Operation Silbertanne
Encyclopedia
Operation Silbertanne was the codename of a series of murders taking place between September 1943 and September 1944 during the German occupation of the Netherlands. The assassinations were carried out by a death squad
composed of Dutch members of the SS
and Dutch veterans of the Eastern Front
.
. In this they had the support of various German
officers. As a result of the attacks the SS and Police Leader
for the Netherlands, Hanns Albin Rauter
, gave order to retaliate by assassinating civilians presumed to be in some way connected to the resistance or to be orange-minded, meaning Dutch patriots, or anti-German. The task of perpetrating the killings was first assigned to especially formed death squads, though killings were later carried out exclusively by Sonderkommando Feldmeijer
, a special unit consisting of 15 SS-members. The first killings took place in autumn 1943 in Meppel
and Staphorst
.
Within a year more than 54 Dutchmen had been murdered or severely wounded.
One of the most prominent victims of Operation Silbertanne was Dutch writer A. M. de Jong, who was killed in October 1943.
The leader of the Dutch Nazis
, Anton Mussert
was opposed to Operation Silbertanne, and when in autumn 1944 SS Brigadeführer
Karl Eberhard Schöngarth
, head of SiPo
and SD
, was informed of these retaliatory killings he had them terminated in September 1944.
Some of the most notorious Dutch war criminals
participated in Operation Silbertanne: Heinrich Boere
, Maarten Kuiper, Sander Borgers, Klaas Carel Faber
, his brother Pieter Johan Faber, Daniel Bernard and Lambertus van Gog.
some of the members of the death squad and those responsible for giving the orders were put on trial. Henk Feldmeijer was killed in February 1945. Maarten Kuiper and Pieter Johan Faber were executed in 1948. Hanns Albin Rauter was sentenced to death and executed in 1949. Others, however, managed to flee the country and went into hiding outside the Netherlands. Sander Borgers died in 1985 at the age of 67 in Haren
, Germany
. Klaas Carel Faber still lives in the Bavaria
n city of Ingolstadt
. In July 2009 it was reported that the German government wanted to prosecute Faber after all. Daniel Bernhard died in 1962. Lambertus van Gog fled to Spain but was extradited to the Netherlands in 1978. Heinrich Boere, who has been living for decades in Germany, was found fit to stand trial for the murders committed between 1943 and 1944, by the Provincial Court of Appeal in Cologne
on 7 July 2009, and subsequently was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in March 2010.
Death squad
A death squad is an armed military, police, insurgent, or terrorist squad that conducts extrajudicial killings, assassinations, and forced disappearances of persons as part of a war, insurgency or terror campaign...
composed of Dutch members of the SS
Nederlandsche SS
The Nederlandsche SS was formed on September 11, 1940. On November 1, 1942 the name was changed to Germaansche SS in Nederland . The Nederlandsche SS in total counted circa 7,000 members and was primarily a political formation. In addition it served as a reservoir for the Waffen-SS...
and Dutch veterans of the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
.
Activity
Operation Silbertanne was intended as reprisal for the attacks made on predominantly Dutch collaborators and German occupational forces by the Dutch resistanceDutch resistance
Dutch resistance to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II can be mainly characterized by its prominent non-violence, summitting in over 300,000 people in hiding in the autumn of 1944, tended to by some 60,000 to 200,000 illegal landlords and caretakers and tolerated knowingly...
. In this they had the support of various German
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
officers. As a result of the attacks the SS and Police Leader
SS and Police Leader
SS and Police Leader was a title for senior Nazi officials that commanded large units of the SS, of Gestapo and of the regular German police during and prior to World War II.Three levels of subordination were established for bearers of this title:...
for the Netherlands, Hanns Albin Rauter
Hanns Albin Rauter
Johann Baptist Albin Rauter was a high-ranking Austrian Nazi war criminal. He was the highest SS and Police Leader in the occupied Netherlands and therefore the leading security and police officer there during the period of 1940-1945...
, gave order to retaliate by assassinating civilians presumed to be in some way connected to the resistance or to be orange-minded, meaning Dutch patriots, or anti-German. The task of perpetrating the killings was first assigned to especially formed death squads, though killings were later carried out exclusively by Sonderkommando Feldmeijer
Henk Feldmeijer
Johannes Hendrik Feldmeijer was a Dutch National Socialist politician and a member of the NSB.-Early years:...
