Hitler's Night and Fog Decree
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007465
"Nacht
und Nebel" ("Night and Fog") was the codename given to a decree of
December 7, 1941, issued by Adolf Hitler and signed by Field Marshall
Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of the German Armed Forces High Command
(Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, or OKW).
The decree directed that persons in occupied territories engaging in activities intended to undermine the security of German troops
were, upon capture, to be brought to Germany "by night and fog" for
trial by special courts, thus circumventing military procedure and
various conventions governing the treatment of prisoners. The code name
stemmed from Germany's most acclaimed poet and playwright, Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), who used the phrase to describe
clandestine actions often concealed by fog and the darkness of night.
During
the summer of 1941, a large number of German troops withdrew from
occupied France to participate in the invasion of the Soviet Union. At
the same time, the entry of the USSR into the war generated increased
Communist resistance activity throughout German-occupied Europe,
including France. Consequently, the number of efforts aimed against
occupation units and, in particular, acts of sabotage to destroy
communication lines, steadily increased. In response, German
counter-intelligence redoubled its labors, capturing large numbers of
resistance members and saboteurs. This in turn meant an increased number
of trials by overburdened military courts. In addition to a large
number of death sentences, these courts also handed down many prison
sentences.
Hitler believed that the process of managing
resistance and sabotage through the system of military justice was far
too cumbersome and often too lenient. He declared it to be an
ineffective means of suppressing resistance. Instead, he ordered
directives aimed at immediate, effective, and enduring intimidation of
the population. Keitel objected that it was impossible to sentence every
potential resister to death and that military courts would, in any
case, refuse to co-operate.
Hitler responded by dictating that
military courts would continue to adjudge those offences found
sufficiently grave to impose capital punishment without lengthy
proceedings. If not, suspected persons were to be brought to Germany,
where special courts would decide their fate. As a deterrence to local
resistance, the decree forbade these prisoners to have contact with
loved ones and family members in their homeland. Keitel's implementation
letter states that "efficient intimidation can only be achieved either
by capital punishment or by measures by which the relatives of the
criminal and the population do not know [the prisoner's] fate."
The
decree replaced the policy of long prison sentences, "re-education"
efforts, and the taking of hostages in order to suppress underground
activities. It allowed German authorities to abduct those individuals
"endangering German security" by night, so that they effectively
vanished without a trace. German authorities applied the decree
principally in German-occupied western Europe: Belgium, France,
Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands. German occupation
authorities and their collaborators arrested approximately 7, 000
individuals under the provisions of this decree, nearly 5,000 of them in
France.
After capture, interrogation, and, frequently, torture,
Night and Fog prisoners might face special courts (Sondergerichte)
which handed down death and prison sentences. After acquittal or the
termination of sentence, German authorities often transferred these
prisoners directly to concentration camps, typically to Gross-Rosen and
Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camps. Once registered in the
concentration camp, "Nacht und Nebel" ("Night and Fog") prisoners wore
uniform jackets marked with the acronym "N.N." to explicitly identify
their status. The death rate among "N.N" prisoners was very high .
On
July 30, 1944, Hitler issued the "Terror and Sabotage" decree that
expanded and extended the provisions of the "Night and Fog" decree. Now,
German authorities would treat all violent acts perpetrated by
non-German citizens in the occupied territories as acts of terror and
would transfer real and perceived offenders who were not summarily
executed to the custody of the Security Police and Security Service
(Sicherheitspolizei und SD). Within a month, Keitel extended the decree
to cover all persons endangering German interests by any means, even if
their actions did not endanger troop security or war preparedness.
Keitel
also ordered that these decrees were to be the subject of regular
"emphatic" instruction of all armed forces personnel, SS, and police.
Further, new regulations could be made by the agreement of armed forces
commanders and the SS leadership. In short, any offence by any person in
the occupied territories could be dealt with under these decrees.
And
with Panetta's testimony it is official. OWS was just a communication
by the elite to let us know that we are an occupied land where the
foreign enemy has hijacked our congress and forced them to implement
Hitler's Night and Fog decree.
Americans are lobotomized sheep by fluoridated water supply and a fear mongering news media just like German citizens were in the past.
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