SS War Criminals-Konopiste Castle, CZ
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SS War Criminals-Konopiste Castle, CZ
I have a document entitled "Narrative of Investigation" 27 January 1947 prepared by one Andre Bekefi, U.S. War Dept. Civilian Investigator. It was either in the JAG file, or the War Dept documents I de-classified. Here is the passage I just re-read:
"The Commanding Officer of the SS Detachment, Brig. Gen. Alfred Karasch and the Executive Office, Major Otto Hauprich, are at the present time, in the Dachau enclosure, awaiting trial, charged with murder. The others of the SS Headquarters at Konopiste are still on the wanted list of our War Crimes Commission. They are Lt. Ernst Albecht, who has been extradited to the Soviet authorities in February of 1946, Sgts. Eric Nerwitz and Otmar Matauch, Cpl. Jan Balcke, and Captain Kunschner. All of these men are prisoners of the Russians, captured (it is believed) in May of 1945."
Any information about these SS criminals would be very welcome. I have photos of them that I will attempt to attach.
-A.G.S. Brunson
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Re: SS Photos
Additional Photos:
- Attachments
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- Karrasch1.jpg (54.09 KiB) Viewed 1739 times
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- Jan Balcke, SS, "Bluthund"
- balcke.jpg (68.6 KiB) Viewed 1772 times
Re: SS War Criminals-Konopiste Castle, CZ
Have you tried the search function see above
Phil Nix
Phil Nix
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Re: SS War Criminals-Konopiste Castle, CZ
Yes sir, without success. Just taking a blind chance here; long odds I know. Thanks, AGSB
Re: SS War Criminals-Konopiste Castle, CZ
Just writing a diploma thesis abouth the matter. As far as I was able to found, all of these guys were released withouth process. The were charged once more in Germany in 70th-Karrasch was allready dead, and all the others including Hauprich- were not sentenced, because the evidence was not enough, or the crime was allready overdue.
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Re: SS War Criminals-Konopiste Castle, CZ
Thanks Wasp, for the info. I realize the War Crimes Tribunals were overwhelmed by the magnitude of their assignment, but the evidence was discovered two years after the crime. I would love to see your thesis, and contribute what I know of the crime, if you would like.
Re: SS War Criminals-Konopiste Castle, CZ
This is not exactly a matter: Karrasch was never held by Czech authorities, so he was not accused. Hauprich was handed over to Czechs by Americans at the end of 46, but, the extradition was made by kind of administrative mistake; he was returned to Americans due to keep good relationship. Actually, the tribunal, which is responsible for not charging these guys is an american one.
The crime was not discovered two years after the war. It was known in Benešov immediatelly, as there were czech whitnesses-some oh them heard the shooting, some had to clean the road from blood, there was a woman, working in the kommandantur-she found some dog tags of flyers in the ashes in the stove. A investigation commision began to investigate this crime right after the war, and, all the material was then handed over to Americans (copies, originals are in czech archive). The only thing, which was not known was location of bodies. They were found in winter 47, March, I thing. A lot of research in this matter was done by Ondřej Kulhavý-he wrote on this forum as well, sometimes.
Concerning my diploma thesis-it will be in czech only, unfortunatelly. My theme is not actually war crimes, but, as it is called-small retribution, punishment of everyday collaboration (gettin german citizenship, relations with Germans, incl. sexual relations, membership in fascist organizations, etc), which was based on a different decret, then war crimes and bigger offences. Actually, the only reason why I found materials coccerning flyers is the fact, that it was investigated by the same commission as all smaller or bigger war crimes or offences in the district, so the material is in the archive fund I was going through.
If you want to read some good info abouth czech retribution-there is a book from Benjamin Frommer: National cleansing, was released in 2005. Great work, dealing with both, "big" and "small" retribution. It was translated to czech last year, and, I must say that there is very little to point out.
The crime was not discovered two years after the war. It was known in Benešov immediatelly, as there were czech whitnesses-some oh them heard the shooting, some had to clean the road from blood, there was a woman, working in the kommandantur-she found some dog tags of flyers in the ashes in the stove. A investigation commision began to investigate this crime right after the war, and, all the material was then handed over to Americans (copies, originals are in czech archive). The only thing, which was not known was location of bodies. They were found in winter 47, March, I thing. A lot of research in this matter was done by Ondřej Kulhavý-he wrote on this forum as well, sometimes.
Concerning my diploma thesis-it will be in czech only, unfortunatelly. My theme is not actually war crimes, but, as it is called-small retribution, punishment of everyday collaboration (gettin german citizenship, relations with Germans, incl. sexual relations, membership in fascist organizations, etc), which was based on a different decret, then war crimes and bigger offences. Actually, the only reason why I found materials coccerning flyers is the fact, that it was investigated by the same commission as all smaller or bigger war crimes or offences in the district, so the material is in the archive fund I was going through.
If you want to read some good info abouth czech retribution-there is a book from Benjamin Frommer: National cleansing, was released in 2005. Great work, dealing with both, "big" and "small" retribution. It was translated to czech last year, and, I must say that there is very little to point out.
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Re: SS War Criminals-Konopiste Castle, CZ
Thank you Wasp...I've been trying to find the woman who found the dog tags. One of them was my father's. Do you have any names or contacts in Benesov for those witnesses? By the way JAG in Wash. DC also has an extensive file on this war crime. I can reference it if you like.
Yes, the fliers were found in a common grave NW of Konopiste. All were identified by the American graves detachment.
Yes, the fliers were found in a common grave NW of Konopiste. All were identified by the American graves detachment.
Re: SS War Criminals-Konopiste Castle, CZ
I´m afraid, all these whitnesses are allready dead... I made some pisc of doccuments, I´ll go through it evening, and, send you some dates and names.
I have contacts with people from Organization of political prisoners and Organization of Freedom fighters. Hovever these people are relativelly old, they don´t remember the end of the war in details, as they were just kids. But, maybe-they could know the woman you are looking for, or, her familly.
Possibly, I could make you photos of all the material in the archives, but, everything is in czech...you should find someone to translate it.
I have contacts with people from Organization of political prisoners and Organization of Freedom fighters. Hovever these people are relativelly old, they don´t remember the end of the war in details, as they were just kids. But, maybe-they could know the woman you are looking for, or, her familly.
Possibly, I could make you photos of all the material in the archives, but, everything is in czech...you should find someone to translate it.
Re: SS War Criminals-Konopiste Castle, CZ
Actually, there were two women, who found the dog tags: Božena Najmanová a Marie Platilová.
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Re: SS War Criminals-Konopiste Castle, CZ
Yes, thank you.....I have a translator for anything you can help with. I had contact with Platilova, who could not remember what happened to them.