Canadian Military History

Volume 11 Issue 4 Article 7

2002

Recollections Concerning Canadian War Crimes Investigations and Prosecutions

Wady Lehmann

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Recommended Citation Lehmann, Wady "Recollections Concerning Canadian War Crimes Investigations and Prosecutions." Canadian Military History 11, 4 (2002)

This Feature is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Canadian Military History by an authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Lehmann: Recollections Concerning Canadian War Crime

Recollections Concerning Canadian War Crimes Investigations and Prosecutions

Wady Lehmann

fter the fighting ended in May 1945, I was followed by specialized courses in signals and Aposted to the Northwest Europe Detachment battle intelligence with the British Army in of 1 Canadian War Crimes Investigation Unit Cambridge, Matlock, and London. (1CWCIU). My service with 1 CWCIU covered a broad range of cases. Some led down blind I sailed to Italy in January 1944 with the alleys, while others did not involve Canadian Canadian Wireless Intelligence detachment servicemen. In due course I was assigned to the serving 1 Canadian Corps. In this capacity I was Kurt Meyer case as translator for the defence. seconded to the 13 British Army Corps on the Sangro River and at Cassino. Then I served for I was born near Tallinn, Estonia on 22 a few months as prisoner of war interrogator at October 1917. My mother was Baltic German 8 British Army POW cage near Rome. I and my father a Moskow Russian, an artillery subsequently served as intelligence officer with captain in the defeated Russian army. We fled to 1 Canadian Infantry Division, and finally on the Denmark from the Russian revolution the same intelligence staff of 1 Canadian Corps, year. I acquired a basic knowledge of the German specializing in enemy documents, weapons, and language from my family. I started school in dispositions. Copenhagen in the St. Petri school, which also taught German. We emigrated to Canada in I accompanied Corps headquarters to 1927, living successively in Calgary, Vancouver Holland where I was promoted to captain. There and Burnaby. I attended Burnaby South High I accompanied Lieutentant-General Charles School, concentrating on Latin, French and Foulkes on the dykes near the town of Ede to sciences. I began work during the Depression at his truce meeting with German Army Group the Swift meat packing plant in New Westminster. commander Blaskowitz in March 1945. This I enlisted in 1941 in Vancouver, after the fall of meeting was held in preparation for the ceasefire, Paris. so that food shipments could be carried by road to the starving population of western Holland My military background to mid-1945 was which was cut off altogether by the German with the Canadian Intelligence Corps (la) - Battle occupation troops. Intelligence. I had taken basic training with the Westminister Regiment reserve in 1941, A few months later the war ended and I was whereupon I trained for a year with the 12 assigned to the North-West Europe Detachment Canadian Field Ambulance. At Debert Camp in of No. 1 Cdn War Crimes Investigation Unit at Nova Scotia, I transferred to the 3rd Armoured Bad Salzuflen, Germany, under the command Brigade as intelligence clerk/driver. I was of Lieutenant-Colonel Bruce Macdonald at commissioned in the UK in 1943 into the newly CMHQ (Canadian Military Headquarters) in formed Canadian Intelligence Corps. This was London. The detachment was commanded by

