Lisette Schaeffer, a ninety year old woman was murdered in Sanremo in 2001, leaving around EUR10m in cash and assets in various countries. Her brother, Oswald Schäfer, who was two years older than she was, studied to become a lawyer and then got a job with the Reich Security Main Office. His career was propelled by Werner Best, who was second in command of the SD to Reinhard Heydrich. This led him to being the head of the Gestapo at Wesermunde – Bremerhaven and then Reichensberg in occupied Czechoslovakia before being sent to the east to mass murder Jews and others in the occupied Soviet Union as the CO of EK9. From there he returned to be the head of the Gestapo in Munich. At Munich he oversaw the interrogations of the White Rose resistance movement, including those of the Scholl siblings, organised the deportation of Jews from Munich, ordered the murder of two recaptured South African POWs who had taken part in the Great Escape and participated in the murder and beating of Eastern workers who had been arrested by the Gestapo. Just before the liberation of Munich on 30 April 1945, he fled.
On 29 April 1945, Oswald Schaeffer was reported to be cycling south towards Garmisch Parkenkirchen. He had committed crimes in the Soviet Union and in Germany and he would have known that he would have faced the death penalty if caught. His immediate problem was to avoid the British authorities who wanted him for questioning about the murder of the two SAAF pilots, Flight Lieutenant Rupert Stevens and Flight Lieutenant Johannes Gouws.
In May 1944, the British government learned of the murders after a routine visit to the Sagen POW camp by the Swiss authorities as the protecting power. On 19 May 1944, Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden announced this to the House of Commons. Shortly after the announcement, the Senior British Officer of the camp, Group Captain Herbert Massey, was repatriated to the UK due to ill health. Upon his return, he revealed how the escape happened and how he had been informed of the murders of the recaptured escapees. On 23 June 1944, Eden announced that those responsible would be brought to exemplary justice.
After the liberation of Germany, a team was set up to find the criminals. There was a lead in the south of Germany and a southern investigation team was set up under Flight Lt. Courtney. The Americans had set up an internment camp here in Garmisch Partenkirchen. They were holding a former Munich criminal investigator Anton Gassner. Gassner had fled from Munich and gone to live with his sister at Bad Reichenall near Berchtesgaden. He was arrested there in June 1945. He was able to provide some details about the murder of the Allied airmen and reported on what he had heard of Schaeffer’s escape which must have happened before he left. He said that the general opinion was that Schaeffer was somewhere in the Tyrol and had probably committed suicide there.
The British were able to trace and capture three Munich Gestapo officers and confirm that one, Schermer, had committed suicide. The three, Weil, Geith and Schneider were arrested, put on trial and found guilty. The case of Weil is particularly draconian. He had been the duty officer on the night that Schaeffer had ordered the two South African pilots to be murdered. He was one quarter Jewish and trying to hide it as best he could. He had once been a police officer and had transferred to the Gestapo, whether voluntarily or not, I cannot say. However, where better for an underground Jew to hide than in the Gestapo? He knew that the pilots were to be killed but claimed that he thought that they had already been found guilty at a court. He had gone with the prisoners on their final journey. When the car got to the predetermined location for the murder, the pilots were offered a chance to get out and urinate. He took the opportunity to do the same. When they were shot, he was urinating and came back to find out that they had been killed. He freely gave evidence to the investigators. It did not help, as Albert Pierrepoint hanged him in Hamelin prison on 27 February 1948.
That year, the British government announced that it would not continue to seek the murderers of the Great Escape killers. As it happened, it was the German authorities who found Oswald Schäfer, and not in the Alps but in Limburg an Lahn to the east of Koblenz.
In his denazification trial, Schäfer was classified as a “main culprit”. This meant that most of his assets were seized and he lost his right to a pension. However, he had friends who remembered him from the old days.
