Note to Dr Carr, Professor Glees and the Pickles Committee members from Prof. Dan Plesch and Zahraa Kapasi
Links and Extracts from UNWCC files of charges brought to the UNWCC by member states. The charges located so far are:
- UK vs Germany, 1944. UK/G Case 19, Reel 19, pdf pg 241 onwards
Concerning deportations of the local population of Jersey/Guernsey to Germany based on British official information.
- UK vs Germany, 1945. UK/G Case 251, Reel 19, pdf pg 2319 onwards
Charge concerning reductions made in certain rations of foodstuffs for the civilian population of the States of Jersey in reprisal for attacks made by Allied Forces on supply ships bound for the Channel Islands.
- Czechoslovakia vs Germans, 1946. Cz/G Case 49, Reel 3, pdf pg 1035 onwards (See Appendix 1)
Concerning crimes in Alderney. Charge based on a file from the British War Crimes Executive. Offenses included murder, including SS guards being rewarded with food and drink for five dead prisoners, and the filling of the sick by means of injections.
Reel-3-Charge-files-Czechslovakia-vs-Germans-1-246-1.pdf (unwcc.org)
- France vs Germans, 1946. F/G Case 289, Reel 5, pdf pg 751 onwards (see Appendix 2) & Case 469, pdf pg 1951 onwards (see Appendix 3)
Charge concerning the Mariette prison, the Mariette school in France, and transport of 650 French Jews to Alderney and what happened: “extreme violence against Jewish workers.” Based on evidence retained in France by a Mr Henry Cohen of Paris.
Reel-5-Charge-files-France-vs-Germans-181-520.pdf (unwcc.org)
- France vs Germans, 1947-48. F/G Case 2171, Reel 10, pdf pg 711 onwards (see Appendix 4)
Primarily concerning the transit of prisoners from Alderney to the continent after D-Day and murders enroute. But also including evidence of murders and other crimes in Alderney. Witness Woitas on pdf pg 722 specifies relating to “Camp Adolf” and transport to the island of 940 prisoners, of whom 650 survived to be transported back to the continent, and of the other 290, 150 “ont ete exterminee est les autres ont ete tu es.” Witness statements are from ex-prisoners and French railway workers.
Reel-10-Charge-files-France-vs-Germans-2061-2231.pdf (unwcc.org)
For background, these documents were officially submitted by the state concerned to the UNWCC. That Commission was hosted, staffed, and chaired by the UK which also took part as a member state in the Commission’s decision on the cases. Commission chairmen included a former President of the International Court of Justice and a former Master of the Rolls. The French cases were signed by Andre Gros, a member of the International Court of Justice, and the Czech case by Bohuslav Ecer, also a judge at the International Court of Justice. As far as it can be seen, so far almost all those charged were put on lists of accused war criminals although some were listed as witnesses.
We have not found related trial reports yet. The archive includes trial reports that are incomplete and do not appear to show the relevant cases. The lack of a trial in normal civil proceedings in no way invalidates the charges. There are many reasons that accused persons never had their day in court and the records of trials that took place were lost and received little media interest. The US and UK suppressed war crimes prosecutions from 1948 as is detailed in David Wilkinson’s acclaimed film “Getting Away with Murder(s)” on Amazon Prime, which is essential background reading. We also suggest Human Rights After Hitler, 2017, Chapter 9, ‘Liberating the Nazis’ by Prof. Dan Plesch.
At the beginning of the archives section of http://www.unwcc.org there is a simple and comprehensive guide to the use of the archive. However, the OCR search technology is not perfect, especially on hard to read texts, and while some search for Aurigny and Alderney has been productive, search for “Channel Islands” and either ‘Iles de la Manche’ or ‘Îles Anglo-Normandes’ has not been conducted fully.
Prof. Dan Plesch
SOAS University of London
Door Tenant, 9 Bedford Row Barristers’ Chambers
Zahraa Kapasi
SOAS University of London
Appendix 1: Cz/G Case 49- Czech trial against German war criminals in Alderney. It lists the accused, including Hoegelow
‘The accused committed inhuman acts, especially atrocities, in the Concentration Camp formed by the “1 SS-Bau Brigade Fuer Das Ausland” on the Channel Island of Alderney and at Kortemark.
The 1 SS-Bau Brigade Fuer das Ausland was formed from inmates of the Concentration Camp Sachsenhausen in September, 1942 and came under the command of the Concentration Camp Harburg-Neuengamme in March, 1943 on the island of Alderney. It was then transferred from Alderney to Kortemark.
The brigade had a total of approximately 1,000 inmates, among them Czechoslovak nationals.’
‘All the accused were responsible for and participated in, the atrocities committed to the prisoners. The prisoners were brutally beaten and inhumanly ill-treated. Many of them were murdered. Ill prisoners were killed by injections.’
Appendix 2: F/G Case 289- Charge about Mariette including Alderney.
Appendix 3: F/G Case 469- Charge about Mariette including Alderney.
Appendix 4: F/G Case 2171- Case concerns train transport from Alderney. It includes lengthy affidavits and lists the accused.
This case contains multiple pages of evidence with a focus on transport.
p.714
– Refers to 68 wagons of 50 people, with sections of the train headed to different destinations. If they all carried prisoners, this would amount to over 3000 people.
– At Toul, after some Russians try and escape, the train is fired upon by Germans with automatic weapons. 16-17 corpses disposed of beside the tracks.
p.716
– A German train.
p.720
– Evidence of a Dutch witness prisoner concerning his journey through several camps and then to Alderney: ‘…thousand others to Alderney… worked in Blockhaus… 24 June boat to St Malo then train… 18 killed at Toul.’ ‘Scandalous treatment on Alderney.’
p.720-721
– More Dutchmen give evidence about Alderney.
– About 1000 prisoners on the Island of various nationalities.
p.722
– Numbers of prisoners: 940.
-Numbers given for exterminations and killings. Some killed before Toul. About 40 total.
-Protest of German Doctor.
p.728
-Notes decision of UNWCC Committee I.