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moustachioed major of horse-drawn artillery, who invariably dressed for dinner in formal blues complete with spurs and mail. Tennis and soccer matches were laid on, and the spa provided evening relaxation to the music of a string ensemble. We shared these amenities with ladies of UNRRA (United Nations Refugee Relief Agency, paraphrased as ‘You Never Really Relieved Anybody’), and other organizations. On one occasion, ENSA, the British services entertainment corps, even featured a troupe of Above: A detached vehicle of the Canadian War Crimes Investigation the Rambert ballet. These diversions, however, Unit crossing the Dutch border. did not deter us from diligently pursuing our Right: A jeep of the Canadian War Crimes Investigation Unit sits assignments. outside its headquarters.. could not determine the identity of the SS unit two alleged victims were not to be found. An We regularly exchanged information with the which was alleged to have committed the crime. interesting trip to Ostend in a drenching British War Crimes unit at nearby Bad downpour aggravated by a broken axle resulted Oyenhausen at the headquarters of the British A case in east Berlin involved a plane which in a futile exhumation. The witness, an Army on The Rhine (BAOR - nicknam ed ‘Beyond had crashed into one of the lakes. After futilely ex-medical sergeant named Lehmann, had All Ordinary Reason!’). Many of our cases were interviewing the two witnesses referred to us, misconstrued the spinal opening in the base of filtered to us through them. we were only too eager to exit from the east zone the skull for a bullet hole! We learned from him as the Russian patrols were beginning to take the incidental information that German POWs Wady Lehmann Much of the investigation consisted of too great an interest in our activities. Even the still in camps could get accelerated repatriation routinely checking out these leads. This could Allied Control Commission pass was not enough points by clearing mines on the beaches - they Major Neil C. Fraser, who was later succeeded be very frustrating. After explaining the to prevent a lengthy detainment. East Berlin was had a separate cemetery plot for those who did by Wing-Commander Oliver Durdin. My role with procedure to the witness and the swearing in, an eerie city by day as well as by night. In the not make it! That summer we also had to travel the detachment was that of interpreter, there would follow the invariable opening remark daytime refugees and German soldiers in to Grenoble and Aix-les-Bains in southern translator, interrogator and investigator. “That I can no longer remember today.” As tattered uniforms and feet wrapped in rags were France on a long trip which was more memorable interpreter, I was then caught between a drifting in from the eastern battlefields. At night for its beauty than for our achievement. The detachment operated in several teams perplexed witness and an infuriated legal rubble in the darkened streets lay in huge of about five people each. These included interrogator. Often we barely got a corroboration mounds etched against the starry sky. Yet in the In the industrial Ruhr a British security linguists - German and one French. They acted of the original testimony, which would bring the shell-pocked opera house I sat in a capacity detachment showed us an arsenal of improvised both as official interpreters and as investigators. case to a dead end. However routine, the audience of survived Berliners and Allied service weapons: sawed-off Mauser rifles, vicious Their army or air force operational experience excursions were never dull. people alike taking in a performance of Fidelio. skull-cracking lengths of steel cable welded at helped them to understand the military aspects the ends, etc. These had been taken off liberated of the German organization and customs. Our There was the case near Paderborn which The Johann ‘Neitz’ case1 took us to Russian forced labourers who roamed the ruins legal components, the lawyers and court turned out to be an Australian fighter pilot. He Wilhelmshaven, to its vast harbour installation nightly to extort food and avenge themselves on reporters, had valuable experience in military was identified through one of his dentures which ravished by war; huge block-sized air raid their former German masters. Everywhere were law and procedures. Indispensable to each team I found in the turf about ten yards from the skid bunkers for the workers; twisted wreckage the rusting remains of huge foundries and rolling was the driver, untiring, resourceful and patient. mark made by his downed Spitfire. I believe that spread across the docks; the huge brooding hulk mills with massive armour plate still in place. We usually managed to pack ourselves, our we located his grave and had his body exhumed, of the moored heavy cruiser, the Prinz Eugen, On a street corner civilians crowded around a rations and our belongings into one vehicle - a although without my presence; there were three in the mist. Our experience included being piped spouting end of a water pipe protruding through Jeep, passenger car, or HUP (Heavy Utility, men accused of the killing, and we turned the aboard a German minesweeper, still manned by the pavement to fill their pots and pails. Personnel). Our work routine consisted of case over to the British unit for trial. its former German crew, to be ferried out to Overhead droned a four-engined Lancaster tracking down witnesses who might be dispersed interview a lighthouse keeper out at sea. anywhere in Europe, including the Russian A case near Verneuil-sur-Avre, Normandy, taking sightseers over the ruins of armaments Unfortunately the witness had nothing to add. factories it had taken part in bombing a short Zone, take down depositions which would later concerned a Canadian airman who had joined the Resistance. As he had not been wearing the time before. We worked in a sort of twilight zone stand up in court, and examine public records, The Detmold case took us into a Displaced distinctive armband of the French Resistance between the shooting war and conditions of and, of course, ultimately apprehend and deliver Persons camp. There our informant contributed which passes for a uniform, he had lost his POW peace which had not yet fully materialized. the suspected war criminal. little in an hour of interrogation beyond making status and the protection of the Geneva the point that they were allowed only 1,200 Sometime in November of 1945 I was At detachment headquarters in Bad Convention. However his autopsy conducted for calories of food per day. In a village near recalled from these somewhat abortive Salzuflen, a peace-time spa, we were attached us by a US Army pathologist did suggest that Lueneburg, we had a basement full of rubble to a British mess presided over by a the victim had been tortured. In any case we excursions to Aurich in north Germany and shifted by POWs only to find that the bodies of attached to Lieutenant-Colonel Maurice Andrew

