'Great Escape' PoWs shot on Hitler's orders
Richard Norton-Taylor
Thursday April 20, 2000
The Guardian
The execution of 50 allied prisoners of war, most of them British, in 1944 - immortalised by the film the Great Escape - was personally ordered by Hitler against objections from senior officers in the German army, according to MI5 documents released today at the public record office.
They contain a graphic account of how Hitler and key figures in his high command, including Hermann Göering, head of the Luftwaffe, Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, and Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel ordered the captured escapers to be shot, dismissing out of hand suggestions it would be in breach of the Geneva convention.
Interrogated by British intelligence officers after the war, General Major Adolf Westhoff, the German officer responsible for prisoner welfare in the camps, described how an "excited and nervous" Keitel summoned him after the break-out of prisoners - including 76 RAF officers - from Stalag Luft III on the Polish-German border in March 1944.
"Gentlemen, this is a bad business," said Keitel who had been personally blamed by Göering in Himmler's presence. He added: "These escapees must be shot. We must set an example."
Keitel was told: "That's out of the question. Escape isn't a dishonourable offence. That is specially laid down in the convention."
According to Westhoff, Keitel replied: "I don't care a damn. We discussed it in the fuhrer's presence and it cannot be altered."
Westhoff told his interrogators that all those killed had been shot by police or Gestapo before his troops had even seen them. "We were faced with a fait accompli."
In his testimony, Westhoff spoke of the "honour" of British officers. He claimed he had told the Nazi leadership that "the English in particular only escape for the fun of it ... They have their escape committee in the camp. No one is allowed to escape without informing the escape committee."
He described how the bodies of the 50 prisoners shot by the Gestapo were burned and their ashes returned to the camp. "For the burial, the PoWs arranged with the protecting power that they should be allowed to erect a nice monument, which they made themselves," he said.
Westhoff said he chose not to tell his superiors about the monument, fearing it would "give rise to more difficulties".
Westhoff told his interrogators that Keitel gave detailed instructions for the publication of a list of names of the prisoners who were shot "as a warning".
He said Keitel himself "refused to put anything in writing". However, there was enough evidence against him for the judges at the Nuremberg war crimes trials to sentence him to death. Twenty-one members of the Gestapo involved in the shooting were tried and executed after the war.
The story of the escape was made into a film in 1963 starring Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, James Garner, Donald Pleasance, and James Coburn.
And I thought having a pirate in the family was bad..you win-Nazi's were definitly worse.
Hey,I have an idea. Lets make a website and write about our Nazi heritage so that everyone can read about it. And while we're at it we can display dad's knife collection.
Well, I could have told you that! I think your folks still have that 8 1/2 x 11 glossy of you dad in his Air Force uniform, and give me a call some time!
Christopher