This is the third part of a three-part series you might want to watch the other two parts before watching this video but just to recap earlier we saw that Lizette schaer a 90-year-old woman was murdered in Sano in 2001 leaving around 10 million e in cash and Assets in
Various countries we saw that her brother osal schaer who was 2 years older than she was studied to become a lawyer and then got a job with the Reich Security main office his career was propelled by verer best to was second in command of the SD to Reinhardt hyrich
This led him to be becoming the head of the gestap at visund bahav and then rensburg and occupied Czechoslovakia before being sent to the east to mass murder Jews and and others in the occupied Soviet Union as the commanding officer of einat Commander 9 from there
He returned to be the head of the Gestapo in Munich at Munich he oversaw the interrogations of the white rose resistance movement including those of the Sher siblings organized the deportation of Jews from Munich ordered the murder of two recaptured South African PS who had taken part in The
Great Escape and participated in the murder and beating of Eastern workers who had been arrested Ed by the guest sto just before the liberation of Munich on the 30th of April 1945 he fled on the 29th of April 1945 oswal chaer was reported to be cycling South towards garish Parton Ken he’d committed
Crimes in the Soviet Union and in Germany and he would have known that he would have faced the death penalty if Court his immediate problem was to avoid the British authorities who wanted him for questioning about the murder of two south South African Air Force pilots flight leftenant Rupert Stevens and
Flight leftenant Johannes Hayes in May 1944 the British government had learned of the murders after a routine visit to the sagon prison of War Camp by the Swiss authorities as the protecting power on the 19th of May 1944 foreign secretary Anthony Eden announced this to the House of Commons shortly after the
Announcement the senior British officer of the camp group Captain Herbert Massie was repat ated to the United Kingdom due to ill health upon his return He revealed how the Escape had happened and how he’d been informed of the murders of the recaptured skps on the 23rd of June 1944 Eden announced that those
Responsible would be brought to exemplary Justice after the liberation of Germany a team was set up to find the criminals there was a lead in the south of Germany and a southern investigation team was set up under flight leftenant Courtney the the Americans had set up an internment camp here in garish Parton
Ken they were holding a former Munich criminal investigator Anon gastner gastner had fled from Munich and gone to live with his sister at pad R canal in near berkes Gard he was arrested there in June 1945 he was able to provide some details about the murder of the Allied Airmen
And reported on what he had heard of schaer’s Escape which must have happened before he left he said that the general opinion was that schaer was somewhat in the tyr and had probably committed suicide there the British were able to trace and capture three Munich GLE officers and confirmed that one Shera
Had committed suicide the three vile G and Schneider were arrested put on trial and found guilty the case of vile is particularly Draconian he had been the duty officer on the night that schaer had ordered the two South African Pilots to be murdered he was one quarter Jewish and
Triy to hide it as best he could he’d once been a police officer and had transferred to the gapo whether a voluntarily or not I cannot say however where better for an underground due to hide than in the guest stle he knew that the pilots were to be killed but claimed
That he thought that they’d already been found guilty by a court he had gone with the prisoners on their final Journey when the car got to the predetermined location for the murder the pilots were offered a chance to get out and urinate he took the opportunity to do the same
When they were shot he was urinating and came back to find that they had been killed he freely gave evidence to the investigators it didn’t help Albert pierpoint hanged him in Hamlin prison on the 27th of February 1948 that year the British government announced that it would not continue to
Seek the murderers of the Great Escape Killers as it happened it was the German authorities who found oswal schaer and not in the Alps but Lindberg andan to the east of coblin in his denotification trial schaer was classified as a main culprit this meant that most of his assets were
Seized and he lost the right to a pension however he had friends who remembered him from the old days Ernst achenbach was a politician of the center right fdp during the war he’d been head of the political Department of the German Embassy in Paris he was
Involved in the depot ation of Jews from France after the war as a lawyer he defended amongst others former Nazi officials who were accused of war crimes he called for a general amnesty for them akenac worked with verer best once he had returned from imprisonment in Denmark former ssob group and furer best
Had given shaer his first job at the Reich Security main office and he was happy to help him now best found schaer a job as a commercial manager in Hamburg in March 1950 an investigation and criminal proceedings for aiding and betting manslaughter were initiated against schaer and rard lekner the
Former head of Department 2E that was the General work deployment of foreign Nationals of the Munich gesto control center this trial was before the Munich one Regional Court the background was that November 1942 the rsha had ruled that as from the beginning of 1943 punishments of foreign workers were to