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Brigadefurher Kurt Meyer, handcuffed to Major Arthur My first conversation with him was when I the provisions of the Allied conventions covering Russell, commanding officer of the Winnipeg Rifles, arrives reported to him in London a few days into the war crimes. in Aurich, 31 October 1945. New Year of 1946, after leaving Meyer and delivering the appeal to Major-General Chris I first met Kurt Meyer in December 1945 in by the area commander, Major-General Chris Vokes in Oldenburg. He had just learned of his cell in the Aurich barracks. He was of Vokes. Meyer served part of his prison time in Vokes’ revocation of the death sentence and medium height, dark brown hair, arresting grey Canada and the remainder in Germany. He was appeared visibly annoyed. eyes, and in seemingly good physical shape. He released in 1954 and was employed by a brewery was straight-forward in his speech, direct and which, ironically, supplied the messes in the Both Lieutenant-Colonel Bruce Macdonald intelligent, neither ingratiating nor arrogant, easy Canadian occupation zone. He died in 1958. and Lieutenant-Colonel Maurice Andrew had to talk with, and he had a touch of humour. commanded units in action. Both had a soldier’s The prosecuting officer was Lieutenant- understanding of Meyer’s case. However, while Meyer was convinced, despite my Colonel Bruce Macdonald, who had led the Macdonald had diligently scoured the POW protestations, that the trial was to be a show investigations and was then placed in command camps for testimony to build the case against with the outcome already decided. His concern of the newly-formed Canadian War Crimes Meyer, Andrew had spent most of his time with was not for himself but for his wife, Kate, and Investigation Unit in June 1945. I first met the Perth Regiment in Italy and Northwest their children. He made no excuse for his Nazi Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonald at the opening of Europe. He maintained an arms length orientation, which to him represented loyalty to Kurt Meyer’s trial. I knew him by name only as relationship to Meyer. Germany, the sanctity of the family and the Commanding Officer (CO) of our unit at its Nordic religion. He was convinced that the Allies Andrew had me visit Meyer on a daily basis should join the defeated Germany to push Russia as interpreter for the defense of SS Major- London headquarters. Nor had I heard of him with specific questions. Initially these were out of eastern Europe before it was too late. Once General Kurt Meyer. What follows are in connection with his previous activity in designed to clarify points from the reams of impressions I formed as the trial proceeded investigating war crimes, nor as a commanding we agreed to differ on our political thinking he previous depositions. His questions for Meyer did not raise the subject again. In other respects without attempting to give a chronological officer in the field. As I was at the time a captain were to the point. He encouraged me to keep we had some wide-ranging discussions. account.2 we did not share the same mess at Aurich in off hours, so I had no contact with him during the the scope of my talks with Meyer broad in order He enjoyed his vigorous daily walks Meyer had gained notoriety in the Canadian trial. to add to his understanding of Meyer’s mind and press as the prime available suspect in the killing background. His own meetings with Meyer were handcuffed to his guard who was supplied from of Canadian prisoners of war during the first My impression of him was that he was an less frequent. At the outset he clarified for him the Royal Winnipeg Rifles. Within the limits of days following D-Day, 6 June 1944, in the aggressive prosecutor. He seemed overly intent. fighting north of the key city of Caen. Altogether, This was born out by his reading into the Left: Kurt Meyer enters the court room under escort, 10 112 such cases were reported by escaped POWs proceedings regarding the Malmedy shooting of December 1945. and local townspeople. Forty-one of these were American prisoners of war during the Ardennes Below: The defence and prosecution staffs pose in front of the attributed to the sector held by Meyer’s 25th SS battle, which he construed as evidence of a renamed Normandy Building of the Maple Leaf Barracks. Wady Panzer Grenadier Regiment. He was eventually pattern among SS formations. It also appeared Lehmann is on the far right, front row in the the light-coloured captured near Namur in Belgium on 5 when he had witness Jan Jesionek3 take the overcoat. September 1944. After months of intensive stand dressed in a C anadian uniform. As a POW, interrogation he was brought to trial by Jesionek would normally have worn the basic court-martial at the former naval barracks in German uniform as did the accused. He also Aurich, north Germany, in the Canadian stretched a point with his interpretation of the occupation zone. Major-General Harry Foster term , vernichten - ‘to annihilate,’ which Meyer was selected to preside over the trial. As a had used in training. The same word also brigadier he had commanded the units which translates as ‘to destroy,’ as in to destroy the Meyer had opposed at the time of the alleged enemy, in the same sense as it was used in our killings. training, as well as in the regular German army training at the time. Clausewitz enunciated this The trial lasted from 10 to 27 December phrase in the ‘Conduct of War’ in the eighteenth 1944. It found Meyer guilty of counselling his century. It had nothing to do with the treatment troops to deny quarter, and as commander, being of POWs. responsible in the killings of Canadian prisoners of war behind his headquarters at the Abbaye In other respects I found Macdonald’s d’Ardenne. He was found not guilty of actually presentation to be meticulous, if on the dry side. giving the order. His sentence was execution by It reflected a justifiable zeal to track down the firing squad. However, this sentence was perpetrators of the alleged shootings of Canadian commuted to life imprisonment in the New Year POWs in the Normandy fighting.

