Horst Günther
Horst Günther (23 September 1920 – 6 April 1944) was a German World War II prisoner of war. An Afrika Korps gefreiter, he was "captured on 9 May 1943 in Tunisia [and] murdered in Camp Aiken prisoner-of-war camp, South Carolina" United States.[1]
He was suspected of collaborating with the American authorities and was strangled by two fellow prisoners-of-war, Erich Gauss and Rudolf Staub, who hung his body from a tree in order to make it seem that Günther had killed himself.[2] Gauss and Staub were hanged on 14 July 1945 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. They were buried in the prison cemetery.[3] Staub is alleged to have said just before his execution: "What I did was done as a German soldier under orders. If I had not done so, I would have been punished when I returned to Germany."[4]
Notes and references
- ^ Original German text: "Gefangennahme am 09.05.1943 in Tunesien. Er wurde im Kriegsgefangenenlager Aiken, South Carolina, ermordet."
- ^ Newsweek; "Death and Treason", 5 February 1945.
- ^ Fort Leavenworth Military Prison cemetery Archived 2007-04-18 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Abolish" Death penalty news, 1 March 1998 Archived September 13, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
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- 1920 births
- 1944 deaths
- German military personnel killed in World War II
- Murdered military personnel
- German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States
- German people who died in prison custody
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