## Facts

- Near the end of World War II, German authorities established a home for infant children of Polish women who had been deported to Germany and compelled to work on farms supporting the German war effort.
- The infants were forcibly taken from their mothers to increase the mothers’ farm productivity after complaints that childcare reduced work output.
- Heinrich Gerike, a local Nazi Party official (Kreisleiter), was placed in charge of establishing the infants’ home at Velpke near Helmstedt.
- Gerike selected a corrugated iron hut for the home that lacked running water, electricity, and basic means to deal with illness, and it was not equipped with medical supplies.
- Valentina Bilien was sent to act as matron against her will; she had no prior experience running an infant clinic and initially had little to no staff support and minimal records beyond an intake register.
- Gerike directed Bilien not to return children to their mothers and not to send children to a hospital, instructing her to call a doctor only if necessary.
- The children received inadequate attention: sick children rarely saw a doctor, their clothing was not kept clean, sick and well infants were not properly separated, and the premises suffered from poor hygiene conditions, including fly infestation.
- Adults responsible for the children sometimes left them unattended, including at night.
- Over a period of roughly six months, more than 80 Polish infants died while housed in the Velpke home.
- Evidence showed Gerike knew of the high death rate yet failed to take meaningful steps to improve conditions, including failing to visit the home after its initial selection or arrange qualified nursing help that was available locally.
- After the war, Gerike and others associated with the establishment and operation of the home were tried by a British Military Court at Brunswick on a charge that they were “concerned in the killing by wilful neglect” of Polish children, in violation of the laws and usages of war.

## Issues

1. Whether the creation and operation of the Velpke infants’ home in grossly deficient conditions, resulting in the deaths of Polish infants, constituted a war crime as “killing by wilful neglect” under the laws and usages of war.
2. Whether individual criminal responsibility could attach to officials and caregivers based on omissions and continued participation in maintaining lethal conditions, rather than direct physical violence.

## Decision

- The British Military Court treated the mass deaths of the Polish infants, caused by the deliberate establishment and maintenance of life-threatening conditions and denial of adequate care, as a war crime under the laws and usages of war.
- The court accepted that “killing” for war-crimes purposes could be committed through wilful neglect where those responsible knowingly allowed conditions that predictably resulted in death.
- The court assessed each accused’s responsibility based on role, authority, knowledge of the conditions and death rate, and failure to take available steps to prevent further deaths, resulting in convictions for those found sufficiently responsible and acquittals where proof was not made out.

## Legal Principles

- The war crime of killing protected civilians may be committed by omission where an accused with responsibility for their welfare knowingly permits conditions of neglect that are likely to cause death.
- Protected-person status and the duty of humane treatment apply to deported civilian nationals compelled to work for the occupying power, including their children placed under official control.
- Civilian and party officials may incur war-crimes liability when they create, direct, or maintain custodial arrangements that deny basic necessities and medical care, and they continue despite awareness of fatal consequences.
- Caregiving and medical roles can carry criminal responsibility when the person has custody or a duty of care and fails, with knowledge of the danger, to take reasonable steps within their power to obtain treatment or prevent further harm.

## Conclusion

Trial of Gerike recognized that mass death from deliberate neglect in custodial settings can constitute war-crime killing: officials and caregivers who set up, control, or continue operating a children’s home under conditions they know are deadly can be held individually responsible even without proof of direct physical violence.


Trial of Gerike, 7 LRTWC 80 (1946)