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oster, ih h i rsin hat h Myr ra was trial Meyer the t a th pression im the with accordingly d an alty en p eath d e th t n rra a w of responsibility a t the tim e w as too indirect to to sentence. the indirect uted m too as com w e tim the t a degree Meyer’s at th responsibility of concluded officer, Mueller. reviewing and iinsche W against laid was were ohnke M charges killed Colonel as w be later. Witt to days few eneral a G division inal. action the in crim ar in w a officer as tried anding m the com only ordering of nor cases ent’s guilty not regim found his of 23 was of Meyer trial his At Regiment. SS by 13 ohnke, M Wilhelm Colonel SS er d n u weeks first the during of war prisoners anadian C was not shot as an SS general and w hat I thought Ithought hat w and general SS an as shot not was cap tu red by the R u ssian s in B erlin an d no no d the an Vokes, Chris erlin B in ajor-General M s case ssian Meyer’s u In R the by red tu cap the as w Meyer 18. aining rem the of SS th 5 2 execution eyer’s M urt K Colonel SS by 41 and Regiment, Panzer 12th iinsche’s W Max Colonel Regiment to 26th ted the u by were 79 attrib Jugend these Of Hitler SS were 12th Division. Witt’s Fritz invasion andy Major-General orm N the of for a version to come o ut which would lay out out lay come would s a h which e tim ut o the come t a to th me version tells a for hat T it. t u o ab Next recollections. my about about riting me of w ask to process case, the Brode the in both Patrick by then of Toronto, Halifax, of Foster Tony by 7 by M ajor M ueller’s 12th SS Pioneer B attalion attalion B Pioneer SS 12th ueller’s M ajor M by 7 the cold facts about the atrocities. the about facts cold the Meyer why asked friends service my of for any s m Film Paperny by interviewed Iwas n omandy. Norm in I n retrospect, I h ad largely forgotten about the the about forgotten largely ad Ih retrospect, n Kurt Meyer trial w hen I was approached, first first approached, I was hen w trial Meyer Kurt We can n o t leave the public an d next-of-kin next-of-kin d an public the leave t o n can We of of shooting cases ented docum 140 Allthe R W hen th a t w as aired in 1999, 1999, in aired as w t a th hen W eflections on the Trial of Kurt Meyer of Trial the on eflections Murder

