Nuremberg - Intro

Miscellaneous Ship Histories

Athenia (II)

The Nuremberg Trials

Introduction

My interest in the Nuremberg Trials started the day my parents told me that I was born at exactly the time when the major German war criminals sentenced to death at Nuremberg were hanged.

Until starting this account, I had only seen brief film excerpts of the trials but I have recently been exploring the transcripts and evidence presented thanks to a number of excellent websites that have made them available online. The two I have used mainly are the Nizkor website - Ext Ref. 6 and Yale Law School’s Avalon Project - Ext Ref 7.

So far in this account of Athenia (II) we have looked at contemporary press reports of how the sinking came about. The rest of this site explores the information that came to light before and during the trials, and how the sinking of Athenia (II) was handled in the trials.

The people who really knew what happened to Athenia (II) were:

· The officers and crew of German submarine U-30

· The commanders of the German Navy:

· Erich Raeder: Grand Admiral (Großadmiral) of the German Navy from 1 April 1939

· Karl Dönitz, Commander of the Submarines from 1936 and successor to Raeder as Grand Admiral in 1943

Documents unearthed in the preparations of evidence referred to in the trials brought a lot of new information to light and this will be presented.

Although we are mostly interested in Doenitz and Raeder and the relevance of their indictments to Athenia (II), I recommend anyone unfamiliar with the trails to follow the links provided below and read the indictments in their entirety to understand the sheer enormity of the charges brought against the surviving Nazi leaders and why these trials were arranged.

The Indictments

The table below lists those tried at Nuremburg and their roles in the Nazi government. All were present at the trial apart from Ley who committed suicide, Krupp who was seriously ill, and Bormann who was tried in his absence.

The Indictments

All of the above were indicted on each of the following counts:

Count 1: The common plan or conspiracy

All the defendants, with divers other persons, during a period of years preceding 8th May, 1945, participated as leaders', organisers, instigators or accomplices in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit, or which involved the commission of, Crimes against Peace, War Crimes, and Crimes against Humanity.

The full text of the indictment on Count 1 is reproduced HERE.

Count 2: Crimes against peace

All the defendants with divers other persons, during a period of years preceding 8 May 1945, participated in the planning, preparation, initiation, and waging of wars of aggression, which were also wars in violation of international treaties, agreements, and assurances.

The full text of the indictment on Count 2 is reproduced HERE.

Count 3: War Crimes

All the defendants committed War Crimes between 1 September 1939 and 8 May 1945, in Germany and in all those countries and territories occupied by the German Armed Forces since 1 September 1939, and in Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Italy, and on the High Seas.

The full text of the indictment on Count 3 is reproduced HERE.

Count 4: Crimes against Humanity

All the defendants committed Crimes against Humanity during a period of years preceding 8 May 1945 in Germany and in all those countries and territories occupied by the German armed forces since 1 September 1939 and in Austria and Czechoslovakia and in Italy and on the High Seas.

The full text of the indictment on Count 4 is reproduced HERE.

Govan to Nuremberg - the History of Athenia (2)

