Lothar Fendler
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Lothar Fendler (13 August 1913 – 7 March 1983) was an '' SS-Sturmbannführer'', in ''Sonderkommando 4b'' of ''
Einsatzgruppe C (, ; also ' task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the im ...
,'' which was involved in the mass murder of the Jews in occupied Ukraine. At the ''Einsatzgruppen'' Trial in 1948, Fendler was sentenced to 10 years in prison. However, he was released early in 1951.


Life

Between 1932 and 1934 Fendler studied dentistry. On 15 April 1933 he joined the '' SS'', service number 272,603. From 1934 to 1936 he served in the ''
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
''. After leaving the Wehrmacht Fendler joined the ''
Sicherheitsdienst ' (, ''Security Service''), full title ' (Security Service of the '' Reichsführer-SS''), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence organization ...
'' (SD) in 1936. On 1 May 1937 he joined the
NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
(number 5,216,392). In May 1941, Fendler was transferred to ''Sonderkommando 4b'' of ''Einsatzgruppe C'' to prepare for the ''Einsatzgruppe'' actions during
Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...
, where he was responsible for divisional intelligence. His role according to his testimony at Nuremberg was to write reports on the morale of the local population. On 2 October 1941 he was replaced and returned to Berlin. He was posted back to the ''Sonderkommando'' in March 1942 and returned again to Germany in July of the same year. He spent the rest of the war working for SD foreign intelligence. He was subsequently arrested by the Americans and put on trial at
Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
. From 1947 to 1948, Fendler was one of 24 defendants in the ''Einsatzgruppen'' Trial; his defence lawyer was Hans Fritz with the assistance of Dr. Gabriele Lehmann. The presiding judge was Michael A. Musmanno. Fendler was charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, and membership in a criminal organization. The case against Fendler was based on the question of whether he reported as deputy leader to Günther Herrmann; this was not conclusively answered. Fendler was certainly Herrmann's second-highest-ranking officer in Sonderkommando 4b, and there were only seven officers in the unit. During his trial, Fendler was not implicated in and denied any direct participation in any executions. However, he did admit to his knowledge of his executions, and said he personally felt that they were "too summary". Fendler also confessed to writing reports about the morale about the local population while serving in the unit. On 10 April 1948, Fendler was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The court found that while there was no evidence of him participating in or planned any executions, he had still taken part in criminal activities. Furthermore, "as the second highest ranking officer in the Kommando, his views could have been heard in complaint or protest against what he now says was a too summary procedure, but he chose to let the injustice go uncorrected."


Reduction of sentence and release

Fendler was sent to
Landsberg Prison Landsberg Prison is a penal facility in the town of Landsberg am Lech in the southwest of the German state of Bavaria, about west-southwest of Munich and south of Augsburg. It is best known as the prison where Adolf Hitler was held in 1924, af ...
to serve his sentence. As part of the intensified discussion of West German rearmament after the outbreak of the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
in the summer of 1950, on 31 January 1951 High Commissioner for Germany John McCloy assessed the 15 death sentences handed down at Nuremberg on the recommendation of the " Advisory Board on Clemency for War Criminals". Four inmates had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment and six given prison sentences of between ten and twenty-five years, but confirmed that five of the death sentences should be still enforced. Fendler's sentence was reduced to 8 years. He was released from prison in March 1951.


References

*
Ernst Klee Ernst Klee (15 March 1942, Frankfurt – 18 May 2013, Frankfurt) was a German journalist and author. As a writer on Germany's history, he was best known for his exposure and documentation of medical crimes in Nazi Germany, much of which was concer ...
. The people lexicon to the Third Reich. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main, 2007. . (Updated 2nd edition) *Records of the United States Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, Vol. 4, U.S. Government Printing Office, District of Columbia 1950, pp. 570–573. *Records of the United States Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, Vol. 4, U.S. Government Printing Office, District of Columbia, 1950, p. 11 *Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10, Vol. 4: United States of America vs. Otto Ohlendorf, et al. (Case 9: "Einsatzgruppen case"). U.S. Government Printing Office, District of Columbia, 1950. In: "National Archives Microfilm Publications," NM Series 1874-1946, Microfilm Publication M936. National Archives and Record Service, Washington, 1973. (Excerpts from the verdict of Lothar Fendler: p. 570-573) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fendler, Lothar 1913 births 1983 deaths Einsatzgruppen personnel Nazis convicted of war crimes German people convicted of crimes against humanity People convicted by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals People from the Province of Silesia Military personnel from Wrocław SS dentists SS-Sturmbannführer