Malmedy Massacre Trial - Trial

Trial

The trial – Case Number 6-24 (US vs. Valentin Bersin et al.) – was one of the Dachau Trials, which took place from May 16, 1946 to July 16, 1946. The defendants appeared before a military court of senior American commissioned Officers. The court functioned according to rules founded previously by the international military tribunal at the Nuremberg Trials.

The defendants were 75 former members of the Waffen SS, mostly from the 1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler". Highest in rank were General Sepp Dietrich, commander of the 6th SS Panzer Army, his chief of staff, General Fritz Krämer, Lieutenant General Hermann Priess, commander of the I SS Panzer Corps and Lieutenant Colonel Joachim Peiper, commander of the 1st SS Panzer Regiment - the core element of Kampfgruppe Peiper, which conducted the massacre.

The counts of indictment related to the alleged massacre of more than three hundred American prisoners of war "in the vicinity of Malmedy, Honsfeld, Büllingen, Ligneuville, Stoumont, La Gleize, Cheneux, Petit Thier, Trois Ponts, Stavelot, Wanne and Lutrebois", between December 16, 1944 and January 13, 1945 during the Battle of the Bulge, as well as the massacre of about one hundred Belgian civilians in the vicinity of Stavelot.

The defense was directed by Colonel Willis M. Everett Jr., a lawyer from Atlanta, assisted by other American and German lawyers. Everett had little or no experience in criminal law and was intimidated by having to defend 75 people on very short notice. The German lawyers, although experienced, were completely unfamiliar with the American military judicial system. The prosecution was led by Colonel Burton L Ellis.

The prosecution's evidence was based primarily on affidavits collected before the trial from the defendants and from witnesses. The prosecutors admitted that many statements had been obtained from the defendants by various ruses and tricks. These illegal procedures were not repudiated by the court despite repeated defense objections, and the affidavits were accepted when they accused the informant himself and co-defendants.

Six defendants, including Col. Peiper, complained to the court that they had been victims of physical violence or threats of violence meant to force them to provide extrajudicial confessions. Those in charge of the interrogations denied it and the court ignored the objections.

The defendants were invited to confirm the statements they had made under oath. After nine of them had taken the stand, it became obvious that they had accused fellow defendants to minimize their own roles. It was clear to Col. Everett that this would weaken the position of the defense. He persuaded the remaining defendants to give up their right to be heard by the court. Of the nine who testified, only three had cited mistreatment they had suffered.

For most of the accused, the defense showed that they either had not participated, or had done so by obeying a superior's orders.

The court ruled that all but one of the defendants were guilty in some degree. Forty-three were condemned to death by hanging; the rest were sentenced to from ten years to life in prison. Peiper was sentenced to death. Dietrich received a life sentence, Priess a sentence of 20 years imprisonment. Those sentenced to death requested to be executed by a firing squad, citing their military status; however, this was refused.

The court's deliberations were short, only a few minutes being devoted to each individual.