Name	Role
Hermann Wilhelm	A member of the Nazi Party, Supreme Leader of the SA, General in the SS, a member and President of the Reichstag, Minister of the Interior of Prussia, Chief of the Prussian Police and Prussian Secret State Police, Chief of the Prussian State Council, Trustee of the Four Year Plan, Reich Minister for Air, Commander-in-Chief of the Air; Force, President of the Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich, member of the Secret Cabinet Council, head of the Hermann Goering Industrial Combine, and Successor Designate to Hitler.
Rudolf Hess	A member of the Nazi Party, Deputy to the Fuehrer, Reich Minister without Portfolio, member of the Reichstag, member of the Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich, member of the Secret Cabinet Council, Successor Designate to the Fuehrer after the Defendant Goering, a General in the SS and a General in the SA.
Joachim von Ribbentrop	A member of the Nazi Party, a member of the Nazi Reichstag, Advisor to the Fuehrer on matters of foreign policy, representative of the Nazi Party for matters of foreign policy, special German delegate for disarmament questions, Ambassador Extraordinary, Ambassador in London, organizer and director of Dienststelle Ribbentrop, Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs, member of the Secret Cabinet Council member of the Fuehrer's political staff at general headquarters, and General in the SS.
Robert Ley	A member of the Nazi Party, Reichsleiter, Nazi Party Organization Manager, member of the Reichstag, leader of the German Labor Front, a General in the SA, and Joint Organizer of the Central Inspection for the Care of Foreign Workers.
Wilhelm Keitel	Chief of the High Command of the German Armed Forces, member of the Secret Cabinet Council, member of the Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich, and Field Marshal.
Ernst Kaltenbrunner	A member of the Nazi Party, a General in the SS, a member of the Reichstag, a General of the Police, State Secretary for Security in Austria in charge of the Austrian Police, Police Leader of Vienna, Lower and Upper Austria, Head of the Reich Main Security Office, and Chief of the Security Police and Security Service.
Alfred Rosenberg	A member of the Nazi Party, Nazi member of the Reichstag, Reichsleiter in the Nazi Party for Ideology and Foreign Policy, the editor of the Nazi newspaper Volkischer Beobachter and of the NS Monatshefte, head of the Foreign Political Office of the Nazi Party, Special Delegate for the entire Spiritual and Ideological Training of the Nazi Party, Reich Minister for the Eastern Occupied Territories, organizer of the "Einsatzstab Rosenberg", a General in the SS and a General in the SA.
Hans Frank	A member of the Nazi Party, a General in the SS, a member of the Reichstag, Reich Minister without Portfolio, Reich Commissar for the Coordination of Justice, President of the International Chamber of Law and Academy of German Law, Chief of the Civil Administration of Lodz, Supreme Administrative Chief of the military district of West Prussia, Poznan, Lodz and Krakow, and Governor General of the occupied Polish territories.
Wilhelm Frick	A member of the Nazi Party, Reichsleiter, General in the SS, member of the Reichstag, Reich Minister of the Interior, Prussian Minister of the Interior, Reich Director of Elections, General Plenipotentiary for the Administration of the Reich, head of the Central Office for the Reunification of Austria and the German Reich, Director of the Central Office for the Incorporation of Sudetenland, Memel, Danzig, the eastern incorporated territories, Eupen, Malmedy, and Moresnet, Director of the Central Office for the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the Governor General of Lower Styria, Upper Carinthia, Norway, Alsace, Lorraine and all other occupied territories and Reich Protector for Bohemia and Moravia.
Julius Streicher	A member of the Nazi Party, a member of the Reichstag, a General in the SA, Gauleiter of Franconia, editor-in-chief of the anti-Semitic newspaper Der Sturmer.
Walter Funk	A member of the Nazi Party, Economic Adviser of Hitler, National Socialist Deputy to the Reichstag, Press Chief of the Reich Government, State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Reich Minister of Economics, Prussian Minister of Economics, President of the German Reichsbank, Plenipotentiary for Economy, and member of the Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich.
Hjalmar Schacht	A member of the Nazi Party, a member of the Reichstag, Reich Minister of Economics, Reich Minister without Portfolio and President of the German Reichsbank.
Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach	Head of Friedrich KRUPP A.G., a member of the General Economic Council, President of the Reich Union of German Industry, and head of the Group for Mining and Production of Iron and Metals under the Reich Ministry of Economics.
Karl Döenitz	Commanding Officer of the Weddigen U-boat flotilla, Commander-in-Chief of the U-boat arm, Vice-Admiral, Admiral, Grossadmiral and Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy, Advisor to Hitler, and Successor to Hitler as head of the German Government.
Erich Raeder	Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy, Generaladmiral, Grossadmiral, Admiralinspekteur of the German Navy, and a member of the Secret Cabinet Council.
Baldur von Schirach	A member of the Nazi Party, a member of the Reichstag, Reich Youth Leader on the Staff of the SA Supreme Command, Reichsleiter in the Nazi Party for Youth Education, Leader of Youth of the German Reich, head of the Hitler Jugend, Reich Defense Commissioner and Reichsstatthalter and Gauleiter of Vienna.
Fritz Sauckel	A member of the Nazi Party, Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of Thuringia, a member of the Reichstag, General Plenipotentiary for the Employment of Labor under the Four Year Plan, Joint Organizer with the Defendant Ley of the Central Inspection for the Care of Foreign Workers, a General in the SS and a General in the SA.
Alfred Jodl	Lt. Colonel, Army Operations Department of the Wehrtmacht, Colonel, Chief of (OKW Operations Department, Major-General, Chief of Staff OKW and Colonel-General.
Martin Bormann	A member of the Nazi Party, member of the Reichstag, a member of the Staff of the Supreme Command of the SA, founder and head of "Hilfskasse der NSDAP, Reichsleiter, Chief of Staff Office of the Fuehrer's Deputy, head of the Party Chancery, Secretary of the Fuehrer, member of the Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich, organizer and head of the Volkssturm, a General in the SS and a General in the SA.
Franz von Papen	A member of the Nazi Party, a member of the Reichstag, Reich Chancellor, Vice Chancellor under Hitler, special Plenipotentiary for the Saar, negotiator of the Concordat with the Vatican, Ambassador in Vienna and Ambassador in Turkey.
Arthur Seyss-Inquart	A member of the Nazi Party, a General in the SS, State Councillor of Austria, Minister of the Interior and Security of Austria, Chancellor of Austria, a member of the Reichstag, a member of the Reich Cabinet, Reich Minister without Portfolio, Chief of the Civil Administration in South Poland, Deputy Governor-General of the Polish Occupied Territory, and Reich Commissar for the Occupied Netherlands.
Albert Speer	A member of the Nazi Party, Reichsleiter, member of the Reichstag, Reich Minister for Armament and Munitions, Chief of the Organization Todt, General Plenipotentiary for Armaments in the Office of the Four Year Plan, and Chairman of the Armaments Council.
Constantin von Neurath	A member of the Nazi Party, a General in the SS, a member of the , Reichstag, Reich Minister, Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs, President of the Secret Cabinet Council, and Reich Protector for Bohemia and Moravia.
Hans Fritzsche	A member of the Nazi Party, editor-in-chief of the official German news agency, "Deutsche Nachrichten Buro", head of the Wireless News Service and of the Home Press Division of the Reich Ministry of Propaganda, Ministerialdirektor of the Reich Ministry of Propaganda, head of the Radio Division of the Propaganda Department of the Nazi Party, and Plenipotentiary for the Political Organization of the Greater German Radio.