Among many cases which gave evidence of his arbitrary character we will give detailed attention to two:
In March 1943, Sofie Kaminska, a widowed Polish farm laborer, and Wasyl Wdowen, a Ukrainian, were indicted before the Special Court at Nuernberg for alleged crimes as follows:
Kaminska for a violation of the law against Poles and Jews in connection with the crime of assault and battery and threat and resistance to an officer; Wdowen for the alleged crime of being accessory to a crime according to the law against Poles and Jews, and for attempting to free a prisoner. The case was tried before the Special Court, the defendant Oeschey presiding.
The facts on which the sentence was based may, with complete fairness to the defendant Oeschey, be very briefly summarized. Shortly after the invasion of Poland, Kaminska “came to Germany, being committed to work there.” Kaminska and Wdowen were lovers. They were both working for a farmer, Gundel. They demanded pay from Gundel, which was refused, and they became more insistent. “The defendant Wdowen actually gave the farmer a push.” “In his distress Gundel called for help of the Pfc. Anton Wanner who was in uniform and happened to be spending his leave there.” A quarrel followed. Kaminska slapped the soldier’s face, and the soldier slapped her face. During the dispute the soldier’s combat infantryman’s badge fell to the ground. There were various demonstrations; the soldier drew his bayonet, and Kaminska ran out of the room and took a hoe, but did not get a chance to attack the soldier because he closed the door. Shortly thereafter, the soldier was riding on his bicycle and the Pole, Kaminska, threw a stone at him without, however, hitting him. The next day a police official came out to the farm and arrested Kaminska who followed him “unwillingly.” Wdowen, contrary to the instructions of the police officer, followed them. The policeman slapped Wdowen’s face twice to force him to turn back. Nevertheless, Wdowen followed to the door of the cell and attempted to assist the Polish woman, Kaminska, in resisting imprisonment. The very most that can possibly be said of the evidence, as stated by the defendant Oeschey himself, is that there was a good squabble with mutual recriminations and threats. It is to be understood that many of the statements heretofore made, as quoted from the opinion, were denied by the defendants in that case but, as before stated, we do not retry the case upon the facts. The court argues at great length concerning the claim of the prosecution that the stone weighed a half a pound and should be considered equal to a cutting or thrusting weapon. The court said:
“The defendant had the insolence to attack a German soldier; she took up an offensive position which would have led to a great blood bath if the soldier had not evaded the stone which was hurled at him.”
The court said of Kaminska (NG-457, Pros. Ex. 201): “She thereby characterizes herself as a Polish violent criminal,” and then stated:
“As the defendant on 1 September 1939 was a resident in the territory of the former Polish state, she had to be found guilty, in application of paragraphs II, III, and XIV of the Penal Law against Poles, of a crime of assault and battery in coincidence with a crime of threat, a crime under paragraph 1, section 1, of the law against violent criminals, and of a crime of offering resistance to the authority of a state.”
The fact that the discriminatory law against Poles was invoked in this case is established. The opinion signed by Oeschey states:
“Under paragraph III, section 2, of the Penal Law against Poles, the death sentence must be passed if the law threatens with it.”
Concerning Wdowen, who was a Ukrainian and therefore could not be sentenced under the law against Poles, the court commented on the fact that he knew that the Germany economy, on account of wartime conditions, was dependent on foreign labor, “in particular, labor from the eastern territories.” The court drew the conclusion that Wdowen, who had used at most only a little force in attempting to protect Kaminska, was guilty of having taken advantage of extraordinary wartime conditions and of violating the law against violent criminals. Both defendants were sentenced to death by the defendant Oeschey. The associated judges in the Kaminska and Wdowen case were Doctors Gros and Pfaff. They are guilty of having signed the judgment. Both submitted affidavits and both were cross-examined before this Tribunal. Dr. Gros stated that Oeschey demanded the severest countermeasures in similar cases. “We associate judges were powerless toward such an attitude. It must be mentioned that none of the defendants had criminal records, and that they were eliminated in a most objectionable way by Oeschey for racial and political reasons.”