Dostler (right) with his interpreter, Albert O. Hirschman, at his trial (1945)
Born
Anton Dostler
(1891-05-10)10 May 1891
Munich, German Empire
Died
3 December 1945(1945-12-03) (aged 54)
Aversa, Province of Caserta, Kingdom of Italy
Cause of death
Execution by firing squad
Criminal status
Executed
Motive
Superior orders
Conviction(s)
War crimes
Criminal penalty
Death
Details
Victims
15
Date
26 March 1944
Country
Italy
Target(s)
American POWs
Military career
Allegiance
Germany
Service/branch
Imperial German Army Reichsheer German Army
Years of service
1910–45
Rank
General of the Infantry
Commands held
57th Infantry Division
163rd Infantry Division
LXXV Army Corps
LXXIII Army Corps
Battles/wars
Second World War
Anton Dostler (10 May 1891 – 1 December 1945) was a German army officer who fought in both World Wars. During World War II, he commanded several units as a General of the Infantry, primarily in Italy. After the Axis defeat, Dostler was executed for war crimes—specifically, ordering the execution of fifteen American prisoners of war in March 1944 during the Italian Campaign.
Dostler was tried during the first Allied war crimes trials to be held after the end of the war in Europe; at Nuremberg, he mounted a defense on the grounds that he had ordered the executions only because he himself was obeying superior orders, and that as such only his superiors could be held responsible. The Nuremberg judges rejected Dostler's defense, ruling, in an important precedent (later codified in Principle IV of the Nuremberg Principles and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights), that citing superior orders did not relieve soldiers or officers of responsibility for carrying out war crimes.[1] After being found guilty, Dostler was sentenced to death and executed by a United States Army firing squad.
^Brennan, J. G.; Green, L. C. (1997). ""The Case of General Dostler"". Naval War College Review. 50 (4): 115–117. ISSN 0028-1484. JSTOR 44638781.
AntonDostler (10 May 1891 – 1 December 1945) was a German army officer who fought in both World Wars. During World War II, he commanded several units...
Dostler is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: AntonDostler (1891–1945), German general executed for war crimes Eduard Ritter...
Commando Order of 1942 at the command of German General AntonDostler. After the war, Dostler was tried by a military tribunal for the deaths of fifteen...
However, their sentence was overturned on appeal. On October 8, 1945, AntonDostler was the first German general to be tried for war crimes by a US military...
north; the 57. Infanterie-Division, under the command of Generalmajor AntonDostler, advancing from the south; and the 100. Leichte-Division, which did...
crimes in postwar tribunals, including at the Nuremberg trials. General AntonDostler, who ordered the execution of 15 U.S. soldiers of the Ginny II operation...
German 75th Army Corps, General AntonDostler, despite the opposition of his subordinates of the 135th Fortress Brigade. Dostler was sentenced to death by an...
that of General der Infanterie AntonDostler, the commander of the LXXV Army Corps, and Generalleutnant Kurt Mälzer. Dostler stood trial in October 1945...
was himself shot in the last days of World War II. On 1 December 1945 AntonDostler, the first German general to be tried for war crimes, was executed by...
Andergassen Friedrich Boßhammer Eduard Crasemann Theodor Dannecker AntonDostler Friedrich Engel Karl Hass Herbert Kappler Albert Kesselring Eberhard...
Allied war crimes trial took place in the palace in 1945; German general AntonDostler was sentenced to death and executed nearby, in Aversa. In the left-hand...
Andergassen Friedrich Boßhammer Eduard Crasemann Theodor Dannecker AntonDostler Friedrich Engel Karl Hass Herbert Kappler Albert Kesselring Eberhard...
Andergassen Friedrich Boßhammer Eduard Crasemann Theodor Dannecker AntonDostler Friedrich Engel Karl Hass Herbert Kappler Albert Kesselring Eberhard...
Andergassen Friedrich Boßhammer Eduard Crasemann Theodor Dannecker AntonDostler Friedrich Engel Karl Hass Herbert Kappler Albert Kesselring Eberhard...
Andergassen Friedrich Boßhammer Eduard Crasemann Theodor Dannecker AntonDostler Friedrich Engel Karl Hass Herbert Kappler Albert Kesselring Eberhard...
been captured by German troops. The commander of the LXXV Army Corps, AntonDostler, was sentenced to death and executed in 1945 for ordering the execution...
Andergassen Friedrich Boßhammer Eduard Crasemann Theodor Dannecker AntonDostler Friedrich Engel Karl Hass Herbert Kappler Albert Kesselring Eberhard...
The first Allied war trial took place there in 1945; German general AntonDostler was sentenced to death and executed nearby, in Aversa. Pope Francis...
Andergassen Friedrich Boßhammer Eduard Crasemann Theodor Dannecker AntonDostler Friedrich Engel Karl Hass Herbert Kappler Albert Kesselring Eberhard...
Andergassen Friedrich Boßhammer Eduard Crasemann Theodor Dannecker AntonDostler Friedrich Engel Karl Hass Herbert Kappler Albert Kesselring Eberhard...
– Shigeru Honjō, Japanese general (suicide) (b. 1876) December 1 – AntonDostler, German general (b. 1891) December 4 Thomas Hunt Morgan, American biologist...
Global Information
Imperial German Army
Reichsheer
German Army