt from the posted comment]

Here’s where things get pretty tricky.  It’s claimed he was trying to support his family and self during a tough time (Second World War).  No doubt, the world was flipped upside down and chaos reigned supreme.  I am sure many people were reduced to an impoverished condition, lost their homes, livelihood and pretty much everything else they may have known.  People were forced to make tough decisions.

I ask myself what I’d do in a similar situation.  Would I sacrifice or save myself?  Would I look for the easy way out or make life difficult for myself?  Would I kill others?  Or would I watch my mother die?  I honestly don’t know.  What is duress, really?  Is the possibility of starving to death the same as having a gun held to your head?  Do desperate times really call for desperate measures?  Is desperation a valid excuse for desperate deeds?  This is very conflicting.

If there is no threat of state endorsed persecution (terror) against one’s person, than that person should have more than just desperate options available to them.  Does that make sense?  Given that Dailide was able to apply for and receive employment by a government agency, he was not under threat of persecution from his government.  He was not as desperate as others.  It is possible that he could’ve found another means of supporting his mother and self..

Then arises the question of morality.  Is it okay to persecute people for reasons other than their personal actions (crimes)?  I am thinking with my twenty-first century sensibility, not that of the 1940s, but at some point, someone must’ve thought that the persecution of ‘sub-humans’ was wrong (immoral).

 

I am not sure morality should even be a factor of this debate (conversation).  The bottom line is, if the Nazis had been victorious, there wouldn’t be any Nazi war criminals, just a whole slew of heroes.  But, that’s not the case.  They lost the war and their moral imperative along with it.

 

Can I tell you everything about Dailide?  No.  Do I know what his circumstances were during the war?  No.  Do I know what he was thinking?  No.  Do I know if he believes his actions were justified?  No.  Only Dailide knows.  Do I know where he was employed during the Nazi occupation?  Yes.  Do I know what he was accused and convicted of?  Yes.  Did he pull the trigger?  No.  Did he supply people for persecution?  Yes.

 

There you have it.  No matter what the situation.  No matter what the reason.  Everyone MUST be held accountable for their actions.  Otherwise, there will always be some ‘legitimate’ excuse for poor behaviour.

Israel’s Nazi Punishment Law

I copied this verbatim from Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. 

Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law, 5710-1950*

Crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity and war crimes.	1. (a) A person who has committed one of the following offences – (1) done, during the period of the Nazi regime, in an enemy country, an act constituting a crime against the Jewish people;(2) done, during the period of the Nazi regime, in an enemy country, an a act constituting a crime against humanity; (3) done, during the period of the Second World War, in an enemy country, an act constituting a war crime, is liable to the death penalty. (b) In this section - “crime against the Jewish people” means any of the following acts, committed with intent to destroy the Jewish people in whole or in part: (1) killing Jews; (2) causing serious bodily or mental harm to Jews; (3) placing Jews in living conditions calculated to bring about their physical destruction; (4) imposing measures intended to prevent births among Jews; (5) forcibly transferring Jewish children to another national or religious group; (6) destroying or desecrating Jewish religious or cultural assets or values; (7) inciting to hatred of Jews; “crime against humanity” means any of the following acts: murder, extermination, enslavement, starvation or deportation and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, and persecution on national, racial, religious or political grounds; “war crime” means any of the following acts: murder, ill-treatment or deportation to forced labour or for any other purpose, of civilian population of or in occupied territory; murder Or ill-treatment of prisoners of war or persons on the seas; killing of hostages; plunder of public or private property; wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages; and devastation not justified by military necessity.
Crimes against persecuted persons.	2. If a person, during the period of the Nazi regime, committed in an enemy country an act by which, had he committed it in Israel territory, he would have become guilty of an offence under one of the following sections of the Criminal Code, and he committed the act against a persecuted person as a persecuted person he shall be guilty of an offence under this Law and be liable to the same punishment to which he would have been liable had he committed the act in Israel territory:(a) section 152 (rape, sexual and unnatural offences); (b) section 153 (rape by deception); (c) section 157 (indecent act with force, etc.); (d) section 188 (child stealing); (e) section 212 (manslaughter); (f) section 214 (murder); (g) section 222 (attempt to murder); (h) section 235 (acts intended to cause grievous harm or prevent arrests) (i) section 236 (preventing escape from wreck); (j) section 238 (grievous harm); (k) section 240 (maliciously administering poison with intent to harm); (l) section 256 (abducting in order to murder) ; (m) section 258 (abducting in order to subject person to grievous hurt); (n) section 288 (robbery and attempted robbery); (o) section 293 (demanding property with menaces with intent to steal).
Membership in enemy organisation.	3. (a) A person who, during the period of the Nazi regime, in an enemy country, was a member of, or held any post or exercised any function in, an enemy organisation is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years.(b) In this section, “enemy organisation” means - (1) a body of persons which, under article 9 of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal, annexed to the Four-Power Agreement of the 8th August, 1945, on the trial of the major war criminals, has been declared, by a judgment of that Tribunal, to be a criminal organisation; (2) any other body of persons which existed in an enemy country and the object or one of the objects of which was to carry out or assist in carrying out actions of an enemy administration directed against persecuted persons.
Offences in places of confinement.	4. (a) A person who, during the period of the Nazi regime, in an enemy country and while exercising some function in a place of confinement on behalf of an enemy administration or of the person in charge of that place of confinement, committed in that place of confinement an act against a persecuted person by which, had he committed it in Israel territory, he would have become guilty of an offence under one of the following sections of the Criminal Code, shall be guilty of an offence under this Law and be liable to the same punishment to which he would have been liable had he committed the act in Israel territory:(1) section 100 (c) (threatening violence); (2) section 162 (procuring defilement of females by threats, fraud or administering drugs); (3) section 241 (wounding and similar acts); (4) section 242 (failure to supply necessaries); (5) section 249 (common assault); (6) section 250 (assault causing actual bodily harm); (7) section 261 (unlawful compulsory labour); (8) section 270 (theft). (b) “Place of confinement”, in this section, means any place in an enemy country which, by order of an enemy administration, was assigned to persecuted persons, and includes any part of such a place.
Delivering up persecuted person to enemy administration.	5. A person who, during the period of the Nazi regime, in an enemy country, was instrumental in delivering up a persecuted person to an enemy administration, is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years.
Black-mailing persecuted persons.	6. A person who, during the period of the Nazi regime, in an enemy country, received or demanded a benefit -(a) from a persecuted person under threat of delivering up him or another persecuted person to an enemy administration; or (b) from a person who had given shelter to a persecuted person, under threat of delivering up him or the persecuted person sheltered by him to an enemy administration, is liable to imprisonment for a period not exceeding seven years.
Application of General Criminal Code.	7. The provisions of the First Part of the Criminal Code shall, save as this Law otherwise provides, apply to offences under this Law.
Certain sections not to apply.	8. Sections 16, 17, 18 and 19 of the Criminal Code shall not apply to offences under this Law.
Res judicata.	9. (a) A person who has committed an offence under this Law may be tried in Israel even if he has already been tried abroad, whether before an international tribunal or a tribunal of a foreign state, for the same offence.(b) If a person is convicted in Israel of an offence under this Law after being convicted of the same act abroad, the Israel court shall, in determining the punishment, take into consideration the sentence which he has served abroad.
Release from criminal responsibility.	10. If a persecuted person has done or omitted to do any act, such act or omission constituting an offence under this Law, the Court shall release him from criminal responsibility -(a) if he did or omitted to do the act in order to save himself from the danger of immediate death threatening him and the court is satisfied that he did his best to avert the consequences of the act or omission; or (b) if he did or omitted to do the act with intent to avert consequences more serious than those which resulted from the act or omission, and actually averted them; however, these provisions shall not apply to an act or omission constituting an offence under section 1 or 2(f).
Extenuating circumstances.	11. In determining the punishment of a person circumstances. convicted of an offence under this Law, the court may take into account, as grounds for mitigating the punishment, the following circumstances:(a) that the person committed the offence under conditions which, but for section 8, would have exempted him from criminal responsibility or constituted a reason for pardoning the offence, and that he did his best to reduce the gravity of the consequences of the offence; (b) that the offence was committed with intent to avert, and was indeed calculated to avert, consequences more serious than those which resulted from the offence; however, in the case of an offence under section 1, the court shall Dot impose on the offender a lighter punishment than imprisonment for a term of ten years.
Prescription.	12. (a) The rules of prescription laid down in the Fifth Chapter of the Ottoman Code of Criminal Procedure shall not apply to offences under this Law.(b) No person shall be prosecuted for an offence under this Law, except offence under section 1 or 2(f), if twenty years have passed since the time of the offence.
General amnesty not to apply.	13. The provisions of the General Amnesty Ordinance, 5709-1949), shall not apply to offences under this Law.
Institution of prosecution.	14. A prosecution for an offence under this Law may only be instituted by the Attorney General or his representative.
Evidence.	15. (a) In an action for an offence under this Law, the court may deviate from the rules of evidence if it is satisfied that this will promote the ascertainment of the truth and the just handling of the case.(b) Whenever the court decides to deviate, under subsection (a), from the rules of evidence, it shall place on record the reasons which prompted its decision.
Interpretation.	16. In this Law -”the period of the Nazi regime” means the period which began on the 3rd Shevat, 5693 (30th January, 1933) and ended on the 25th Iyar, 5705 (8th May, 1945); “the period of the Second World War” means the period which began on the 17th Elul, 5699 (1st September, l939) and ended on the 5th Elul, 5705 (14th August, 1945); “the Allied Powers” means the states which signed the Declaration of the United Nations of the 1st January, 1942, or acceded to it during the period of the Second World War; “Axis state” means a state which during the whole or part of the period of the Second World War was at war with the Allied Powers; the period which began on the day of the beginning of the state of war between a particular Axis state and the first, in time, of the Allied Powers and ended on the day of the cessation of hostilities between that state and the last, in time, of the Allied Powers, shall be considered as the period of the war between that state and the Allied Powers; “enemy country” means (a) Germany during the period of the Nazi regime; (b) any other Axis state during the period of the war between it and the Allied Powers; (c) any territory which, during the whole or part of the period of the Nazi regime, was de facto under German rule, for the time during which it was de facto under German rule as aforesaid; (d) any territory which was de facto under the rule of any other Axis state during the whole or part of the period of the war between it and the Allied Powers, for the time during which that territory was de facto under the rule of that Axis state as aforesaid; “enemy administration” means the administration which existed in an enemy country; “persecuted person” means a person belonging to a national, racial, religious or political group which was persecuted by an enemy administration; “the Criminal Code” means the Criminal Code Ordinance, 1936).
Implementation.	17. The Minister of Justice is charged with the implementation of this Law.

