War crimes perpetrated by members of the Nazi Gestapo
The Stalag Luft III murders were war crimes perpetrated by members of the Gestapo following the "Great Escape" of Allied prisoners of war from the German Air Force prison camp known as Stalag Luft III on March 25, 1944. Of the 76 successful escapees, 73 were recaptured, most within several days of the breakout, 50 of whom were executed on the personal orders of Adolf Hitler.[1] These executions were conducted within a short period following recapture.
Outrage at the killings was expressed immediately, both in the prison camp, among comrades of the escaped prisoners and in the United Kingdom, where Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden rose in the House of Commons to announce in June 1944 that those guilty of what the British government suspected was a war crime would be "brought to exemplary justice."[2]
After Nazi Germany's capitulation in May 1945, the Police branch of the Royal Air Force, with whom the 50 airmen had been serving, launched an investigation into the killings, having branded the shootings a war crime despite official German reports that the airmen had been shot while attempting to escape from captivity following recapture. An extensive investigation headed by Wing Commander Wilfred Bowes (RAF) and Squadron Leader Frank McKenna of the Special Investigation Branch into the events following the recapture of the 73 airmen was launched, which was unique for being the only major war crime to be investigated by a single branch of any nation's military.[2]: 261
Model of Stalag Luft III prison camp
^Jones, Priscilla Dale (1 June 1998). "Nazi Atrocities Against Allied Airmen: Stalag Luft III and the End of British War Crimes Trials". The Historical Journal. 41 (2). Cambridge University Press: 543–565. doi:10.1017/S0018246X98007869. S2CID 154684877. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
^ abAndrews, Allen (1976). Exemplary Justice. Corgi Books. ISBN 0-552-10800-6.
and 21 Related for: Stalag Luft III murders information
The StalagLuftIIImurders were war crimes perpetrated by members of the Gestapo following the "Great Escape" of Allied prisoners of war from the German...
StalagLuftIII (German: Stammlager LuftIII; literally "Main Camp, Air, III"; SL III) was a Luftwaffe-run prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during the Second...
executed by order of Hitler in the StalagLuftIIImurders. The largest German World War II prisoner of war camp was Stalag VII-A at Moosburg, Germany. Over...
50 of the 73 recaptured prisoners in what became known as the "StalagLuftIIImurders". Also in 1944, Nebe suggested that the Roma interned at Auschwitz...
masterminded the "Great Escape" from StalagLuftIII in 1944, but was one of the 50 escapees to be recaptured and subsequently murdered by the Gestapo. Bushell was...
during the Second World War. Gunn took part in the "Great Escape" from StalagLuftIII in March 1944, and was one of the men re-captured and subsequently...
Munich, Stuttgart and Strasbourg. In 1944 he participated in the StalagLuftIIImurders. After the war he was tried and convicted for war crimes. He was...
victims of the Great Escape in 1944 from the camp StalagLuftIII in Żagań (the StalagLuftIIImurders). During the Battle of Bautzen in April 1945, Wehrmacht...
imprisonment by a British military court for his complicity in the StalagLuftIIImurders. However, Wielen's sentence was later reduced to 15 years, and...
during the Second World War. He took part in the 'Great Escape' from StalagLuftIII in March 1944, but was one of the men recaptured and subsequently shot...
during the Second World War. He took part in the 'Great Escape' from StalagLuftIII in March 1944, but was one of the men re-captured and subsequently...
headed the investigation into the murders of recaptured officers who had escaped in the 'Great Escape' from StalagLuftIII in March 1944. Bowes was born...
Josef Kramer, along with over a dozen of the perpetrators of the StalagLuftIIImurders. The prison has since been turned into a hotel. Executed war criminals...
during the Second World War. He took part in the 'Great Escape' from StalagLuftIII in March 1944, but was one of the men recaptured and subsequently shot...
opposed the Morgenthau Plan to deindustrialise Germany. After the StalagLuftIIImurders, he vowed in the House of Commons to bring the perpetrators of...
participated in the 'Great Escape' from StalagLuftIII in March 1944 but was one of the men recaptured and subsequently murdered by the Gestapo. McGarr was born...
during the Second World War. He took part in the 'Great Escape' from StalagLuftIII in March 1944, but was one of the men re-captured and subsequently...
'Great Escape' from StalagLuftIII in March 1944 when he almost reached Switzerland but was one of the men recaptured and murdered by the Gestapo. Cochran...
during the Second World War. He took part in the 'Great Escape' from StalagLuftIII in March 1944, but was one of the men re-captured and subsequently...
Ravensbrück Trials (16 executions between 1947 and 1949) and the StalagLuftIIImurder trials, which resulted in 13 executions on 27 February 1948. The...
Global Information