A Dissertation entitled ASHCAN: Nazis, Generals and Bureaucrats as Guests at the Palace Hotel, Mondorf les Bains, Luxembourg, May-August 1945 by Steven David Schrag Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in History _________________________________________ Dr. Larry Wilcox, Committee Chair _________________________________________ Dr. Roberto Padilla, II, Committee Member _________________________________________ Dr. Robert McCollough, Committee Member _________________________________________ Dr. David Wilson, Committee Member _________________________________________ Dr. Patricia R. Komuniecki, Dean College of Graduate Studies The University of Toledo May 2015 Copyright 2015, Steven David Schrag This document is copyrighted material. Under copyright law, no parts of this document may be reproduced without the expressed permission of the author. An Abstract of ASHCAN: Nazis, Generals and Bureaucrats as Guests at the Palace Hotel, Mondorf les Bains, Luxembourg, May- August 1945 by Steven David Schrag Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in History The University of Toledo May 2015 In the closing days of World War II the Allied Armies overran Germany. German government officials and local leaders, all Nazi Party members, left the people remaining in their cities and villages to deal with their new occupiers. The Allies needed to restore services, such as power, and make sure the people could be fed and sheltered. They also needed to round up German prisoners of war and suspected war criminals. Securing prisoners of war did not represent much of a problem, other than the sheer numbers of prisoners. Often, however, the war criminals proved difficult to locate. By the time the war ended on May 8 1945, many suspected war criminals had been captured by the Allies. The Allies started setting up special camps to house these men. One of these camps, named ASHCAN, first began in Spa, Belgium and later changed locations to the Palace Hotel in Mondorf les Bains, Luxembourg. This prison, known officially as Central Continental Prisoner of War Enclosure 32, held high value Nazis officials, government leaders and general staff officers. At this camp the interrogation team collected biographical information as well as information regarding how the Nazi government functioned. After about two months the Shuster Commission, a iii scholarly panel of men attempting to construct a history of the Third Reich, arrived at the camp, also gathered information. Neither the local interrogators nor the Shuster Commission attempted to gather information implicating any of these men in war crimes, instead focusing more on learning background information about what they did during the war. While a tremendous opportunity presented itself at ASHCAN, the International Military Tribunal did not question these men. Once the International Military Tribunal looked over the interrogations conducted at the camp, they declared the information as useless. In this dissertation, the author investigates ASHCAN to determine the failings of the camp. It describes who the Americans incarcerated at ASCHAN, how they lived, the treatment they received, and the interrogations they received. Further, this dissertation explains why the IMT did not participate more in the camp, and why the camp is, in general, viewed as a failure. iv Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. Larry Wilcox for his guidance, encouragement and tremendous patience throughout this process. I would also like to thank Dr. Roberto Padilla, II for continued encouragement and guidance while writing my dissertation. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Sherri Horner, for her love, support and occasional threats during the last five years. v Table of Contents Abstract iii Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vi List of Abbreviations xi I. Introduction 1 A. Historiography Essay 8 B. Outline 16 II. Chapter 2: The End of the War and Its Aftermath 19 A. The Creation of Military Government in Germany 23 B. De-Nazification 26 C. Displaced Persons 30 D. Concentration Camp Survivors 36 E. Recovered Allied Military Personnel 42 F. Soviet Prisoners of War 44 G. German Prisoners of War 46 H. Preparations for War Crimes Trials 49 I. Conclusion 56 III. Chapter 3: Life in ASHCAN 58 A. ASHCAN 59 B. Andrus and Guard Units vs. Interrogators 89 C. Prisoner Health 93 D. The Prison Communities 96 vi IV. Publicity 106 A. ASHCAN and the Press 106 B. Russian Impressions of ASHCAN 117 C. Guard Accounts 120 D. The Shuster Commission 121 V. Methods and Interrogations 129 A. Detailed Interrogation Reports at ASHCAN 138 B. Shuster Commission Interrogations 140 C. Office of the U.S. Chief Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality 141 D. The Interrogations 143 a. Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz 144 b. Hans Frank 147 c. Wilhelm Frick 149 d. Walther Funk 151 e. Hermann Goering 153 f. Alfred Jodl 156 g. Wilhelm Keitel 158 h. Robert Ley 160 i. Franz von Papen 161 j. Joachim von Ribbentrop 164 k. Alfred Rosenberg 166 l. Arthur Seyss-Inquart 169 m. Julius Streicher 171 vii E. Conclusion 172 VI. Conclusions 175 Nuremberg 175 Conclusions about ASHCAN 177 Appendix A: The Guests 188 Defendants at the IMT 189 a. Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz 190 b. Hans Frank 190 c. Wilhelm Frick 191 d. Walter Funk 192 e. Hermann Goering 193 f. Alfred Jodl 194 g. Wilhelm Keitel 195 h. Franz von Papen 196 i. Joachim von Ribbentrop 197 j. Alfred Rosenberg 198 k. Arthur Seyss-Inquart 199 l. Julius Streicher 200 B. Military Officers 201 a. Johannes Blaskowitz 201 b. Leopold Buerkner 202 c. Erich Dethleffsen 202 d. Ernst von Freyend 203 viii e. Albert Kesselring 203 f. Georg Lindemann 203 g. Walter Luedde-Neurath 204 h. Hermann Reinecke 204 i. Otto Salman 205 j. Gerhard Wagner 205 k. Walter Warlimont 205 C. Politicians 207 a. Hans Borchers 207 b. Nicolaus Horthy, Regent of Hungary 208 c. Otto Meissner 209 D. The Nazis 210 a. Ernst Bohle 210 b. Dr. Karl Brandt 210 c. Walter Buch 211 d. Kurt Deluege 212 e. Richard Walter Darre 213 f. Erwin Krauss 213 g. Friedrich Wilhelm Kritzinger 214 h. Hans Heinrich Lammers 214 i. Jakob Nagel 215 j. Philipp, Prince of Hesse 216 k. Hans Joachim Riecke 217 ix l. Franz Schwarz 218 m. Franz Xaver Schwarz 218 n. Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk 219 o. Franz Seldte 219 p. Baron von Steengracht von Moyland 220 q. Karl Stroehlin 221 r. Wilhelm Stuckart 222 s. Franz Ritter von Epp 223 t. Paul Wegener 224 u. Werner Zschintzsch 224 Appendix B: ASHCAN Prisoners Put on Trial by the Allies 226 A. International Military Tribunal 226 B. Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings 230 a. Doctor’s Trial 230 b. Ministries Trial 230 c. High Command Trial 232 d. Other Trials 232 Bibliography 234 x List of Abbreviations AGWAR Adjutant General War Department CA Civil Affairs CAD Civil Affairs Division CCPWE Central Continental Prisoner of War Enclosure CROWCASS Central Registry of War Criminals and Security Suspects CSDIC Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Center DIC Detailed Interrogation Center DP Displaced Person DPX Displaced Persons Executive EAC European Advisory Commission EDS Evaluation and Dissemination Section (G-2) ETOUSA European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army G-1 Personnel Section of a divisional or high staff G-2 Intelligence section JCS Joint Chiefs of Staff MG Military Government MMLA Mission Militaire de Liaison Administrative OMGUS Office of Military Government (U.S.) OSS Office of Strategic Services PWE Prisoner of War Enclosure RAMP Recovered Allied Military Personnel SA Sturmabteilung SCAEF Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force SHAEF Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force SS Schutzstaffel UNRRA United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration USFET United States Forces, European Theater xi Chapter One Introduction The end of World War II created a number of difficulties for the Allies. The United States became the first Allied country to occupy part of Germany in September 1944 when U.S. troops captured Roetgen. They soon discovered most of the Nazi leaders had fled, and no one seemed to be in charge, leaving the civilian population on its own. Behind the advancing Allied armies came Civil Affairs units to administer the villages and towns in occupied Germany. The Civil Affairs units began making sure the population had shelter, food and the restoration of power and water as soon as civilians could be found capable of doing the repairs or Army engineers had the time. The Americans were also concerned about civil unrest and the fear of Nazi Werewolf units terrorizing the towns, a concern that never really became an issue. Such activities in the area around Roetgen, and later Aachen, were the first American experience in controlling a part of Germany and remained the only examples for quite a while. Beginning in March 1945, and reaching a flood stage by early April, the American forces occupied large parts of western and central Germany. When these areas came under American control, the military needed to set up Civil Affairs detachments to run the cities and deal with an increasing number of German soldiers who surrendered and needed to put in prison camps. They also dealt with roads choked by German refugees fleeing to the west to escape Russian forces. The Americans and the British also began looking for suspected war criminals. Many of the war criminals tried to hide among the refugees and surrendered as soldiers in hopes of escaping at a later time. Anglo-American forces started rounding up any local Nazis who may not have fled and 1 making sure none remained in any position of authority. Civil Affairs detachments looked over lists provided by the Central Registry of War Criminals and Security Suspects (CROWCASS) to see if any suspected war criminals survived among the civilian population. The Allies searched for war criminals everywhere in occupied Germany.