DAVID BEN-GURION
Prime Minister PINCHAS ROSEN
Minister of Justice

YOSEF SPRINZAK
Chairman of the Knesset
Acting President of the State

* Passed by the Knesset on the 18th Av, 5710 (1st August, 1950) and Published in Sefer Ha-Chukkim No. 57 of the 26th Av, 5711 (9th August, 1950). p. 281; the Bill and an Explanatory Note were published in Hatza’ot Chok No. 36 of the 11th Adar, 5710 (28th February, 1950), P. 119. I.R. No. 50 of the 12th Shevat, 5709 (11th February, 1949), Suppl. I, p. 173.

P.G. No. 652 of the 14th December, 1936, Suppl. I, p. 285 (English Edition). LSI vol. II, p. 115.
Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law (Amendment) 5723-1963*

Amendment of section 12.

1. Section 12(b) of the Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law, 5710-1950) is hereby repealed retroactively as from the day of its enactment.

LEVI ESHKOL
Prime Minister

DOV JOSEPH
Minister of Justice

SHNEUR ZALMAN SHAZAR
President of the State

* Passed by the Knesset on the 16th Av, 5723 (6th August, 1963) and published in Sefer Ha-Chukkim No. 404 of the 26th Av, 5723(16th August, 1963), p. 140; the Bill and an Explanatory Note were published in Hatza’ot Chok No. 576 of 5723, p. 350. Sefer Ha-Chukkim No. 57 of 5710, p. 281; LSI vol. IV, p. 154.

The Triumph of the Will

This is the full version of Leni Reifenstahl’s ‘The Triumph of the Will’ - a quintessential bit of Nazi propaganda.

The film is a chronicle of the 1934 Nazi Rally in Nuremberg (coincidentally where most of the influential Nazis were tried, convicted and executed for their roles in the war.

