Clarification on New York Times article

[PF]

On 28 Sept 1978 "The New York Times'" ran a story on 4 unknown US Airmen
killed in 1945. Several years ago after some research I sent a letter to NYT
giving facts:
1) On 13 February 1945 B-17 #48163 of 772nd Bomb Sq/463rd Bomb Gp
15th A.F. was shot down over Austria. Of the 10 airmen-only 4 were captured and survived the war. Of the other 6:
A) Two were found dead on the ground.
B) The last four were murdered.
C) One of the murdered POWS was named Robert Stricker.
Contrary to the Times article:
D) Airman Stricker was not Jewish (He was a Protestant from Kentucky USA).
E) Airman Stricker was not a son of the Jewish Austrian Zionist named
Dr. Robert Stricker
I Sent a letter giving details and references in a Letter to the NYT-but they
never printed it.

[xcalibur]

Perhaps you will post the text of the original NYT article here?

[PF]

Sorry for several reasons:
1) Article Copyrigthed
2) Because of a strike (?) the article is not in regular newspaper form but resembles a typewriter letter
3) Its impossible for me to get to it.
HOwever several parts of the article I remember are:
A) The article reported that US Airmen Stricker had been a son of
Jewish Leader Dr. Robert Stricker-that was incorrect.
B) The Article was written from inforamtion on a Austrian Resistance Group
who were opposing the relection to Vienna City Council of Franz Blankensteiner (Not sure how to spell Surname) who had been a member
of the Reich Labor Force who had killed the airmen. In 1950 he was tried
but aquitted by an AUstrian Court on the grounds of age-he had not
quite been 18 in 1945.
I regret to say that of my research All I have now are a few notes

[Agadanik]

On 28 Sept 1978 "The New York Times'" ran a story on 4 unknown US Airmen
killed in 1945.

Strange... The NYT archive is fully searchable, so I looked for "Robert Stricker", "US airmen" "B-17 #48163" etc. I found nothing.

I crosschecked the search engine against some other data I collected and it seems to be working OK - the answers I got back were complete.

PF, are you certain it was The New York Times?

rgds a

[PF]

Try-subject "World War II"
with the following references:
Date 28 September 1978
Subject "Nazis"
Note-the article reference was very short notice
such as "Vienna Councilman Franz Blankensteiner who in 1945 help
kill 4 US Airmen in 1945."
Note-both the date of crash and the Plane Number was unknown to both the journalist and the Austrian Resistance Group
There is a online reference on Interent:
1) In Netscape search engine type:
"4 US Airmen killed in Austria Febraury 1945"
2) Go down to Matching site # 5.
The title is "Pilot Hunt"
URL is http://www.airpower.at/news01/1228_pilothunt/
3) At the very bottom of article is short summary of Article above.
It was the NYT that gave the Airman's name as "Robert Stricker"
(I tried to contact the webmaster of this website-no luck)

[David Thompson]

I don't particularly care about the New York Times' refusal to print a letter of correction, but I'm definitely interested in hearing more about the lynching.

For readers interested in the subject of lynching captured prisoners, see:

"Other" War Crimes -- POW Lynchings
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=14467
Other War Crimes - Russelsheim Lynching Trial
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=16792
Other War Crimes - Gross Gerau Lynching Trial
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=16795
Hungarian Lynching of Allied Airmen, 1944-45
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=44064
Lynching of Luftwaffe airmen by British mobs
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=38195

[PF]

See website "Mighty Eighth Air Force Message Board" for query (this date)
on "6 US Airmen POWS murdered at Russelheim Germany"
(Gives unit of killed airmen)
URL http://www.com-web.com/wwwboard/wwxboard.html

[PF]

The New York Time Index listing the four murdered Airmen in 1945 may be
found in the following:
The 1978 New York Times Index page 1188
Month Sept 28 newspaper page 54
Listed under World War II (1939-1945)
It is on the printed page in the left handed corner-4th paragraph from the
bottom-it notes that Councilman Franz Blauensteiner was aquitted in 1950
on the grounds he lacked "maturity of judgement to realize he was commiting
a crime."

[David Thompson]

Blauensteiner, Franz (c. 1928-?) – {arrested and put on trial by an Austrian court 1950 on charges of participating in the murders of 4 downed and captured American airmen near the Hungarian border; acquitted due to his youth at the time of the offense; elected 1975 as Vienna municipal councilman (NYT 28 Sept 1975:Supp.:54).}

[PF]

Exactly

[PF]

SS General Scongarth of "Rabka Police School" was executed for killing unkown Airman 21 Nov 1944-I made an inquiry ar 8th Aur Force Message board to see if there was a allied bomber shot down over Enschede Holland with one Crewmen captured and murderd. I received a responce
B-17G # 43-38107 861/493rd B.G. shot down by flank and crashed at Enschede/Enchede Holland
Pilot Lt. Llewllyn H. Baxter (PA) (POW) (8 POWS-1 KIA)
Co Pilot 2nd/Lt Americo S. Galle (NY) KIA

[David Thompson]

Schoengarth, Dr. jur. Eberhard (22.4.1903-15.5.1946) [SS-Brigadefűhrer und Generalmajor der Polizei] -- NSDAP: 2848857; SS: 67174; commander, Secret State Police (Geheime Staatspolizei – Gestapo) Bielefeld 1937-1938; commander, Gestapo Dortmund Jan-Mar 1938; commander, Gestapo Muenster Mar 1938-Oct 1939; Inspector, German Security Police and Security Service (Sicherheitspolizei und Sicherheitsdienst - Sipo/SD) Dresden Oct 1939-Mar 1941; commander, Sipo/SD Cracow Mar 1941-Jun 1943; commander, Action Group (Einsatzgruppe) for Special Tasks Jul-Aug 1941; service, 4th SS Division "Polizei" Jul 1943-Jul 1944; commander, Sipo/SD the Hague (Den Haag) Jul 1944-May 1945; Senior SS and Police Commander "Northwest" (HSSPF "Nordwest") (Netherlands) 10 Mar 1945-Apr 1945 as Hans-Albin Rauter's substitute {arrested and put on trial by a British military tribunal at Burgsteinfurt for the murder of an RAF air crew member POW at Schede, Netherlands on 21 Nov 1944; convicted and sentenced to death by hanging 11 Feb 1946 (History of the United Nations War Crimes Commission and the Development of the Laws of War p. 532, United Nations War Crimes Commission, London: HMSO, 1948) or 3 Apr 1946 (LT 13 Feb 1946:3d); executed at Hameln 15 May 1946 (Allgemeine-SS p. 87; Hilberg 713; Ency Holo 1592; "Hameln 1945-49," http://home.c2i.net/sudeten/Seite_1/194 ... 45-49.html; Dienstaltersliste der Schutzstaffel der NSDAP [9 Nov 1944]).}

[PF]

Thanks for correction

[PF]

Made an inquiry on Website RAF COMMANDS 1939-1945 -receved answear of two possibile
canidates from 192nd RAF Squadron (Hales or Bloomfield) for POW murdered by Scongarth-see query "RAF POW MURDERED 21 NOV 1944" Page 1 (as of today query 7th from the bottom)

[David Thompson]

Thanks, PF.