Excellent movie about what happened in Italy under Nazi occupation
Posted on 08/11/2009 11:32:36 AM PDT by nickcarraway
A German court has convicted a former army officer of 10 counts of murder in what could be one of the last trials of Nazi-era crimes.
Josef Scheungraber was found guilty of giving the order to kill 10 Italians in 1944.
Munich's state court found 90-year-old Josef Scheungraber guilty of giving the order to kill 10 Italian civilians in the central Italian town of Falzano di Cortona in 1944.
The court also convicted Scheungraber of attempted murder, and acquitted him of four murder counts.
He was sentenced to life in prison. The verdict is subject to appeal, but it was not immediately clear whether Scheungraber planned to appeal.
Scheungraber served in the Wehrmacht, the German army during World War II. He was 25 at the time of the crime and was the company commander of the unit involved.
After two soldiers from the unit were found dead, Scheungraber gave the order to capture and kill any male civilians his soldiers came upon as a punitive measure, the court found.
Scheungraber's orders pertained to male civilians of any age and who were uninvolved in the conflict, the court found.
The orders had the "basest motivations" and were carried out through revenge, rage, and hate, the court said.
"This behavior is on the lowest moral level," the court said in a statement after the verdict.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
German Court Convicts Ex-Nazi Commander of murder (Life for 90 Year Old)
No Kidding.........
LOTS of facts left out in this story...
This happened on 27 Jun, not “Late 44”, shortly after Monte Casino. And this was one of several such incidents involving 5th Mountain Division, in an area over-run with partisans.
Josef Scheungraber was Kompanieführer 1. Kp. / Geb.Pi.Btl. 818. (Company Commander, 1st Company, Pioneer (engineers) battalion 818)
“The other” who was sentenced, is Major Herbert Stommel, the Battalion commander.
This unit had seen severe fighting at Cassino, and was decimated to the point that shortly after this incident, it was combined with the division’s other pioneer battalion.
Scheungraber was 25, newly promoted to lead a decimated unit he had served in through all of the slaughter at Cassino, and following the orders of a superior, (in fact, following army level orders) in an active battle zone.
While that in NO WAY justifies it, it’s helpful to understand.
One of those killed in the ambush was his company sergeant.
Just providing some insight in to happenings.
“Scheungraber gave the order to capture and kill any male civilians his soldiers came upon as a punitive measure”
What’s to understand?
Not much, but it helps to undersatnd the situation at the time.
Allied forces were also accused of committing war crimes in the same area, and this was a hotbed of internal fighting between Mussolini supporters and Royalists supported by the Allies.
Just days before this, 46 German soldiers had been captured by the partisans further north, then marched to a wall and executed by the partisans.
While I in no way excuse what happened, it helps to understand the level of chaos going on, with daily strafing and bombing attacks added in, just for fun.
People can do horrible things under stress.
Excellent movie about what happened in Italy under Nazi occupation
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.