Horst Günther

Horst Günther (23 September 1920 – 6 April 1944) was a German World War II prisoner of war. An Afrika Korps Gefreiter, he was "captured on 9 May 1943 in Tunisia [and] murdered in Camp Aiken prisoner-of-war camp, South Carolina" United States.[1]

He was suspected of collaborating with the American authorities and was strangled by two fellow prisoners-of-war, Erich Gauss and Rudolf Staub, who hung his body from a tree in order to make it seem that Günther had killed himself.[2] Gauss and Staub were hanged on 14 July 1945 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. They were buried in the prison cemetery.[3] Staub is alleged to have said just before his execution: "What I did was done as a German soldier under orders. If I had not done so, I would have been punished when I returned to Germany."[4]

Notes and references
  1. Original German text: "Gefangennahme am 09.05.1943 in Tunesien. Er wurde im Kriegsgefangenenlager Aiken, South Carolina, ermordet."
  2. Newsweek; "Death and Treason", 5 February 1945.
  3. Fort Leavenworth Military Prison cemetery Archived 2007-04-18 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Abolish" Death penalty news, 1 March 1998 Archived September 13, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
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