job of m aking the m ost of the evidence he could could he evidence the of ost m the aking m of job Andrew had me bring two regular arm y Germ an an Germ y arm regular two bring me had Andrew H ad he n ot done this, there m ight have been been have ight m there this, eir th done instructors. his ot on n een rules he betw ad these H pressed im difference had he e th knew well the he In court. in views e sam the gave berbach E concerned as w Meyer given. rarely as w arter u q Holland. in trained been ad h which Division SS Panzer They eppenburg, Schw itnesses. w von Geyr character General as were Aurich to generals g a th e r a g a in s t th e h ig h e s t r a n k in g SS SS g in k n a r t s e h ig h e th t s in a g a r e th a g m ore killings of POWs in the secto r of his his of r secto the were. in there an POWs th of ent regim killings ore m that and ussians R of the that and of war conduct estern w the ater L fought ad h attles. b who Meyer, ing e of eantim forthcom course m rash the c d the an in th here on g w bo in have t its n would train fro recru n young background ssia the this u R effect the e th about from d rre been fe s had n NCO’s who were tra instructors of the 12th Most any newly-formed of the had Meyer for them instructor as of praise role his had General in they Neither yet SS, the to successor, allegiance berbach. his E and einrich H ander, m com y arm incorporated into the an n als of our history. our of als n an the into rest to laid be incorporated to inal crim Nazi arch ed ish n u p un ooe rc coad dda outtndi g in d tstan u o an ieutenant- L did acdonald, M prosecutor, the Bruce iscarriage fact m Colonel In no as prisoners w There justice. anadian of C andy. Norm against in ar war w of of the perpetrated vindication es crim complete a be to supposed Allies during the invasion of France, assured me me assured of France, invasion the during Allies and a definitive account of this sad episode be be 's a d episode a n a sad C this of s a account eyer M of definitive a th as and y h e m tim The e th for apprehend. e could com he ander m com During the trial Lieutenant-Colonel Maurice Maurice Lieutenant-Colonel trial the During Wady Lehm ann, November 2002 November ann, Lehm Wady Johnston; and Brigadier Henry P. Henry Brigadier and Johnston; advocate); (judge Bredin W.B. in to stands camera) courtroom the peiet; rgde In S. Ian Brigadier (president); (i.-r.): judges Canadian the before Bell-lrving. Foster W. Harry Major-General Lieutenant-Colonel Sparling; H.A. Brigadier Roberts; J.A. Brigadier back hat, no (centre, Meyer Kurt Canadian MilitaryHistory,Vol.11[2002],Iss.4,Art.7

Photo by B.J. Gloster, NAC PA 189588 were familiar. My recollection of the first day of of day first the of recollection My familiar. were w itness w as an SS Corporal, J a n Jesionek. He He Jesionek. n a J Corporal, SS an as w itness w they at th time the at incidents the of aware was concerned was he as far As losses. heavy ith w bat. com of confusion the in ar w of the to n prisoner tio atten drew Andrew itnesses t w a th and is the trial artial hich the w ith court-m w s the term of y arm bers em using m point the to . them ith w rt o p rap related good a guards developed his he d which to an language soldier’s a t happened. the benefit s u not io would v of POWs re ent p altreatm m involved y the n a heavily extremely m were Division SS 12th battles landings is the h the the at with th fluid after was g sector in r attitude his u His in d ts interrogations. n e id c in a es becom technically and which at capitulates point exact soldier the a of ascertaining difficulty th at he h ad heard Meyer order them to be shot. be to them order alleged Meyer and e, heard n Ju ad 8 h on he at th prisoners seven first headquarters the Meyer’s to brought have to claimed he hether w recall cannot I battle. the of course he English he had acquired in captivity he spoke spoke he captivity in acquired had he English he In court, Andrew’s questioning was brief and and brief was questioning Andrew’s court, In M acdonald’s p otentially m ost dam aging aging dam ost m otentially p acdonald’s M the ith w iliar fam e becom have st u m Meyer Wady Lehmann escorts Kate Meyer (wife), Mrs Meleni Feindt (sister), Alma Meyer (mother), (mother), Meyer Alma (sister), Feindt Meleni Mrs (wife), Meyer Kate escorts Lehmann Wady and Ursula Meyer (2nd daughter) to Kurt Meyer’s war crimes trial. crimes war Meyer’s Kurt to daughter) (2nd Meyer Ursula and w ith which Meyer fixed Jesionek w ith his gaze, gaze, his ith w Jesionek fixed Meyer which ith w seen subsequently had he at th testified Jesionek become dem ented over the news th a t his family family his t a th news the over ented dem become as w t p on m te n co Jesionek g His ttin u p ess. acdonald itn M w by is h heightened on g in av h intensity the in n show have st u m This people. wall. courtyard the behind corpses the regular arm y generals, Geyr von Schweppenberg von Geyr generals, y n a arm d regular out. re e rd o carried the be to POWs, is eyer th M the for of fluid h too killing g as u w o the th into battle en v E investigation . ight m saw prisoners he Allied at first e the th h on and himself ad raid, h air avenged an have in arters u killed q the been in ead h had the ad h sergeant he a behind t a fact post th aid the of are edical entioned m aw m ade Meyer m t a been th an ony erm G testim sic a b POW’s er ry a rath m , sto u c uniform e uniform. th anadian C in n a th dressed d n sta the was it effect the to object to acdonald Polish M his causing the in betrayed it n u first his ad h he as betrayed ad way an h e as who sam ist corporal n the rtu o p saw He p o pt. contem of feeling a de w Ger n a rm e G two d e a n e o p b u s d a h ndrew A was ent statem Jesionek’s to reaction Meyer’s I believe th a t it was in discussions over this this over discussions in was it t a th I believe 4 Published byScholars Commons@ Laurier,2002

