• Login
    View Item 
    •   Shocker Open Access Repository Home
    • Graduate Student Research
    • ETD: Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • Master's Theses
    • View Item
    •   Shocker Open Access Repository Home
    • Graduate Student Research
    • ETD: Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • Master's Theses
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Summary justice: the price of treason for eight World War II German prisoners of war

    View/Open
    t11038_Schock.pdf (645.2Kb)
    Date
    2011-05
    Author
    Schock, Mark P.
    Advisor
    Owens, Robert M.
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    This work is the story of the murder of Werner Drechsler, a German Navy prisoner of war, at the POW camp in Papago Park, Arizona in March 1944. Drechsler had aided his American captors in trying to glean military information from other German Navy POWs at the Fort Hunt, Virginia interrogation center. He was recognized almost immediately upon his arrival at Papago Park, and was murdered the very night he arrived. His killers were also German Navy POWs, whose identity was unknown until a special U. S. Army investigatory board uncovered their identities. Questions remain as to the methods employed by investigators, working on the periphery of that board, to eventually acquire confessions from the seven men responsible for Drechsler’s death. Opinions vary as to the fairness of the court martial which condemned these men to death for their part in the murder. Opinions likewise vary as to the level of culpability of the U. S. Army for Drechsler’s death. The National Archives possesses thousands of pages of documents relating to Drechsler’s activities at Fort Hunt, the reaction of both the German POWS at Papago Park and the U.S. Army to the murder, and to the investigation into the killing. The U. S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals holds the trial transcript and related papers. These documents are often confusing and contradictory. An examination into these sources reveals allegations of coercion employed to gain the confessions, which constitute the only evidence presented against the accused seven men. The sources also reveal that U.S. Army personnel could, and probably should, have prevented the killing from ever taking place. Ultimately, they reveal yet another tragedy of war.
    Description
    Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of History.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10057/3974
    Collections
    • HIS Theses
    • LAS Theses and Dissertations
    • Master's Theses

    Browse

    All of Shocker Open Access RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsBy TypeThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsBy Type

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2023  DuraSpace
    DSpace Express is a service operated by 
    Atmire NV