Stogieman Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 Karl Zaumsiegel, cabinetmaker of Unterwirbach, received the Saxe-Meiningen War Merit Medal on Combatant Ribbon as a Pionier in 2nd Company/ Mortar (Minenwerfer) Battalion VII 12 October 1917. His entry in the Meiningen SMM Roll is completely struck out across all columns, with the “Remarks” column bearing notation “Eingezogen lt. Urteil des Sondergerichtes Weimar 21. Sept. 1944 (Se.?) 17.1.45.”— “Revoked per verdict of the Special Court, Weimar 21 Sept. 1944 (abbreviation illegible) 17.1.45.” The notorious Nazi “Special Courts,” particularly after the 20 July 1944 bomb plot, dispensed summary “justice” for “political” crimes in wartime ranging from treason to defeatist mutterings to black marketeering to … whatever the last ditch Nazi regime chose to charge reluctant Germans with. Without legal representation for defendants, death sentences—which could neither be appealed nor delayed—were routinely handed down. In over 15,000 entries for the SMM transcribed to date, there were 2 criminal revocations during the First World War, and 5 under the Third Reich. Zaumsegel’s is one of only two wartime Sondergericht convictions. With the singular “distinction” of being completely crossed out in the Roll pages, the terse “remarks” do not state that the Ultimate Penalty was applied, but the circumstantial evidence there seems to indicate that. Searching through the remaining approximately 8,000 awards of the SMM, the only other “Special Court” revocation found was for Erich Röser, draftsman of Schalkau, who received his SMM as a Musketier in the 5th Co./ Inf Rgt 135 on 4 February 1918. His “Remarks” column shows “Durch Urteil des Sondergerichtes Weimar v. 27.9. 1944 zum dauernde Verlust der Orden u. Ehrenzeichen verurteilt! (Abbreviations again indecipherable) 7.I. 1945”— “By verdict of the Special Court, Weimar of 27.9.1944 sentenced to lasting loss of orders and decorations!” Despite that emphatic January 1945 “!”, Röser’s name is not even scratched off. Possibly his awards were not actually available to be seized and returned to the indignant (geriatric Nazi?) archival clerk? Just imagine, as the Thousand Year Reich collapsed, enemy armies inside both the western and eastern borders, bombing going on around the clock… kangaroo courts had enough TIME to waste and fascist bureaucrats had nothing better to do than shuffle lethally “inconsequential” paperwork off to a remote FORMER government’s repository, whose 4-F and presumably elderly minion creaked through the dark, neglected storage shelves just in order to make forfeiture comments on medals bestowed on nonentities almost 30 years previously. Just imagine if the Third Reich had put more EFFORT into actual MILITARY DEFENSE measures!!! My thanks to Evil Ricky for posting this for me since I no longer have internet service. Rick Research Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 What happened to entries for Jewish recipients who either emigrated before 1939 or arrested in Germany after 1939? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hunyadi Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 It does seem odd - but life even in hell does go on I guess... its amazing to me to have a WW2 Hungarian tunic that was converted to post war M45 style with a makers tag of being delivered to the Quartermaster in Budapest just two days before the city fell... it does boggle the mind that there were still workers making dress tunics to deliver to the QM in a completely surrounded city. So in that mindset I guess it was worhtwhile to cross out names on a ranklist while B-24s were hammering your homeland... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saschaw Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 My thanks to Evil Ricky for posting this for me since I no longer have internet service. Rick Research Dito, and thanks to RR! Nice and interresting article, and nice again to read something from you/him... What happened to entries for Jewish recipients who either emigrated before 1939 or arrested in Germany after 1939? I guess nothing happened. If they emigrated, they were gone, and if worse happened... it happened without such a trial, so would not appear here. Anything else yet seen?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe campbell Posted May 8, 2010 Share Posted May 8, 2010 does the heart and blood GOOD to see a brief glimpse of the notorious and much-missed Ricky Ricardo!!!! as usual, it is a thought provoking topic. i'd GLADLY volunteer to be the squirrel running the wheel that drives the generator that powers the computer/Epson which brings you back on board... joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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