Leonhard Anselm Eichberger Signed Letter - Dachau

Leonhard Anselm Eichberger Signed Letter - Dachau
Document from Dachau concentration camp - itis from SS-Hauptscharfuhrer Leonard Anselm Eichberger.The content of this document is quite explosive and describes that aprisoner who is named was killed in a cursed attempt , it reads :SS chief sniper Dachau on 30.10.44EichbergerTo theHeadquartersK.L DachauRe: Report on prisoner Kwiatkowski, Josef, born on February 28, 2007, whowas shot while trying to escape.On October 30, 1944 I was informed by the post leader that the detaineeKwiatkowski, Josef, born February 28, 2007, was shot by his work detailwhile attempting to escape. I inspected the corpse and found three bulletholes in the chest area that came from the M.P. that were delivered by thepost leader.Occurrence of death: 10/30/44 at 6:20 p.m.Cause of death: Shot while trying to escape.EichbergerSS chief sniperLeonhard Anselm Eichberger (born January 22, 1915 - † May 29, 1946 inLandsberg am Lech ) was a German SS Hauptscharführer and report leader inthe Dachau concentration camp . After the end of the war, Eichberger was adefendant in the main Dachau trial and was executed as a war criminal .Eichberger joined the SS on April 1, 1935 . From November 1937 to June 1941he was a soldier in the Wehrmacht . In January 1943 he returned from thefront as a "war disabled" ( amputated left lower leg) and was posted to theDachau concentration camp, where he performed the function of a reportleader and worked in the administration of the protective custody campmanagement. His tasks initially included recording executions andquestioning political prisoners. From May 1944 until the concentration campwas liberated in April 1945, Eichberger was involved in the execution ofprisoners. According to their own information he shot five or six of the 90Soviet prisoners of war who were murdered in the second half of 1944.Eichberger also shot about 15 other prisoners in a statement made after theend of the war.After the end of the war, from November 15, 1945, Eichberger and 39 othermembers of the camp staff were accused in the main Dachau trial, which tookplace as part of the Dachau trials . The US Military Tribunal was chargedwith "violating the laws and customs of war" against civilians and prisonersof war alike. The term " common design " played a role within the indictment, the common plan for a crime played a central role: not only the individualacts of the concentration camp personnel were viewed as criminal, but theconcentration camp system itself. In the course of the preliminaryinvestigations it had proven difficult to assign individual crimes to theaccused, as the concentration camp inmates only partially survived, theirstatements lacked the necessary precision due to the traumatization and theyonly partially knew the names of the perpetrators.Eichberger's defense essentially relied on an alleged imperative to order .On December 13, 1945, all of the defendants were found guilty and Eichbergerand 35 other defendants were sentenced to death by the court . In thejudgment, Eichberger took part in interrogations and 150 to 200 executionsas well as the preparation of reports on executions as individual acts ofexcess. The judgment was confirmed on April 5, 1946 by theCommander-in-Chief of the American Armed Forces in Europe , who received arecommendation from a so-called "Review Board" of the army. A second reviewof Eichberger's case came to the conclusion that the death penalty wasjustified in view of the atrocities he committed voluntarily.The sentence was carried out on May 29, 1946 in the Landsberg War CrimesPrison .This Typed document from Dachau K.L. measures 145mm x 175mm