Ministries Trial

The Ministries Trial (or, officially, The United States of America vs. Ernst von Weizscker, et. al.) was the eleventh of the twelve trials for war crimes the U.S. authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany in Nuremberg after the end of World War II. These twelve trials were all held before U.S. military courts, not before the International Military Tribunal, but took place in the same rooms. The twelve U.S. trials are collectively known as the "Subsequent Nuremberg Trials" or, more formally, as the "Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals" (NMT). This case is also known as the Wilhelmstrasse Trial, so-named because the German Foreign Office was located at the Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin. The defendants in this case were officials of various Reich ministries, facing various charges for their roles in Nazi Germany and thus their participation in or responsibility for the numerous atrocities committed both in Germany and in occupied countries during the war. The judges in this case, heard before Military Tribunal IV, were William C. Christianson (presiding judge) from Minnesota, Robert F. Maguire from Oregon, and Leon W. Powers from Iowa. The Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution was Telford Taylor; the chief prosecutor was Robert M. W. Kempner. The indictment was filed on November 15, 1947; the hearings lasted form January 6, 1948 until November 18 that year, and then the judges took a whole five months to compile their 833-page judgment, which they presented on April 11, 1949. The sentences were handed down on April 13, 1949. Of all the twelve trials, this was the one that lasted longest and ended last. Of the 21 defendants arraigned, two were acquitted, the others were found guilty on at least one count of the indictment and received prison sentences ranging from three years including time served to 25 years' imprisonment.

Indictment

The accused faced eight charges:
  1. Crimes against peace by planning and waging aggressive war against other nations and violating international treaties;
  2. Participating and organizing the formulations and execution of a common plan and conspiracy to commit aformentioned crimes against peace;
  3. War crimes by being responsible for murder, ill-treatment and other crimes against prisoners of war and enemy belligerents;
  4. Crimes against humanity: atrocities and crimes committed against Germans on the grounds of political, racial, or religious discrimination from 1933 to 1939;
  5. War crimes and crimes against humanity by participating in or being resposible for atrocities and crimes committed against civilians in occupied countries;
  6. War crimes and crimes against humanity through plundering and spoliation of occupied territories;
  7. War crimes and crimes against humanity through participation in the ensalvement, deportation for slave labor, and ill-treatment of civilians in both Germany and occupied countries, as well as of prisoners of war;
  8. Membership in criminal organizations (the SS or the NSDAP leadership corps)
All defendants pleaded "not guilty" on the counts they were indicted. The tribunal dismissed count 2 due to lack of evidence, and also count 4, stating that this was beyond its jurisdiction because it concerned events prior to the war.

Defendants

lign="left"|Function align="left"|Sentence
align="top"|Ernst von Weizscker valign="top"|Permanent Secretary of State in the Auswrtiges Amt (Foreign Ministry) under Ribbentrop until 1943, then ambassador to the Holy See; SS-Brigadefhrer. valign="top"|7 years' imprisonment; reduced to 5 years on December 12, 1949, released in October 1950.
align="top"|Gustav Adolf Steengracht von Moyland valign="top"|Successor of von Weizscker as Secretary of State in the Foreign Ministry (until 1945) valign="top"|7 years' imprisonment; reduced to 5 years on December 12, 1949, released 1950
align="top"|Wilhelm Keppler valign="top"|Secretary of State; Hitler's advisor for economy valign="top"|10 years' imprisonment; released 1951
align="top"|Ernst Wilhelm Bohle valign="top"|NS-Gauleiter, Secretary of State in the Foreign Ministry; head of the Auslandorganisation (foreign organization) of the NSDAP. valign="top"|5 years' imprisonment
align="top"|Ernst Wrmann valign="top"|Secretary in the Foreign Ministry; head of the political division. valign="top"|7 years' imprisonment; reduced to 5 years on December 12, 1949; released 1951
align="top"|Karl Ritter valign="top"|Liaison between Foreign Office and the High Command of the German armed forces. valign="top"|4 years' imprisonment incl. time already served; released after the judgment.
align="top"|Otto von Erdmannsdorf valign="top"|Secretary in the Foreign Ministry; deputy to Wrmann. valign="top"|acquitted
align="top"|Edmund Veesenmayer valign="top"|Plenipotentiary in Hungary valign="top"|20 years' imprisonment; reduced to 10 years in 1951 and released the same year.
align="top"|Hans Heinrich Lammers valign="top"|Head of the Reich Chancellery valign="top"|20 years' imprisonment; reduced to 10 years in January 1951 and released December 16, 1951.
align="top"|Wilhelm Stuckart valign="top"|Secretary of State in the Interior Ministry valign="top"|Time already served (3 years and 10 months)
align="top"|Richard Walther Darr valign="top"|Minister for Food and Agriculture valign="top"|7 years' imprisonment; released 1950
align="top"|Otto Meissner valign="top"|Head of the Presidential Chancellery valign="top"|acquitted
align="top"|Otto Dietrich valign="top"|Reichspressechef of the NSDAP and Secretary of State in the Propagandaministerium valign="top"|7 years' imprisonment incl. time already served; released in 1950.
align="top"|Gottlob Berger valign="top"|Head of the SS-Hauptamt, SS-Obergruppenfhrer valign="top"|25 years' imprisonment; reduced to 10 years in 1951; released the same year.
align="top"|Walter Schellenberg valign="top"|Second-in-command of the Gestapo, head of the SD and the Abwehr, and sucessor of Wilhelm Canaris as the head of the Combined Secret Services; SS-Brigadefhrer. valign="top"|6 years' imprisonment incl. time already served
align="top"|Johann Ludwig Graf Schwerin von Krosigk valign="top"|Minister of Finance valign="top"|10 years' imprisonment; released in 1951
align="top"|Emil Johann Puhl valign="top"|Vice-president of the Reichsbank valign="top"|5 years' imprisonment incl. time already served
align="top"|Karl Raschke valign="top"|Director of the Dresdner Bank valign="top"|7 years' imprisonment incl. time already served
align="top"|Paul Krner valign="top"|Secretary of State, deputy of Gring. valign="top"|15 years' imprisonment; reduced to 10 years in 1951; released the same year.
align="top"|Paul Pleiger valign="top"|Head of the Hermann-Gring-Werke (confiscated steel plants employing slave laborers) valign="top"|15 years' imprisonment; reduced to 10 years in 1951; released the same year.
align="top"|Hans Kehrl valign="top"|Secretary in the Ministry of Armament; head of the planning office valign="top"|15 years' imprisonment; released in 1951 
  Stuckart was tried again in 1950 before a denazification court and sentenced as a Mitlufer (follower) a fine of DM 50'000.
Herbert Ernst Backe, the former minister for agriculture who should also have been tried, committed suicide on April 6, 1947 while in custody awaiting the trial.

References

 

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