Manfred Roeder (judge)
Manfred Roeder (August 20, 1900 – October 18, 1971) was a military judge in Nazi Germany. Serving on the highest wartime court, he led the examinations and shared responsibility for the 56 death sentences of the Reich court martial in the trials of German Resistance group the Red Orchestra, as well as those of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Wilhelm Canaris and Hans von Dohnanyi. In January 1945, Roeder was appointed a general judge.
Life and career
Roeder, the son of a Landgericht director from Kiel, served in World War I[1] in the 83rd Field Artillery as a lieutenant. He was later awarded an Iron Cross (2nd Class) for having been gassed.[1] Following the war, Roeder joined the Freikorps and later went to university to pursue a law degree.[1]
He became a judge in 1934 and soon after, was made a military judge[2] in the legal services of the Luftwaffe in April 1935.[1] Roeder was the original investigating Nazi attorney in the Red Orchestra case[3] and he later became the prosecuting attorney.[1]
Roeder was known to Hitler and Göring as one of the hardest and most loyal military judges; prisoners nicknamed him "Hitler's blood judge",[2] a name also given to Roland Freisler.
Postwar legal battle
On September 15, 1945, former Prussian Culture Minister Adolf Grimme, a friend of the executed Adam Kuckhoff and himself a former member of the Red Orchestra, filed a complaint against Roeder for perversion of justice. In addition, the U.S. Army investigated the case of Mildred Harnack, an American citizen[4] who had been prosecuted by Roeder. Harnack met and married Arvid Harnack when they were both at the University of Wisconsin, then followed her husband back to Germany in 1929. They were both arrested in connection with the Red Orchestra and accused by the Nazis of being spies for the Soviet Union. The Nazis held the group responsible for their defeat at Stalingrad[5] and many were executed. After the war, the U.S. Army War Crimes Group suspected Mildred Harnack's case had invovled a denial of due process and began investigating in February 1946.[4] However in November, the case was determined to have been properly handled and on January 15, 1947, with the cold war in full swing and Mildred Harnack's CIC file stamped "SECRET" (see photo), the case was closed with the note that it "should not have been referred for investigation" and ordering the office to halt its investigation.[4][note 1]
In 1951, the case being pursued in the German legal system was similarly halted by the state's attorney in Lüneburg for lack of reasonable suspicion. The final report came to the conclusion that the trials before the Reich court martial were not objectionable and the accused were rightly sentenced to death, since in every age treason has been treated as the "most ignominous crime" and the participants in the July 20, 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler were driven in broad measure by treason and espionage.[6]
Greta Kuckhoff, Adolf Grimme and Günther Weisenborn tried to file a lawsuit against Roeder to constrain him, but the case was delayed by the state's attorney in Lüneburg until the end of the 1960s, at which point it was closed and dropped.[7]
After the war, Roeder was a visible and active member of the CDU, serving in a number of capacities, including deputy mayor in his community, Glashütten, in Taunus.
Manfred Roeder had a son in 1937 who was named after him, but is not related to Manfred Roeder the right-wing extremist, who was born in 1929.
Sources
- Helmut Kramer: "Als hätten sie nie das Recht gebeugt." In: Ossietzky. 23/2002. Verlag Ossietzky (see external link)
- Hiska D. Bergander: Die Ermittlungen gegen Dr. jur. et rer. pol. Manfred Roeder, einen „Generalrichter“ Hitlers – Eine Untersuchung zur unbewältigten Rechtsgeschichte der NS-Justiz, Doctoral dissertation, Bremen, 2006
- Elke Endrass: Bonhoeffer und seine Richter. Ein Prozess und sein Nachspiel Stuttgart: Kreuz, 2006, ISBN 3-7831-2745-9
- Heinrich Grosse: Niemand kann zwei Herren dienen - Zur Geschichte der evangelischen Kirche im Nationalsozialismus und in der Nachkriegszeit" Blumhardt Verlag, Hannover, 2nd edition 2010. ISBN 978-3-932011-77-1
- Lower Saxony state capital archive: 56 volumes from preliminary proceedings of the Lüneburg state's attorney, fully available at Der Spiegel house archive, Hamburg
Notes
- ^ Author Shareen Blair Brysac found a document dated November 21, 1946 that stated the Harnacks were "very deeply involved in anti-Nazi underground activities in Germany" and noted that "both were tried and found guilty of high treason and executed." Further indicating the U.S. Army's position, a letter to a captain in the War Crimes Group stated, "While Mildred HARNACK's actions are laudable and while she was an American citizen, she was plotting against the German government, was given a trial and there appears to be sufficient justification for imposition of the death sentence. Your advice is requested whether War Crimes Group has jurisdiction to try such a case. Upon receipt of your reply we will either forward our already rather extensive file to you or continue with the investigation." The reply from the chief of the evidence branch was unambiguous and ended the investigation. "This case is classified S/R [special reference] and should not have been referred for investigation. Withdraw case from Detachment 'D' and do not continue the investigation".[4]
References
- ^ a b c d e Shareen Blair Brysac, Resisting Hitler: Mildred Harnack and the Red Orchestra Oxford University Press (2000), p. 350. ISBN 0195132696
- ^ a b Heinz von Höhne, "Die Geschichte des Spionageringes 'Rote Kapelle'" Der Spiegel (July 8, 1968). Retrieved January 30, 2012 Template:De icon
- ^ Brysac (2000), p. 449 Retrieved February 18, 2012
- ^ a b c d Brysac (2000) p. 14 Retrieved February 18, 2012
- ^ Brysac (2000), p. 349 Retrieved February 18, 2012
- ^ Helmut Kramer, "Als hätten sie nie das Recht gebeugt" Ossietzky No. 23 (2002). Retrieved January 29, 2012 Template:De icon
- ^ Eva Liebchen, "Günther und Joy Weisenborn" Friedenau Netzwerk. Retrieved January 28, 2012 Template:De icon