The Malmedy Massacre: The War Crimes Trial Controversy, Steven P. Remy (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017), viii + 342 pp., hardcover $29.95, electronic version available. On December 17, 1944, during the opening days of the Battle of the Bulge, a Kampfgruppe (battle group) from the 1 SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) murdered a group of captured American soldiers at the Baugnez crossroads near the town of Malmedy, Belgium. An investigation of the massacre and the battle group’s other atrocities led to a trial known as the Malmedy Case. The U.S. Army prosecuted the Sixth SS Panzer Army commander, SS-Oberstgruppenführer Josef “Sepp” Dietrich; the battle group commander, SS-Obersturmbannführer Joachim Peiper; and other officers and enlisted men of the unit. The proceedings took place at Dachau. The prosecution argued that Dietrich had ordered the German spearhead to employ the most extreme measures, and that Peiper and his subordinates faithfully carried out their commander’s order, making theirs one of the rare (though not unique) SS units that applied brutal Eastern Front practices in Western Europe. The defense maintained that there had been no order to depart from international law, and that any killings were the result of “heat of battle” confusion and the desperate situation facing the hard-pressed German forces. In July 1946, seventy-three of the defendants were found guilty; forty-three, including Peiper, received death sentences. Subsequently, a new narrative argued that although the Kampfgruppe undoubtedly had killed American POWs, the trial and verdicts were tainted by gross investigative and prosecutorial misconduct. Lurid reports of savage beatings, death threats, mock trials and executions, and extorted confessions appeared in both the German and American press. Multiple investigations followed. Amnesty campaigns from diverse quarters gathered momentum. By early 1957, every Malmedy defendant, even those facing death sentences, had been released. Steven P. Remy, author of the well-regarded The Heidelberg Myth: The Nazification and Denazification of a German University (2002), takes a critical look at this apparent case of “victor’s justice” gone awry. He carefully analyzes the various efforts to seek amnesty for the Malmedy defendants and to influence the reviews and investigations of the trial and verdict. These began with the defense counsel, Colonel Willis Everett, who went public with accusations of prisoner abuse and prosecutorial misconduct. Remy deftly outlines the various political currents that fueled criticism of the trials, especially German resentment of denazification and the perceived shame of foreign occupation. He also highlights individuals advocating for the defendants: leading German clergy (both Catholic and Protestant) attempting to conduct a “rescue action,” ex-Wehrmacht personnel seeking to restore German national honor, and various political opportunists hoping to further their own purposes.

中文翻译：

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马尔梅迪大屠杀：战争罪行审判争议

《马尔梅迪大屠杀：战争罪行审判争议》，史蒂文·P·雷米（史蒂文·P·雷米）（剑桥，马萨诸塞州：哈佛大学出版社，2017年），viii + 342页，精装本29.95美元，有电子版。1944年12月17日，在“突击战”的开战之日，来自第1党卫军装甲师雷布斯坦塔特党卫军阿道夫·希特勒（LSSAH）的一个Kampfgruppe（战斗组织）在该镇附近的包格尼兹十字路口谋杀了一群被俘的美国士兵比利时马尔梅迪的地图。对大屠杀和战队其他暴行的调查导致了名为“马尔梅迪案”的审判。美国陆军起诉了第6党卫军装甲部队司令员SS-OberstgruppenführerJosef“ Sepp” Dietrich。战斗群指挥官SS-ObersturmbannführerJoachim Peiper；以及该单位的其他军官和士兵。诉讼在达豪进行。控方辩称，迪特里希已命令德国矛头采取最极端的措施，而佩珀及其下属则忠实地执行了其指挥官的命令，使他们成为极少数（尽管不是唯一的）在苏联实施残酷的东线作战的党卫队之一。西欧。辩方认为，没有任何命令可以背离国际法，任何杀戮都是“战斗热”混乱和德军苦苦面对的绝境的结果。1946年7月，有73名被告被判有罪。包括Peiper在内的四十三人被判处死刑。随后，一个新的论点认为，尽管柬埔寨国防军无疑杀害了美国战俘，但审判和判决受到严重的调查和起诉不当行为的污染。有关德国人和美国媒体的野蛮殴打，死亡威胁，模拟审判和处决以及勒索供词的卢里德报道。随后进行了多次调查。来自不同地方的大赦运动势头强劲。到1957年初，马尔梅迪的每一名被告，包括面临死刑的被告，都已被释放。史蒂文·P·雷米（Steven P. Remy）是广受好评的《海德堡神话：德国大学的纳粹化与纳粹化》（2002年）的作者，对这种明显的“胜利者正义”的案例出现了批判性的看法。他仔细分析了为马尔梅迪被告寻求大赦并影响对审判和判决的审查和调查的各种努力。首先是辩护律师威利斯·埃弗里特上校（Colonel Willis Everett），他被指控虐待囚犯和起诉行为不检。雷米（Remy）敏锐地概述了引起对审判的批评的各种政治潮流，特别是德国人对定性化的不满和对外国占领的耻辱。他还重点介绍了主张被告的个人：试图进行“营救行动”的德国神职人员（包括天主教徒和新教徒），试图恢复德国国民荣誉的前国防军人员以及各种希望推进自己目标的政治机会主义者。