Wormhoudt Massacre - Legacy

Legacy

The Waffen-SS-Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler was under the overall command of Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich. It was alleged from post-war testimony that it was specifically soldiers of the 2nd Battalion under the command of then Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Mohnke that carried out the atrocity. However, Mohnke never had to face a trial for any alleged part in the war crimes based on these hors de combat killings. Mohnke strongly denied the accusations against him, telling historian Thomas Fischer, "I issued no orders not to take English prisoners or to execute prisoners." Mohnke died in August 2001.

In 1947, a number of survivors of the massacre returned to the scene accompanied by officials from the War Crimes Interrogation Unit, following investigations undertaken by the office of the Judge Advocate General. It proved impossible to construct a sufficiently strong case to bring prosecutions. A number of alleged key witnesses were reported to have died on the Eastern Front, while others invoked the "SS Oath" and refused to talk.

In 1988, after a campaign by British MP Jeff Rooker, the case was reopened but a German prosecutor came to the conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to bring charges.

The incident was re-enacted in the 2004 BBC television docudrama Dunkirk.