Resisting a War Crimes Trial: The Malmédy Massacre, the German Churches, and the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Corps Cover Image

Opór wobec procesów w sprawie zbrodni wojennych: masakra w Malmédy, niemieckie Kościoły a kontrwywiad amerykański CIC
Resisting a War Crimes Trial: The Malmédy Massacre, the German Churches, and the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Corps

Author(s): Jerome S. Legge, Jr.
Subject(s): History
Published by: Stowarzyszenie Centrum Badań nad Zagładą Żydów & IFiS PAN
Keywords: postwar war crimes trials; German Federal Republic; Roman Catholic Church; Evangelical Lutheran Church; Johannes Neuhäusler; Theophil Wurm; Army Counterintelligence Corps

Summary/Abstract: War crimes trials roused considerable resistance in Germany. Here the author analyzes opposition to the Malmédy Trial, conducted at Dachau in 1946, citing documents made available under the 1998 Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act – in particular those of Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of Munich Johannes Neuhäusler and regional Protestant bishop Theophil Wurm of Württemberg. These clergymen helped reduce sentences and obtain clemency for perpetrators. Munich lawyer and activist Rudolf Aschenauer, a close associate of Neuhäusler, coordinated a large network devoted to thwarting the convictions of the former Waffen-SS men. The author traces U.S. Army Counterintelligence Corps (CIC) monitoring of both Aschenauer and the bishops.

  • Issue Year: 2013
  • Issue No: 9
  • Page Range: 173-204
  • Page Count: 32
  • Language: Polish