## Facts

- Nine defendants connected to Natzweiler (Natzweiler-Struthof) concentration camp were tried before a British Military Court at Wuppertal (29 May–1 June 1946) for involvement in the killing of four captured women serving with British forces.
- The four victims were women agents sent to occupied France in plain clothes to support British liaison work with the French Resistance; they were captured, held at Karlsruhe prison, and later transferred to Natzweiler.
- At Natzweiler, the women were killed by lethal injection and their bodies were cremated.
- Werner Rohde, the camp medical officer, admitted administering at least one injection intended to be lethal and stated he acted on an order communicated through another officer.
- Peter Straub, responsible for cremations and the camp oven, was linked to preparation and operation of the crematorium in connection with the deaths.
- Magnus Wochner, head of the camp political department, was alleged to have authority relevant to handling political prisoners and aspects of the cremation process.
- The camp commandant, Fritz Hartjenstein, denied presence at the time, but evidence supported an inference that the killings occurred within his command and knowledge.
- The prosecution charged each defendant with being “concerned in” the killing of four British women prisoners in July–August 1944, in violation of the laws and usages of war.

## Issues

1. Whether killing captured Allied personnel by lethal injection and cremating their bodies, without lawful adjudication, constituted a war crime under the laws and usages of war.
2. Whether “superior orders” excused participation in the killing where no regular sentence by a competent tribunal was shown.
3. What level of knowledge and participation made a person “concerned in” a killing, including where the accused facilitated the process rather than directly administering the lethal act.
4. Whether a camp commandant could be held responsible absent proof of physical presence at the killing.

## Decision

- The court convicted Rohde, finding his admitted administration of a lethal injection was participation in an unlawful killing and rejecting his reliance on superior orders.
- The court convicted Straub, concluding that his role in preparing and carrying out cremations, in the context of the unlawful killings, made him “concerned in” the crime.
- The court convicted Hartjenstein, inferring responsibility from circumstantial evidence and his position as commandant despite his asserted absence.
- The court acquitted Emil Meier and Kurt aus dem Bruch due to insufficient evidence of knowing participation.
- As to the remaining defendants (including Wochner, Zeuss, Berg, and Bruttel), the court differentiated outcomes based on proof of knowledge, authority, and active participation.

## Legal Principles

- The deliberate killing of persons in enemy hands, without a regular trial and sentence by a competent tribunal, constitutes an unlawful execution and a war crime.
- Superior orders do not provide a complete defense to participation in a manifestly unlawful killing of prisoners; at most, such orders may bear on punishment.
- Criminal responsibility may attach to those “concerned in” a killing, including individuals who knowingly facilitate or assist the process (such as arranging for or conducting cremation connected to the unlawful death).
- A commandant may incur liability where the evidence supports an inference that crimes occurring within the camp could not reasonably have happened without the commandant’s knowledge and responsibility for camp operations.

## Conclusion

The British Military Court treated the killing of four captured women agents by lethal injection and cremation as an unlawful execution and thus a war crime, rejected superior orders as an exculpation for plainly illegal conduct, applied liability to knowing facilitators under a “concerned in” theory, and upheld responsibility for a commandant based on circumstantial proof tied to command authority.


Trial of Rohde (Brit. Mil. Ct. Wuppertal 1946), 5 Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals 54 (1948)