H6: War Criminals

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Introduction

In this chapter we will deal with Holocaust war crimes; how the war criminals came to Britain; the current situation; moral issues related to delayed justice; and the lasting significance of these events.

What is a war criminal?

The term "war criminal" can be misleading. It does not refer to the killing of soldiers in the course of military action. A war crime is the torture or murder of innocent civilians or prisoners of war.

Holocaust war crimes

Few of those currently accused of Nazi war crimes and living in the UK are of German origin. Most are from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. In June 1941, 'Operation Barbarossa', the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union was launched. On direct orders from Himmler, the "Einsatzgruppen" were created by the SS; its task was to follow invading German armies and systematically mop up Jews and Communists. 3000 Nazi men in four units formed the Einsatzgruppen which operated in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Byelo-Russia and the Ukraine. Typically, Jews were marched to forests, forced to dig their own graves then stripped naked and shot. By the end of Summer 1941 the Einsatzgruppen were responsible for 500,000 square miles, an area containing about four million Jews. Clearly these 3000 men would need much assistance from a local force of sympathisers. They were helped by collaborators in three major ways:

- ADMINISTRATION Round ups could take weeks of planning.

- MURDERS Jewish populations were killed by local sympathisers and collaborators. For these purposes auxiliary police units and local Militia were formed.

- DEATH CAMPS Most of these were operated on a day to day level by captured East Europeans, especially Ukrainians.

By 1944 one million Jews had been killed by the SS and local helpers. After the war, many collaborators sought refugee status at Displaced Persons (DP) Camps. Jewish DP Camps had appalling conditions: bad sanitation, bread & water diets, no new clothing. Other DP Camps which housed Balts and Ukrainians had much better conditions. It was these second type of DP Camps that were rife with those who had supported the Nazis.

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