Hans Frank

Born: May 23, 1900

Died: October 16, 1946.

Convicted at Nuremberg and executed for his crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Here’s a picture of Hans Frank during the Nuremberg trial.  He’s wearing a glove to prevent him from attempting another suicide.  He tried to cut his own throat when he was captured by US Forces.  That’s right…he tried to kill himself before the Allies could oblige him.  Not so Herr Frank.  (Standing beside Frank is Alfred Rosenberg).

So, what was so bad about Hans Frank?  Well, for starters, he was the Governor-General of Occupied Poland.  In this role, he was instrumental in facilitating the Final Solution in Poland.  He started by eliminating the Polish intelligentsia.  Then segregated Polish Jews into the ghettos and initiated the use of Poles as ‘forced and compulsory’ labourers.

He claimed he didn’t know anything about the extermination of Jews in Poland until late 1944.  He said the Final Solution was administered solely by Heinrich Himmler.  Even so, he didn’t flee the Polish General Government until 1945 when the Soviets were rolling through Poland.

My question for Frank is the same as all other Nazis who attempted suicide – if you didn’t know or didn’t do anything wrong, than why kill yourself?

In a 1940 interview with the Volkischer Beobachter (Nazi Party paper), Frank was quoted, “In Prague, big red posters were put up on which one could read that seven Czechs had been shot today.  I said to myself, ‘If I had to put up a poster for every seven Poles shot, the forests of Poland would not be sufficient to manufacture the paper.’”

What?!  Doesn’t this statement directly contradict his claim that he knew nothing about mass murder in Poland?!

Here’s Hans Frank after the Allies were finished with him.

“A thousand years will pass and the guilt of Germany will still not have been erased.” - Hans Frank from the Nuremberg witness stand.

Martin Bormann

Born: June 17, 1900

Died: May 2, 1945 (?)

Bormann was head of the Nazi Party Chancellery and personal Secretary to Hitler, as such he had considerable power within the Third Reich (mainly by controlling access to Hitler).

Bormann was aware of and active in the extermination of the Jews.  There are several witnesses who heard (on more than one occasion) Bormann pass on orders issued from Hitler (re: final solution), as well as receiving reports from area leaders concerning their progress.

In one instance, an operator overheard a report from Himmler to Bormann in which Himmler gave a status update on the ‘extermination’ of the Jews.  Bormann reprimanded him for using the word ‘exterminate’ rather than the euphemism of ‘resettled’.

There was some dispute concerning whether or not Bormann was dead.  According to one account, Bormann fled the Berlin Bunker (after Goebbels’ suicide) and tried to escape Berlin.  However, he did not make it.  The witness (Artur Axmann) did not see Bormann die, but claimed to have seen his body.

The body was not found until late in 1972.  DNA testing in 1997 definitively proved that the corpse was indeed that of Martin Bormann.  Evidence indicated that Bormann committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide pill.

Wow…how many Nazis killed themselves?  Almost all of Hitler’s inner circle certainly did.  Brave men, these bully killers.

Julius Streicher (Der Sturmer)

Born: February 12, 1885

Died: October 16, 1946.

He was sentenced to death at the Nuremberg trials for crimes against humanity (inciting people to hate & murder Jews).  He was executed on October 16, 1946.

He wasn’t a military man, nor was he involved in politics.  Streicher was the editor of Der Sturmer (‘The Storm’), a tabloid-style weekly filled with hate.

Below the nameplate is the motto – “Germany’s Weekly Newspaper for the Fight for Truth.”

The bold print at the bottom – “The Jews are our misfortune!”

Apparently Streicher had a very low IQ and many who knew him thought he was certifiably insane.  In any other country or time, he would’ve been institutionalized.  In Nazi Germany, he was put in the publishing business.

Der Sturmer was crammed with bullshit libelous stories intended to stir up hatred against Jewish peoples.

He was stripped of all Nazi party offices in 1940 for printing ‘negative’ (untrue?) stories about Hermann Goering & several other Nazi gauleiters.  However, he did not lose the favour of the Fuhrer (Hitler hated Goering).

Anyways – this is Julius Streicher – dead.  I think that’s the noose dangling from his neck.  His last words were, “Heil Hitler!”

