How did this high profile SS commander seemingly get off so easily while others were executed or sentenced to prison for many years? Max went on to be a plant manager and lived a full life. From everything I read he seemed like a good person but it seems others had to suffer much more than what he did considering how close he was to Hitler I am shocked he did not suffer more than what he did. I read somewhere that when he was first captured they kept him in a cage.
What is it that he did which would deem it necessary to punish him? He was Hitler's adjutant as was Max Gunsche and Joachim Peiper but how should that be a criminal offense?
I'm not saying he did anything. It just seems that they were very hard on many of the SS men but he seemingly did not suffer much. Like I mentioned based on what I have read about him he seemed like a good person. For the most part Peiper did not seem so bad either.
At war's end, all Waffen SS officers were incarcerated pending investigations from supposedly all allied nations. Those that were found to have participated in any war crimes were held for trial. Those who did not were released to regular POW camps and later released. Those officers who were of 'special' value were held longer. As the relationship with the Soviets began to cool, prisoner exchanges were curtailed. I believe Max Wunsche was held at Dachau along with other officers of the 12 SS while investigations were conducted behind the division's war crimes in the West.
To be honest I think the really bad guys got away "really easy", at least in the west. Don´t know about the eastern front as there are no records ( or so I tend to think ) about the nazi criminals. In the west there were no name lists or search parties, so I guess it was the easiest way to blame the soldiers, they at least had a uniform on. I am not saying they were all blameless or the kind, but the big local bosses etc got away because nobody was looking for them. Some months after the war the system started to track them down but many had gone through Italy etc to South America and other nations welcoming them, but mostly I believe they went to South America. That´s who you should look for, the men behind the machine.
Totally agree. Especially those who were of intelligence value to the allies and scientists. Take von Braun and Speer. Their knowledge/use of slave labor to complete their projects alone should have sent them to the gallows. also those Gestapo agents and intel officers with knowledge of the communists.
