DO NOT FORGET
In two days in August 1944, the units of Reinefarth and SS-Oberführer Oskar Dirlewanger executed approximately 60,000 civilian inhabitants of Warsaw in what is now known as the Wola Massacre. In one of his reports to the commander of the German 9th Army Reinefarth stated that "we have more prisoners than ammunition to kill them".[1] After securing the Wola area, his troops took part in heavy fighting against the Armia Krajowa in the Old Town.
In September, his forces were transferred to attack the boroughs of Powiśle and Czerniaków, where they committed further atrocities, including killing of POWs and wounded found in military hospitals. In all 150,000–200,000 Polish civilians were killed during the uprising. For his actions during the Warsaw Uprising Reinefarth was awarded the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on September 30, 1944. After World War II, the Polish authorities demanded his extradition. However, the British and American authorities of occupied Germany decided that Reinefarth could be useful as a witness at the Nuremberg Trial. After the trials, he was arrested for war crimes, but the local court in Hamburg released him shortly afterwards on the grounds of purported lack of evidence. West Germany ruled that depositions were not sufficient to secure his conviction, and also, that genocide was not in the criminal code of Nazi Germany and therefore, would not be applied retroactively.
In September, his forces were transferred to attack the boroughs of Powiśle and Czerniaków, where they committed further atrocities, including killing of POWs and wounded found in military hospitals. In all 150,000–200,000 Polish civilians were killed during the uprising. For his actions during the Warsaw Uprising Reinefarth was awarded the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on September 30, 1944. After World War II, the Polish authorities demanded his extradition. However, the British and American authorities of occupied Germany decided that Reinefarth could be useful as a witness at the Nuremberg Trial. After the trials, he was arrested for war crimes, but the local court in Hamburg released him shortly afterwards on the grounds of purported lack of evidence. West Germany ruled that depositions were not sufficient to secure his conviction, and also, that genocide was not in the criminal code of Nazi Germany and therefore, would not be applied retroactively.
Reinefarth went on to live a normal life similar to other war criminals and Holocaust perpetrators living in West Germany including SS-Obersturmführer Arnold Strippel from Majdanek concentration camp, and Oberscharführer Fiedler from Chełmno extermination camp. In December 1951, he was elected Mayor of the town of Westerland, the main town on the island of Sylt. In 1962, he was elected to the parliament (Landtag) of Schleswig-Holstein. After his term ended in 1967, he worked as a lawyer. Despite numerous demands by Poland, he was not extradited. Since the German courts had ruled that there was no evidence of him committing any crimes, he was considered not guilty in the eyes of the law and the federal government. He received a General's pension upon retirement. He died on 7 May 1979 in his mansion on Sylt.
(From Wikipedia)
(From Wikipedia)
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