Photo by H.D. Robinson, NAC PA 18! Andrew. non-SS generals gave Andrew confidence in in confidence Andrew gave generals non-SS an erm G of type ssian u R rough e retty th p a in here w lted t n resu ro F ad h rn ste a his E d e an th and from m r te com c ra a bat h c to com as as in claim eyer’s War, M ed experience reat G confirm his e They th to itnesses. w ack b going they all agreed to au to g rap h w hen the trial trial control. the under self him hen which d w had an who h h an m a rap steady g a in which to au suggested signed Meyer Meyer to including adjourned. agreed all court the they of d n a bers em m for t c e p s re ed w o Lieutenant-Colonel his to sh in as w relation He He develop his in .4 . y m n o confidence not o did rtro u contradictions tim co s did te e disposition nor th general in his change, d d an n a cell cooperative is h in the preparing in helped d an to defence. ony g in testim in old-time, eyer’s from tra M troops is h support This in hardened the g of his recruits. in new tak ssed the influence on iscu the as d w ad h he counteract Meyer s re s. k su a e ran m its in which soldier prisoners, take not did es etim som transferred ies been fact arm ad h the of Division are SS aw 12th were the t a They th ideology. ilitary m experience and m com with both berbach, E d an 78 W ady Lehmann talks with General of Panzer Troops Heinrich Eberbach, who was Meyer's Heer superior during the the during superior Heer Meyer's was who Eberbach, Heinrich Troops Panzer of General with talks Lehmann ady D uring the trial I h ad doodled sketches of of sketches doodled ad h I trial the uring D both point the to d an alert ained rem Meyer summer of 1944 and appeared as a character witness for the defence during Meyer’s war crimes trial. crimes war Meyer’s during defence the for witness character a as appeared and 1944 of summer w as also curiosity over how the court would would court the how over curiosity also as w w as th at he w as satisfied th a t the outcom e was was e outcom the t a th satisfied as w he at th as w representatives press the ongst am debated hotly the in latitude responsibility, of shared question gratitude.” sk etch show s a quiver w hich suggests th a t he t a th suggests hich w quiver a s show etch sk ent. regim to his ith urich w A leaving anada C to before Plourde rn appeal retu aptain C Meyer. the ith to w filing t u nor briefly o me ab to it conferred en about th He ore m convention. no crimes ar w spoke the He not under one reaction did correct the Andrew’s posure olonel com his d an Lieutenant-C Meyer n tio Foster, change. atten t a ajor-General M by stood sentence eath d been of ad h n estio ess. u q m questions the in the These d an doubt. evidence, of reasonable n ar w the issio m test: ad first governing the be would covenant this which for special es crim the ret as w terp in ed scene d an The h it later. rs hich u w o h verdict three the nearly down consider to rose “With unsolicited an added he benefit y m For the President of the Court Martial, signed on his his on signed Martial, Court of the President the there t u b issue, at verdict the was only Not tense. The autograph which M ajor-General Foster, Foster, ajor-General M which autograph The the and verdict of the ent pronouncem the At Court the 1945, December 27 on pm 1:30 At Lehmann: RecollectionsConcerningCanadianWarCrime Year’s m orning 1946, after I h ad been show n a a n show been ad Ih after 1946, orning m Year’s oy fte re frhs iigsud H had He squad. firing his for order the of copy the sam e night to M ajor-General Chris Vokes. Chris ajor-General M to night e sam g the rasin h p legal necessary the ith W ote. rem was his of therefore likelihood The killed. as w who while 4-500, about to shrank and decimated, was Captain Plourde