Denaturalization

• Author: International Law Group
• Pages: 45-48

Page 45

Josias Kumpf, an ethnic German (defendant), was born in Nova Pasova, Yugoslavia in April 1925. He had less than three years of schooling and passed most of his youth working on his father's farm. Germany invaded Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941. After the invasion, Germany started to conscript local ethnic Germans into its forces. For example, a drummer marched through defendant's town in October 1942, calling all young men to report for a health exam. After defendant's examination, German officials instructed him to report to the train station later that month.

Defendant obeyed and was taken to Oranienburg, Germany where he completed basic military training. There the Waffen Schutzstaffel, or armed protection guard, issued him a uniform, a rifle, a blood-type tattoo, and both the distinctive skull and the SS insignia to wear on his uniform. The Waffen SS was the paramilitary component of the Nazi Party and was separate from the German Army, the Wehrmacht. Although originally intended to serve as Hitler's bodyguards, by the outbreak of World War II, the SS had assumed responsibility for German state security and for the operation of the Nazi concentration camps.

After his training, defendant was assigned to what later became the SS Death's Head Guard Battalion Sachsenhausen. Defendant's duty was to stand armed guard over prisoners at Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp (SSC). As recounted in detail in United States v. Wittje, 422 F.3d 479, 482-83 (7th Cir.2005), the SS kept prisoners in hellish conditions, forced them to perform grueling labor, subjected them to medical experimentation, and sent many to execution.

Page 47

Defendant's duty was to watch over the prisoners from perimeter guard towers. If anyone tried to escape, defendant was to fire warning shots and, if necessary, to shoot the escaping prisoner. Defendant testified, however, that he had never faced such a situation. During his tenure at the SSC, defendant was paid, got leave to return to his home, and received one promotion.

In October 1943, defendant was one of 150 guards transferred from the SSC to the Trawniki Labor Camp (TLC) in German-occupied Poland. About 8,000 prisoners at TLC were executed in "Operation Harvest Festival" on November 3, 1943. The parties disagree as to whether defendant arrived at TLC before the massacre, but he admitted having guarded the pits after the executions to prevent any survivors from escaping.

Soon after the slaughter, the SS brought a...