Be decided upon locally this punishment was either what was termed short treatment which was up to 75 Strokes of a whip or cane or imprisonment which could be decided upon by the local gestapo the other form of punishment was special treatment that is death as this was a local decision Superior orders
Were no defense the prosecution claimed that at least 20 Eastern workers arrested by the mapo for various crimes had been committed and at least 60 had received short treatment in Court schaer argued that after the Nazi cesy of power the viore Constitution no longer applied and therefore he was complied to follow
The guidelines given to him even if he didn’t agree with them personally in any case he was unaware of any abusive treatment that had occurred at the gesto in Munich The crucial question in the trial was to ask if the order of the rsha was binding or not if
It was then a plea of superior orders could be valid public prosecutor noic argued that the defendants had chosen to act in a barbaric manner indeed Ricard lekner who had served at prech where the einat Commandos had been trained admitted to taking part in executions and beatings but claimed that he’ never
Exceeded his orders Bavaria had introduced the jury system in 1948 which was unique in Germany to everyone’s surprise the jury found both of the defendants not guilty on the 22nd of March 1950 this led to a wave of public protests and the very next day questions
Were asked in the state Parliament as to how this was possible the reason given by the Bavarian Justice Minister Yosef Müller was that it was probably as a result of expecting juries to make decisions on complex legal matters the president of the Bavarian land tag gor Stang said that he rejected the verdict
In the strongest possible terms and it shakes the belief in the legal system he added that the most serious violations of human dignity and crimes against humanity had occurred and this verdict only encouraged the return to the former system of brute violence Bavarian members of parliament accepted this declaration almost
Unanimously only one Member of Parliament AUST house lighter argued that there had to be a separation of the legislature and the Judiciary in Parliament the scene grew so heated that fearing violence gor canel the session a telegram was sent to the American High Commissioner John McLoy to overturn the
Verdict because as the telegram put it by acknowledging that these gapo Bandits were working on higher orders democracy would be greatly endangered and confidence in the law threatened the Press throughout Germany railed against the verdict the jury did not understand that this was an illegal order that no
State can legally order murder to be committed to make it worse the the defendants had not denied that they had carried out these murders on the 25th of March 1950 the Bavarian Federation of trade unions organized a protest Valley the trade unions called for a reform of
The judicial system to ensure that this would not happen again the public prosecutor noek appealed against the verdict saying that the defense adopted the strategy to confuse the jury with complicated explanations of legal questions as far as the jury was concerned nine of them had not faced the
Notification procedures two were M laa that is to say followers and one had been exonerated under Bavarian law the jury did not have to justify its verdict on the 20th of September 1950 the Bavarian Supreme Court overturned the jury’s verdict on the 29th of May 1951 a
Jury court now in accordance with the federal law of the 12th of September 1950 and made up of legal professionals convicted both defendants after aord day session schaer got 2 years imprisonment and lib kuchner 30 months on the charge of murder they were acquitted again the prosecution had only requested seven and
8 years imprisonment respectively the judges said that no evidence had been presented to them that showed that the defendants had taken the law into their own hands they argued that the cases were such that the victims would probably been sentenced to death anyway had their cases gone to a normal Court
As schaer and leuchner had been detained for the length of the sentences given they were now released this time the public reaction was more muted than it had been in 1950 the prosecution appealed again and achieved an annulment by the federal court of justice in 1954 however the prosecution saw little
Chance of a successful new prosecution after the same federal court of justice acquitted schaer’s predecessor Frank Maron most recently head of the gestapu castle on a similar charge Maron was acquitted due to a lack of evidence that he was aware of the illegality of the orders in
1965 schaer was put on trial again this time in West Berlin alongside K rat Hines tangerman and his success as commanding officer of inet’s Commando 99 philh Helm Bernard Paul vians both rat and tangam man had been subordinates of schaer and had been involved in killing
Jews under his command in VB and lepel amongst other places around the end of March or the beginning of April 1942 there was a report that a number of enemy elements were traveling nbsk it turned out to be a group of Roma vban immediately put together an execution Squad and ordered the entire
Group of 23 people men women and children to be shot an older woman had begged him to spare her V refused remarking it’s better to shoot many innocent people and to let one guilty person go his command also shot the old woman as the court found the murders were carried out on
