13 May 1945 German deserter execution

Illegal execution of German deserters by German officers December 2024 The 13 May 1945 German deserter execution occurred five days after the capitulation of Nazi Germany along with the Wehrmacht armed forces in World War II, when an illegal court martial, composed of the captured and disarmed German officers kept under Allied guard in Amsterdam, Netherlands, imposed a death sentence upon two former German deserters from the Kriegsmarine, Bruno Dorfer and Rainer Beck (sailor) de Rainer Beck (Matrose), a half-Jewish conscript who had deserted to avoid being killed. The show trial occurred in an abandoned Ford Motor Company assembly plant outside Amsterdam, which at the time was a prisoner-of-war camp run by the Canadian Army.Chris Madsen http://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol2/iss1/8/ https://web.archive.org/web/20120204221839/http://www.wlu.ca/lcmsds/cmh/back%20issues/CMH/volume%202/issue%201/Madsen%20-%20Victims%20of%20Circumstance%20-%20the%20Execution%20of%20German%20Deserters%20by%20Surrendered%20German%20Troops%20Under%20Canadian%20Control.pdf February 4, 2012 live Victims of Circumstance: The Execution of German Deserters by Surrendered German Troops Under Canadian Control in Amsterdam, May 1945 August 2006 Canadian Military History 2 1 Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies Internet Archive The Nazi German prisoners of war formed a firing squad which carried out the sentence. They were supplied with captured German rifles and a three-ton truck by the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, and escorted by a platoon of Canadian soldiers led by Captain Robert K. Swinton. Under a dubious interpretation of international law, Canadian military authorities permitted a continuation of the German military structure after the demise of the Third Reich. German assistance was indispensable in the disarmament, concentration, and evacuation of the German armed forces within Holland. Unfortunately, disinterested Canadian military authorities also left the German military in control of order and discipline. German commanders and military judges applied a military law warped by National Socialism. — Chris Madsen, Victims of Circumstance.[p.109] In an analysis of the incident the historian Chris Madsen notes that the Canadian military authorities felt obliged to work with their German counterparts, faced with the huge task of disarming and evacuating the German armed forces in the Netherlands, under discipline, and without disorder. As a matter of mutual convenience the German command hierarchy was allowed to continue to function following the surrender, and this included the sentencing and execution of individuals such as Dorfer and Beck under the Allies. In popular culture The incident provided much of the material for the final episode of Secret Army, a BBC drama series about the Belgian resistance in World War II. The Italian-Yugoslavian film The Fifth Day of Peace (Italian title: Dio è con noi; 1969) dramatised the story of the two German sailors.June 2024 The 2006 Dutch film Black Book by director Paul Verhoeven includes the execution of a major character which is directly (but loosely) based on this incident. References External links Menschlich bedrückend, Article in Der Spiegel magazine 12 September 1966 about the incident (in German). Category:Antisemitism in the Netherlands Category:Trials in the Netherlands Category:Military discipline and World War II Category:1945 in the Netherlands Category:1945 in Germany Category:People executed for desertion Category:May 1945 in Europe Category:Canadian war crimes in World War II Category:Nazi war crimes Category:War crimes in the Netherlands