prepared, and which I delivered I delivered which which and appeal the of prepared, st ru Plourde th the e Captain battle in becam en fallen th this already not execution ad the h who ordering ith w anyone of self him ander m concerning com divisional his replace to had he time battles of the war. the of e th battles of across t self n e him m e c and n u Meyer o n een ro p betw e th recognition n e k ta t o n d a h its front rem ained m uch the sam e. At the sam e e sam the At e. sam the uch en m m ained 15,000 rem front about its the ith how w d ap m a rte on sta s u hich energy w his showed all He ed division s n to consum ssio attention. u D-Day and from isc d capture Division of his e SS ur tim O 12th tactical the the the at of th killing. situation contention e his to th not down ight m he narrowed ered of why rd o think could have he reasons any Andrew’s despite lost, he hich defence? w skilful trial successful the more n a any be th appeal the should Why it. two h ad faced each other in some of the fiercest fiercest the the of a some anders in m een b other com each have faced opposing As t ad s h u two room. m court here T the lightly. e c n te n se appeal. At first Meyer refused to even consider the consider e even to fram to refused Plourde Meyer first At aptain C of appeal. pany com the I saw Meyer again for the last tim e on New New on e tim last the for again Meyer saw I list to Meyer asked I moving things get To After the trial, I m et with Meyer in his cell in in cell his in Meyer with et Im trial, the After * W ady Lehmann’s sketches of Kurt Meyer (left) and Harry Foster (right). Foster Harry and (left) Meyer Kurt of sketches Lehmann’s ady .. .C. ' ...Cl.. j D ie fe n b a c h e r ’s o rd e r to S c h u m a c h e r. r. e h c a m u h c S to r e rd o it sm ’s r tran e to h c a b refused n have fe ie D should hom w of Iboth time to ad I h ad H itted sm artens. M tran was shoot to hich w acher order chum S the given ped ad h cram his relieve to tire a changing ith w osdrn h oe fcmmadi emany Germ in and m com of power the Considering Oberweier, of ayor m en th the d an ander Landesschuetzen m the after com gone have who also should iefenbacher D auleiter G time the to apprehending up t in a th help annoyed to also I was asked even uscles! m no he fact In caused d an route. test en ro p trouble ithout w out me followed aldou nteae out o dnBae. I aden. aden-B B of th u so area the in ut o bailed I left G erm any soon after, I h ad n o t succeeded succeeded t o n ad h I after, soon any erm G left I he d an him, handcuff gave not the family did in I d an late wife of house pleasure. no me farm presence the plain in his in an evening the st ar However of w rre a al investigation. actu in disruption exercise the after interesting him locating d an his him, with associates. contact his or last die, my family as w rades hat T com any himself. m seen ad h he and m com his Iinadvertedly arters. u q ier room to moved been tran sp o rtin g him to Aurich. I m issed attending illness. attending to due issed m I Aurich. and to prosecution him him the g rtin locating of o ad h sp point he tran the to it tz u where followed sch RCAF d only an L arten, M the in Flight-Sergeant corporal a er, ach m u ch S an d was n o t ab o u t to m ake an exception for for exception an ake m to t u o ab t o n nder was u ptly at d th an prom d adding an this, him to accepted He Year” New apologized. appy “H said (Home Guard). He h ad been ordered to shoot shoot to ordered been ad h He Guard). (Home I found the experience of picking up his trail trail his up of picking experience the Ifound My last case w as to track down one George George one down track to as w case last My 79 5 Canadian Military History, Vol. 11 [2002], Iss. Canadian4, Art. 7 Military History

