Opposing “Victors' Justice”: German Protestant Churchmen and Convicted War Criminals in Western Europe after 19451

This article analyzes the post-1945 intervention of German Protestant churchmen on behalf of those convicted war criminals who, for the most part, were still awaiting execution in French, Dutch, and Belgian prisons at the beginning of the 1950s.2 All of these men were eventually pardoned. The church...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Webster, Ronald (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Oxford University Press 2001
In: Holocaust and genocide studies
Year: 2001, Volume: 15, Issue: 1, Pages: 47-69
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Summary:This article analyzes the post-1945 intervention of German Protestant churchmen on behalf of those convicted war criminals who, for the most part, were still awaiting execution in French, Dutch, and Belgian prisons at the beginning of the 1950s.2 All of these men were eventually pardoned. The churchmen, beyond their humanitarian role, became not only official advocates but even ardent apologists for the prisoners, the author argues. Bishop Hans Stempel, the German Protestant Church's official representa-tive to the prisoners in Western Europe, stands out as the key figure in this story.
ISSN:1476-7937
Contains:Enthalten in: Holocaust and genocide studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1093/hgs/15.1.47