Einsatzgruppen Trial
Paul Blobel was charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes and membership in a criminal organisation in the Nuremberg Einsatzgruppen Trial (Case 9 of the Nuremberg Succession Trials).
In detail, Paul Blobel was accused of being responsible for the murder of around 60,000 people between June 1941 and January 1942.1 When asked about the murders of Jews, Blobel said the following:
SS Standartenführer Paul Blobel
"I always used rather large firing squads, as I refused to use men who were specialists in neck shots. Each squad shot for about an hour and was then relieved. The people who were still to be shot were gathered near the place of execution and guarded by members of those groups who were not taking part in the shootings at the moment "2 and "[...] that our men who took part were more down with nerves than those who had to be shot there."3
In the further course of the interrogation, Blobel described the course of an execution:
"Of the total number of persons scheduled for execution, fifteen men at a time were led to the edge of the mass grave, where they were made to kneel, facing the grave. When the men were ready for execution, one of my leaders, who was in charge of this firing squad, gave the order to shoot. Since they knelt at the edge of the mass grave, the victims usually fell immediately into the mass grave."4
Blobel pleaded "innocent"
In his defence, Blobel, who saw himself in the role of a dutiful soldier, referred to the Hague Convention on Land Warfare:5
"The executions of agents, partisans, saboteurs, suspects engaged in espionage and sabotage, and those who were detrimental to the German army were, in my opinion, entirely in accordance with the Hague Convention."6
He also stated that under his leadership the Sonderkommando 4a had shot not 60,000 but only 15,000 people. According to Blobel, the victims had resigned themselves to their fate without resistance.7
Accused at the Nuremberg Einsatzgruppen Trial in 1947
Paul Blobel, who had pleaded innocent, was found guilty of all three charges against him and sentenced to death on 10 April 1948.
On 7 June 1951, Paul Blobel was hanged in Landsberg am Lech prison.
"Now discipline and loyalty have brought me to the gallows."
"I die believing in my people. May the German people be aware of their enemies!"
were the last words of Blobel, who was described as a "brutal drunkard" by members of the "Sonderkommando 1005".8
Responsible for content: Frank Wobig
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1 Cf. Trials of War Criminals, pp. 526-529.
2 Cf. Musmanno, The Eichmann Kommandos, p. 157.
3 Trials of War Criminals, pp. 526-529.
4 Musmanno, The Eichmann Kommandos, p. 157.
5 Cf. Trials of War Criminals, pp. 526-529.
6 Musmanno, The Eichmann Kommandos, p. 153.
7 Cf. ibid.
8 Cf. Klee, Paul Blobel, in: Das Personen Lexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945, S.53 sowie: Time, Germany, Case Closed, 18 June 1951. URL: http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814963,00.html. [Accessed 30 September 2021].