Photograph

OMGUS MILITARY TRIBUNAL - Case 3, Nurnberg, Germany OMT-III-D-53

1946-1948

Flanked by two U.S. Army guards, the defendant Wilhelm von Ammon stands at attention in the main courtroom of the Palace of Justice, Nurnberg, as he hears the Tribunal pronounce sentence of ten years imprisonment. In the Reich Ministry of Justice, von Ammon was in charge of the "Night and Fog" decree, under which nationals of the Nazi occupied countries were brought into Germany for trial on racial, political, or religious reasons in most instances. The defendants usually did not know the charges against them until their actual trial and, without time to prepare their defense, frequently received the death sentence. This was a part of the Nazi plan to eliminate "non-aryans". Because von Ammon knew of the systematic abuse of the judicial process in these cases, he was found guilty under counts two and three of the indictment charging him with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Although a member of the SA from 1922 and the NSDAP from 1937 until the end, he was not found guilty under count four which charged him with belonging to a criminal organization.

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OMGUS MILITARY TRIBUNAL - Case 3, Nurnberg, Germany OMT-III-D-53 / Flanked by two U.S. Army guards, the defendant Wilhelm von Ammon stands at attention in the main courtroom of the Palace of Justice, Nurnberg, as he hears the Tribunal pronounce sentence of ten years imprisonment. In the Reich Ministry of Justice, von Ammon was in charge of the "Night and Fog" decree, under which nationals of the Nazi occupied countries were brought into Germany for trial on racial, political, or religious reasons in most instances. The defendants usually did not know the charges against them until their actual trial and, without time to prepare their defense, frequently received the death sentence. This was a part of the Nazi plan to eliminate "non-aryans". Because von Ammon knew of the systematic abuse of the judicial process in these cases, he was found guilty under counts two and three of the indictment charging him with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Although a member of the SA from 1922 and the NSDAP from 1937 until the end, he was not found guilty under count four which charged him with belonging to a criminal organization.

Archive ID: olvwork376071

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