Evening star., 1948-09-24
Letters to The Star
The Case of Ilse Koch

i uC N<0SC III lISS NOSH
To the Editor of The Star:
On Saturday read with some amazement
the startling announcement that the sentence
of Ilse Koch had been reduced from life i'm
prisonment to a term of four years.
This action on the part of the Confirming
Authority in the European Theater was indeed
a surprise and shock to me. As Chief Prose-
cutor of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp
case, which was tried at Dachau, Germany,
April II, 1s47-August IA, 1947, was her prose-
cutor and acquainted with the quantity and
quality Of the evidence presented against her.
During the course Of her trial, in which 80
other Na1 sadists were brought to the bar Of
justice at the same time, the problem arose
of trying to equalize the proof in such fashion
as not to make the offenses of any one of
those depraved creatures any more heinous
than the offenses OF any one Of the other 30.
In conformity with this effort, presented only
10 witnesses who testified concerning her ac-
tivities at Buchenwald. Those witnesses were
but a small fraction of those who had per-
sonally suffered from her cruel and inhuman
Vaccinations There were others present at
the trial who could have corroborated the
testimony of their comrades but to put them
all on the stand would have merely prolonged
the trial and relatively speaking, over-em-
pnaSlZeQ ner misconduct.
BEST Witnesses" Dead
Confessedly, the best witnesses to Ilse Kocl's
misconduct were not present at the trial-they
had long since departed this life and had gone
up the chimney of the crematory In smoke!
But the 10 men who did testify stated enough
to justify sentence of Imprisonment for a
greater period of time than four years. Evil
IDENTITY the court that heard the case thought
en- hRoo thlv han i,,,,,r
life. The court had the witnesses before it
and had an opportunity to observe their de-
meanor on the stand and were thus in better
position to arrive at the truth OF the testimony
than any reviewer reading the cold print of the
record. Fortunately, still have some of the
notes I took during the course of the trial
Incomplete as they are they paint picture of
deprayed woman traflckng In human skin
all so we'll known as not to require repetition
here-beating prisoners herself and reporting
prisoners to the Protective Custody Camp Lead
er so that they were beaten-and to such all
extent that the prisoners died as consequence
This latter fact I obtained by cross-examina-
tion from a DR.. Morgan an SIS Standarten-
fuehrer, and Police Judge who was called to
the stand to testify in behalf of Ilse Koch!
One might say that inasmuch as I was her
prosecutor it would be impossible for me to
give an objective appraisal of her case. But
1lse Koch was not the only Nazi sadist whom
1 have prosecuted. I suppose have tried more
war criminals than any other American-hav-
ing tried 1T Nazis in four cases. AS Chief
Prosecutor I tried the Dachau Concentration
Camp case with 40 accused at single trial
Maulhausen Concentration Camp Case with 81
accused in single trial. Flossenberg Concen-
tration Camp case with As accused in single
trial. and Buchenwald Concentration Camp
case with 81 accused in single trial OF this
number, four were acquitted, 1872 sentenced to
death, and the balance sentenced for varying
terms OF years. With this experience, I think
that am fairly we'll qualified to determine
when have proved case of substantial guilt
which merits a severe sentence In my opinion,
to cut Ilse Koch's sentence to four years is to
make mockery of the administration of Justice,
Improperly Bestowed" Clemency.
The granting of clemency is an act of grace
that should be administered wisely and dis
paSsionately. Improperly bestowed it will un-
dermine not only the faith of our own citizens
in our institutions, but also the faith of those
we have been trying to convert since May 7,
lS45. I want the record to be perfectly clear
that do not oppose clemency. On the con-
trary. am heartily in favor of 1t being granted
In proper cases. Ilse Koch is hardly the proper
case. WILLIAM DOWDELL DENSON.