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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Nazi 'Butcher of Genoa' Sentenced to Seven Years |
Current rating: 0 |
by Nick Tattersall
(No verified email address) |
05 Jul 2002
Modified: 02:53:58 PM |
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HAMBURG, Germany (Reuters) - A German court sentenced a former Nazi SS officer dubbed the "Butcher of Genoa" to seven years in prison on Friday for his role in the massacre of 59 Italian prisoners in World War II. |
At 93, however, it remained to be seen whether Friedrich Engel, who led the elite SS force in the Italian port, would actually spend time in jail after a two-month trial that may be one of the last ever for Nazi war crimes.
Hamburg judge Rolf Seedorf pronounced Engel guilty of overseeing the killings in May 1944. The prisoners were led to an open grave in small groups and shot one by one in reprisal for an Italian partisan attack on German troops at a cinema.
"Dr Engel, you received the order by telephone. You discussed the where and when," Seedorf said. He said the "how" had been Engel's responsibility alone. "That you did not yourself shoot does not relieve you of the burden."
With his full head of white hair and piercing blue eyes, Engel still cuts an intimidating figure. He showed no emotion as he watched the judge read out the verdict to a packed courtroom.
"I have two wars behind me and in my youth I learned that toughness is good for you. I have learned my whole life to react with toughness," he told reporters before sentence was passed.
He made no further comment before speeding off by taxi to await a decision on whether he is fit enough to go behind bars.
Engel -- the name means "angel in German -- was convicted in absentia in Italy in 1999 for killing 246 prisoners of war in four separate massacres. When journalists later tracked him down enjoying a quiet retirement in his native Hamburg, laws barring the extradition of German nationals meant a new trial at home.
He maintained he had been only a passive observer but also insisted that such revenge killings were allowed by the rules of war in responding to partisan guerrilla attacks.
VIVA ITALIA
Seedorf said the inhumane nature of the killings put them beyond justification even in wartime. He said the victims, many of them aged between 18 and 20, were not blindfolded and would have seen and heard their compatriots dying.
"Such a cruel and inhumane killing was not part of the order," he said.
Engel sat motionless, his face unmoved and his hands on his lap as the judge described how at least two of the victims had cried "Viva Italia!" (Long live Italy) before they were shot and piled on top of their comrades in the open grave.
"This trial is not a trial about Nazi injustice. It is about the carrying out of a war crime, about whether the shooting was justified by the rules of war," Seedorf said.
Shortly before the verdict, Engel again expressed regret at the way the killings were done but protested his own innocence.
"At the time it was a necessary act from our point of view. But the way it happened was something to be regretted," he said.
"It has always moved me, of course. It was a question of moral conscience for me but I am not legally guilty."
Engel was allowed to go home on Friday to await later health tests to determine whether he is fit to serve time in prison. His lawyer Udo Kneip said he expected his client to appeal.
After the judge concluded, there was a protest from a group of neo-Nazis in the public gallery. "Hippie moron justice!" they shouted before officials threatened to arrest them.
The accused became a salesman after the war. Given the age of most former Nazis, few more prosecutions are expected. Some in Germany question the point, given that few are fit enough to be jailed, even if convicted. Others say it is never too late.
"Justice is arriving late," said a survivor of the massacre, Raimondo Ricci, during the trial. " But these experiences should never be forgotten for both the present and the future."
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