at the time and the unquestioning need to obey Campbell, Ian. Murder at the Abbaye: The Story of Twenty on the pain of severe punishment or death, Canadian Soldiers Murdered at the Abbaye Battlefield Tours d'Ardenne. Ottawa: Golden Dog, 1996. Schumacher had no alternative but to carry out Department of National Defence, Directorate of History and the order. There was no collusion on his part Heritage, file 159.95023 (D7)."Record of Proceedings nor was the act deliberate. His sentence of death (Revised) of the Trial by Canadian Military Court of S.S. w as not w arranted. Brigadefuehrer (Major General) Kurt Meyer held at Aurich, Germany 10-28 December 1945.” P.W. Lackenbauer and Chris Madsen are currently editing I left the North-West Europe Detachment of the trial transcript and accompanying documentation 1 CWCIU on 28 March 1946, having recently for publication next year. been promoted to the rank of major, and Fenrick, Bill.’’The Prosecution of War Criminals in Canada,” proceeded to return to Canada for my discharge Dalhousie Law Journal 12 (1989). 256-97. Foster, Tony. Meeting o f Generals. Toronto: Methuen, 1986. from active duty. Lackenbauer, P.W. “Kurt Meyer, 12th SS Panzer Division, and the Murder of Canadian Prisoners of War in Normandy: For Canada to enter into the field of War An Historical and Historiographical Appraisal,” Crimes Trials at all was a bold step. Our cases G atew ay 3 (March 2001), available online through http:// grad.usask.ca/gateway /. could have been left to the British war crimes — and C. Madsen. “Justifying Atrocities: Lieutenant-Colonel tribunal to take care of as did Australia and other Maurice Andrew and the Defence of Brigadefuhrer Kurt Commonwealth countries. It is to the credit of Meyer,” in Canadian Military History Since the 17th Lieutenant-Colonel Bruce Macdonald that he Century ed. Yves Tremblay. Ottawa: National Defence, 2001.553-64. rose to the challenge of organizing a separate Macdonald, B.J.S. The Trial of Kurt Meyer. Toronto: Clarke, Canadian investigative and legal framework on Irwin & Co., 1954. short notice to take on this task and carry it Madsen, Chris. Another Kind of Justice: Canadian Military through to an early conclusion. I had no idea Law from Confederation to Somalia. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1999. then of the historical significance of the trial I Margolian, Howard. Conduct Unbecoming: The Story of the was privileged to witness. Murder of Canadian Prisoners of War in Normandy. Leading annual tours to the Canadian battlefields in Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998. Normandy, Northern France, Belgium, Holland and Germany Meyer, Kurt. Grenadiers.Trans. Michael Mende. Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz, 1994. Notes Whalen, James M. “The Face of the Enemy: Kurt Meyer: Normandy to Dorchester," The B eaver 74 (April/May 1994). 1. Editors’ note: On the trial of Neitz for an alleged war Wady Lehmann, Major (Retired) served as crime against an RCAF officer in the vicinity of an intelligence officer in the U.K., Italy, and Wilhelmshaven, Germany, committed in October 1944, see Patrick Brode, Casual Slaughters and Accidential Northwest Europe from 1941-45, and as an Judgments: Canadian War Crimes Prosecutions, 1944- interpreter, translator, interrogator and 1948 (Toronto: Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal investigator with the North-West Europe History, 1997), pp. 122-24, and Department of National Detachment of No. 1 Cdn War Crimes Defence, Directorate of History and Heritage, file 159.95023(D6). Investigation Unit from 1945-46. After he 2. Such accounts can be found in the further reading returned to Canada, he worked as an section. accountant for Swift Canadian Co Ltd. and 3. SS Mann Jan Jesionek was a young Polish conscript has actively promoted and directed who had served with the 15th Reconnaissance Company of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, and voluntarily numerous community causes in education, provided information against Meyer to the Americans the environment and the arts. He lives with as a POW. He later testified against Meyer at the trial. his wife Betty (who he met on VE Day in 4. Editors’ note: There were, however, contradictions London) in Surrey, British Columbia. In between Meyer’s courtroom testimony and earlier statements taken under oath. These he admitted and 1993, Mr. Lehmann received the “Surrey discussed explicitly during the trial. Citizen of the Year” award. Mr. Lehmann wrote these recollections in December 1993, prior to a recent flurry Further Reading on the Kurt Meyer Trial of publications on the Meyer trial. Rather Top: 2002 Normandy tour group in front of “Bold,” a Canadian DD Sherman tank on display on “Juno” Beach at Courseulles-sur-Mer; Clockwise from middle left: The Vimy Memorial; The Caribou Monument to the Royal and Canadian War Crimes: than updating his reminiscences and Newfoundland Regiment at Beaument-Hamel on the Somme; Maison Queen’s Own Rifles on "Juno” Beach at Brode, Patrick. Casual Slaughters and Accidential interpretations in light of these studies, Mr. Bernieres-sur-Mer; The main beach at Dieppe: Terry Copp lecturing to a group at Point 67 on Verrieres Ridge Judgments: Canadian War Crimes Prosecutions, 1944- Lehmann has agreed to allow them to be south of Caen: Terry Copp speaking to a tour group on the main beach at Dieppe beside the monument to Les 1948. Toronto: Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal published as originally recorded. Fusiliers Mont-Royal; Backgroud: the Canadian Military Cemetery at Beny-sur-Mer. History, 1997. 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