Fritz Knöchlein
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Fritz Knöchlein (27 May 1911 – 21 January 1949) was a
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
SS commander during WWII. He was tried, convicted and executed in 1949 for committing
war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...
s during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, specifically his responsibility for the Le Paradis massacre which took place on his 29th birthday.


Le Paradis Massacre

It was in his capacity as an SS company commander that he gained notoriety, being responsible for the 27 May 1940 massacre of British
prisoners-of-war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
at Le Paradis in the
Pas-de-Calais The Pas-de-Calais (, ' strait of Calais'; ; ) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments of France, with 890, and is the ...
. Ninety-nine members of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment, who had surrendered to his unit in a cattle shed, were stood in front of the barn wall, and Knöchlein ordered two machine-guns turned on them, followed by bayoneting and shooting any apparent survivors. Two of the prisoners, privates Albert Pooley and William O'Callaghan, managed to escape the massacre, but the remaining 97 were hastily buried along the barn wall. According to the historians Williamson Murray and Allan Millet: "The company commander, Hauptsturmführer (Captain) Fritz Knochlein, lined the prisoners up against a barn wall and machinegunned the lot. Any survivors were bayoneted and shot. German military authorities brought no charges against Knochlein." In 1942, the bodies were exhumed by the French authorities and reburied in a local cemetery, which eventually became the Le Paradis War Cemetery.Le Paradis War Cemetery, Lestrem
"
Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...
. Retrieved 7 November 2015
Albert Pooley, who was subsequently taken prisoner along with O'Callaghan, made it a personal mission to hunt down Knöchlein and have him charged for
war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...
. His story was confirmed when O'Callaghan was freed in 1945.


Trial and execution

In August 1948, Knöchlein was formally charged with committing a war crime, to which he pleaded not guilty.
The accused Fritz Knöchlein, a German national, in the charge of the Hamburg Garrison Unit, pursuant to Regulation 4 of the Regulations for the Trial of War Criminals, is charged with committing a war crime in that he in the vicinity of Paradis, Pas-de-Calais, France, on or about 27 May 1940, in violation of the laws and usages of war, was concerned in the killing of about ninety prisoners-of-war, members of The Royal Norfolk Regiment and other British Units.
His trial began on Monday 11 October 1948 in Rotherbaum, and both Albert Pooley and William O'Callaghan were called to testify against him. Knöchlein's defence attorney claimed that Knöchlein had not been present on the day of the battle, and that the British forces had used illegal dum-dum bullets during the battle. Upon being found guilty, Knöchlein asked for leniency, saying he had a wife and four children, who depended on him. He was sentenced to death, and hanged at Hamelin Prison on 21 January 1949 by executioner Albert Pierrepoint and his assistant.


Awards

* German Cross in Gold on 15 November 1942 *
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (), or simply the Knight's Cross (), and its variants, were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. While it was order of precedence, lower in preceden ...
on 16 November 1944


References


Citations


Bibliography

*


External links


"Private Pooley's Revenge", an article about the trial, with a photograph of Albert Pooley and William O'Callaghan

Link in memory of the Le Paradise massacre.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knoechlein, Fritz 1911 births 1949 deaths Curiohaus trials executions by hanging Executed German mass murderers Executed military personnel Executed people from Bavaria German perpetrators of World War II prisoner of war massacres Military personnel from Munich Military personnel from the Kingdom of Bavaria Recipients of the Gold German Cross Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross SS-Obersturmbannführer Waffen-SS personnel