Let this be a lesson to all you would-be haters/writers.  Words are more powerful than guns.

Rudolf Hess

Born: April 26, 1894 (before tweezers were invented - easy on the eye brows!)

Died: August 17, 1987

His death was recorded as a suicide, but under unusual circumstances.  He (apparently) strangled himself with an extension cord at the ripe, old age of 93.  It has been alleged that his death was caused by his Soviet captors (who cares?!).  The problem was that he was allowed to live well after the Third Reich had perished.

Rudolf Hess first met Hitler in May 1920 and was immediately devoted to him.  His part in the Beer Hall Putsch landed him in Landsberg prison (with Hitler) for 7 years.  In this time, he transcribed and partially edited Hitler’s Mein Kampf (‘My Struggle’).

When the Nazis took control of the Reichstag, Hess was appointed Deputy Fuhrer – third in power behind Hitler and Goering.  However his political ineptitude, especially amongst the petty warlord mentality of the Nazi leadership, caused him to be marginalized.

Despite his reduced role in governing, Hess was integral to the establishment of the Nuremberg Laws.

Strange event in his life – for some unknown reason in May 1941, Hess hopped on a plane and flew to Scotland (where he crashed).  It is possible that he was trying to contact the British (Churchill) and negotiate a peace between the British and Germans.

This was not to be.  He spent the rest of the war in prison.  He was tried at Nuremberg and sentenced the spend the balance of his life in prison (Spandau Prison).

Spandau Prison was closed in 1987 after it’s last prisoner passed on…adios Herr Hess.

Josef Goebbels

Born: October 29, 1897

Died: May 1, 1945

Goebbels killed himself (along with his wife Madga and their six children) moments before the Soviets captured the Fuhrers Berlin bunker.

He was the mouth-piece of the Third Reich – Propaganda Minister.

One of his first tasks upon assignment to the Propaganda Ministry was to order the burning of books written by Jewish & anti-Nazi authors.  He slowly gained control over every news outlet in Nazi Germany and controlled the information released to the public, often concealing the sinister nature of Nazi policy.

Goebbels was the lead agitator in stirring up hatred against German Jews, European Jews, all Jews.  His frequent and violent verbal attacks against Jewish people are not only an affront to Jewish peoples, but to all civilized humanity.

He may not have murdered, but he spoke the words which motivated many to murder.

He didn’t want himself or his family to suffer the consequences of his actions.  Actions, he apparently thought were so terrible that it would be better to murder his entire family, then kill himself.

Another one of Hitler’s brave heroes.

Josef Mengele

Born: March 16, 1911

Died: February 7, 1979

Nicknames: Beppo or ‘The Angel of Death’

Josef Mengele died in Brazil of an ‘accidental’ drowning.  I wonder if it was an accident at all?!  I would like to think one of his victims was able to reap a modicum of justice whilst forcing his head beneath the water.

This sick bastard fancied himself a doctor, but was not interested in healing or health.  He considered himself a geneticist, a man of science, but did not follow scientific method.

Mengele was stationed at Auschwitz-Birkenau on May 24, 1943.  Aside from his duty of deciding the fate of thousands as they staggered from the Nazi cattle trains, Mengele spent a great deal of his time experimenting on children – twins to be specific.

He thought he could learn about genetics by experimenting (torturing) one of the twins, while treating the other normally.  At the end of the experiment, he would murder both and autopsy them with the hope of finding anatomical differences.

Some examples of his experiments:  He wanted to see if he could change the eye colour of children, so he injected various chemicals into their eyes, most often resulting in blindness.  He once had twins cut in half so he could see if they could be sewn together.  He sterilized children.  He gave them shock treatments.  He amputated limbs.

He murdered innocent children.

Nothing of his work is considered useful or scientific.  As a matter of fact, most of his notes were destroyed at the end of the war due to the criminal implications contained within.

Mengele claimed ‘he never personally hurt anyone in his life.’

However, he ran like hell from the allies in 1945 & lived in constant fear that the Mossad would capture him.  He moved from Argentina to Paraguay, then to Brazil – always under a different alias.  That’s definitely the behaviour of someone who believes he’s done no wrong.

He was as sadistic as he was ugly.  Vicious bastard.