, a special unit consisting of 15 SS-members. The first killings took place in autumn 1943 in Meppel
Meppel
Meppel is a municipality and a city in the northeast of the Netherlands, in the south-west of the province Drenthe.It developed in the 16th century as a transport and distribution inland harbour for turf...
and Staphorst
Staphorst
Staphorst is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands.-History:The villages of Staphorst and its southern neighbour Rouveen came into existence as in the 13th century monks started to bring the bogs and swamps into culture. All the farms were built along the long road through the bog...
.
Within a year more than 54 Dutchmen had been murdered or severely wounded.
One of the most prominent victims of Operation Silbertanne was Dutch writer A. M. de Jong, who was killed in October 1943.
The leader of the Dutch Nazis
National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands
The National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands was a Dutch fascist and later national socialist political party. As a parliamentary party participating in legislative elections, the NSB had some success during the 1930s...
, Anton Mussert
Anton Mussert
Anton Adriaan Mussert was one of the founders of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands and its de jure leader. As such, he was the most prominent national socialist in the Netherlands before and during the Second World War...
was opposed to Operation Silbertanne, and when in autumn 1944 SS Brigadeführer
Brigadeführer
SS-Brigadeführer was an SS rank that was used in Nazi Germany between the years of 1932 and 1945. Brigadeführer was also an SA rank....
Karl Eberhard Schöngarth
Karl Eberhard Schöngarth
Eberhard Karl Schöngarth was a German Nazi, appointed SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei on Himmler’s orders in 1943. He was a war criminal who perpetrated mass murder and genocide in occupied Poland during the Holocaust.Schöngarth was born in Leipzig, Saxony...
, head of SiPo
Sicherheitspolizei
The Sicherheitspolizei , often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Nazi Germany to describe the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the combined forces of the Gestapo and the Kripo between 1936 and 1939...
and SD
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
, was informed of these retaliatory killings he had them terminated in September 1944.
Some of the most notorious Dutch war criminals
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
participated in Operation Silbertanne: Heinrich Boere
Heinrich Boere
Heinrich Boere is a convicted German-Dutch war criminal and former member of the Waffen-SS.-Early life:Boere was born in Eschweiler, Germany, to a Dutch father and a German mother, but his parents moved to Maastricht when he was two years old. He volunteered for the Waffen-SS in September 1940,...
, Maarten Kuiper, Sander Borgers, Klaas Carel Faber
Klaas Carel Faber
Klaas Carel Faber , is a convicted Dutch-German war criminal. He is the son of Pieter Faber and Carolina Josephine Henriëtte Bakker, and the brother of Pieter Johan Faber, who was executed for war crimes in 1948....
, his brother Pieter Johan Faber, Daniel Bernard and Lambertus van Gog.
Prosecution
After the warWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
some of the members of the death squad and those responsible for giving the orders were put on trial. Henk Feldmeijer was killed in February 1945. Maarten Kuiper and Pieter Johan Faber were executed in 1948. Hanns Albin Rauter was sentenced to death and executed in 1949. Others, however, managed to flee the country and went into hiding outside the Netherlands. Sander Borgers died in 1985 at the age of 67 in Haren
Haren, Germany
- History :Haren was first mentioned in the Middle Ages in a registry of the Corvey Abbey. Around 1150 the settlement of Neuharen was founded, while the nearby Altharen formed around a local castle, belonging to the bishop of Munster, who bought it around 1252 from Duchess Jutta von Ravensberg...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Klaas Carel Faber still lives in the Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n city of Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt is a city in the Free State of Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is located along the banks of the Danube River, in the center of Bavaria. As at 31 March 2011, Ingolstadt had 125.407 residents...
. In July 2009 it was reported that the German government wanted to prosecute Faber after all. Daniel Bernhard died in 1962. Lambertus van Gog fled to Spain but was extradited to the Netherlands in 1978. Heinrich Boere, who has been living for decades in Germany, was found fit to stand trial for the murders committed between 1943 and 1944, by the Provincial Court of Appeal in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
on 7 July 2009, and subsequently was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in March 2010.
See also
- Dutch resistanceDutch resistanceDutch resistance to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II can be mainly characterized by its prominent non-violence, summitting in over 300,000 people in hiding in the autumn of 1944, tended to by some 60,000 to 200,000 illegal landlords and caretakers and tolerated knowingly...
- Dutch collaboration