. NMT04-T0559
Volume IV · Page 559
| argument advanced throughout the trial in
behalf of the various defendants, that a member of the German Armed Forces
could protest a superior order and not be shot in consequence. Though it is
true the defendant suffered some inconveniences because of his unwillingness to
shoot the people of Duesseldorf, he was not shot or even degraded. From all the evidence in the case the Tribunal finds that the defendant is guilty under counts one and two of the indictment. The Tribunal also finds the defendant was a member of the criminal organizations SS, SD, and Gestapo under the conditions defined by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal and is, therefore, guilty under count three of the indictment. |
| ADOLF OTT |
| SS Lieutenant Adolf Ott began his career in
an administrative office of the German workers front in Lindau. He joined the
NSDAP in 1922 and became a member of the SS in 1931. In 1935 he entered the
security service. There are no complications about the case of Adolf Ott, except perhaps the meaning he intended to give to the word "execution". In his pre-trial affidavit he said that his Kommando carried out 80 to 100 executions. At the trial he stated that, by the word execution, he meant the death of but one person. The context of the affidavit would logically convey a contrary view because, immediately after speaking of the "80 to 100 executions", he says, "I remember one execution which took place in the vicinity of Bryansk", and he then proceeds to describe this execution which involved "corpses". The affidavit also says that the valuables collected from "these people" were sent to Einsatzgruppe B. The whole purport and tenor of this affidavit are to the effect that the word "execution" is used in the sense of a multiple killing. However, for the purposes of the ascertainment of guilt or innocence it matters little whether, by "80 to 100 executions", Ott meant the killing of only 80 to 100 people or a multiple of 80 to 100, which multiple, in view of the evidence in this case, would increase the number of the slain to many hundreds at the very least. According to his affidavit, Ott was assigned to Sonderkommando 7b on 15 February 1942 and, according to his testimony in Court, he arrived at the headquarters of the Kommando in Bryansk on 19 February. He asserted, however, at the trial that he did not actually take over the leadership of the unit until about the middle of March. It is the contention of the prosecution that Ott testifyingly delayed his chiefship of the Kommando until |
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