Vian’s own initiative meaning that Superior orders so often cited by the defense could not be used rat and tangman were sentenced to five and six years in prison respectively for aiding and abetting murder however schaer was acquitted this crime he did not commit as he was then in Munich ironically
Enough one of the witnesses at this trial was schaer’s predecessor at einat Commander 9 Albert filber the Jewish Telegraph agency reported on the 9th of May 1966 three former officers of one of the Nazi Commando units received prison terms in the West Berlin Court this weekend ranging from 5 years at hard
Labor to life for participating in the murder of and Gypsies and German occupied Russia in announcing the verdicts the jury for and criticized the defense Witnesses because their evidence was not objective vilhelm vban 60 former commander of the unit which was set up to exterminate inferior races received
The life term Hines tangerman 53 received a term of 6 years in prison and K rat 57 was given 5 years in prison osel schaer 57 was acquitted for lack of evidence defense attorney said that they would appeal the three sentences the life sentence was imposed on vians
Because it was proved that he had shot two Jewish workers and had participated in other killings the tangerman sentence was considered light because he’d been charged with ordering the shooting of 1,100 Jews the jury held that it had not been proved that he’d acted on his own
Initiative and found him guilty only of being an accessory the jury Foreman said that the acquittal was a verdict for schaer because whilst there was grave suspicion against him there was not enough evidence to convict 24 years after the Great Escape murders schaer was put before a German
Court for the killings of the two prisoners of war from South Africa flight leftenant Stevens and Hayes of the Royal South African Air Force he had clearly given the order for the murder of the two men as was shown in the Hamburg trial but on the 11th of
December 1968 he was once more acquitted osal schaer died on the 9th of November 1991 in Hamburg as the attitude of the German government towards Nazi criminals changed after reunification could he have been tried again I accept that Martin sandberger who had headed an einat’s commander in the Baltic states
Managed to live unmolested in retirement home in stutgart until 2010 however I think from a legal point of view he was in a situation where he’d already been tried once for the crimes he’d committed he had been sentenced and he’d served his sentence had new crimes
Come to light then he could have been tried for them schaer was tried for some of the crimes committed while head of the G and a murder which had taken place after he’ left the occupied Soviet Union however he was not tried for the crimes which I’ve described here that occurred whilst
He was head of einat’s Commando 9 I’m not lawyer so my opinion is not worth much in this case but it would be curious to hear from people who are better qualified in such matters than I am so let’s move forward another 10 years to talk about the wealth that his
Sister had of course I cannot prove this I don’t know but I think it’s highly likely that it came from her brother Nazi Germany was a highly corrupt state although corruption could be punished schaer’s predecessor at einat command 9 was charged with embezzling and he was
Suspended from the rsh haa for 2 years a rather weak sentence in the circumstances coming from a state that had Draconian laws the SS strafer daau to which schaer had applied to make sales available for his prisoners could accommodate those who Wen lucky enough to be accused of corruption shaer had
Every reason to fear punishment after the war in the immediate aftermath of Liberation a number of Nazi war criminals were hanged by the Americans and after that the German authorities did take an interest if schaer had appeared too wealthy this could have created an interest of course I could be
Wrong maybe Lizette schaer had made some very wise investment decisions maybe she’d won the racetrack or maybe she had a wealthy secret partner whatever it was she died very rich and her brother died very Unpunished it might be of interest to say a little bit about the background of this video on 6th of March 2023 trout lafr died she was the last surviving member of the white rose and I put together a video on her life over the past 12 years or so I’ve published small
Snippets on the White Rose my friend yud newbor written a book on the subject and he regularly speaks about it and uh through other mutual friends this is a regular topic of conversation the video on trout laugh friend led me to reading the guest transcripts of the interrogation of the white rose members
Which then brought me to the videos I did on the guest stle officer Robert Moore and the caretaker at Munich University yob Schmid who detained the two sh siblings in the summer of 2023 I traveled to the dubben heath and the former border school at prech where the einat commander were trained and
Although there’s no archive there I was fortunate enough to speak to a local historian I’d already done videos relating to Bara Y which I visited in May 22 indeed in one video from there the air ra sent is clearly heard in the background the plan is to continue doing
More videos relating to the einat scoping and the men who were in there I upload every Friday at200 hours my time so that’s to say I’m time in Poland or Germany where I live I also sometimes upload on other days as well and when I
Get the chance I do live chats so if this is the sort of thing interest you then you might want to subscribe but for the moment for me thank you very much for Listening For think C For