. ©MAZAL LIBRARY

NMT04-T0570


. NUERNBERG MILITARY TRIBUNAL
Volume IV · Page 570
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to the Fuehrer Order, it is evident from all the testimony in the case that he went along quite willingly with it.

Before leaving the witness stand he stated that he would have been happy for Hitler to win the war even at the expense of its present condition with two million Germans killed, the nation in utter ruins, and all of Europe devastated. This statement has no bearing, of course, on the question of his guilt under counts one and two, but it is helpful in determining the state of mind as to whether he obeyed the so-called superior orders with a full heart or not.

The Tribunal finds from all the evidence that the defendant accepted the Fuehrer Order without reservation and that he executed it without truce. The Tribunal finds the defendant guilty under counts one and two of the indictment.

The Tribunal also finds that the defendant was a member of the criminal organizations SS and SD under conditions defined by the Judgment of the International Military Tribunal and is therefore guilty under count three of the indictment. 
   
   
LOTHAR FENDLER 
 
SS Major Fendler studied dentistry from 1932 to 1934 and served in the Wehrmacht from 1934 to 1936. He then joined the SD.

Fendler served in Sonderkommando 4b, Einsatzgruppe C, from May 1941 to 2 October 1941. During this time, the Sonderkommando was engaged, as all other Kommandos of the Einsatzgruppe, in the execution of the Fuehrer Order. The reports show that, during the time that Fendler was with the unit in question, many executions occurred, Report No. 24-IIA-81, NO-2938, Report No. 19-IIC-49, NO-2934, and Report No. 111-IIA-44, NO-3155.

Fendler denies participation in these executions, but he goes further and asserts complete ignorance of them. In fact, according to his story, he did not learn of the Fuehrer execution order until after he had severed all connections with the Sonderkommando.

Fendler submits that his work with the Kommando was restricted to department III and that he was concerned only with the gathering of information. Defendant after defendant has asserted that, in doing department III work, he was utterly ignorant of the functions performed by the other departments, but one cannot help but observe that department III did not operate within the confines of a high stone wall separating it from the rest of the Kommando. An Einsatzkommando in the

 
 
 
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