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32 Liverpool L. Rev. 1 (2011)

handle is hein.journals/lvplr32 and id is 1 raw text is: Liverpool Law Rev (2011) 32:1-18 DOI 10.1007/s10991-011-9087-z Exploring the World of the Second and Third Tier Men in the Holocaust: The Interrogation of Friedrich Jeckeln: Engineer and Executioner G. H. Bennett Published online: 9 April 2011 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 Abstract Friedrich Jeckeln as Higher SS and Police Fuehrer for South Russia in 1941, and then North Russia from 1941 to 1944, was a key player in the devel- opment of the Holocast in the occupied Soviet Union. This article explores his career and motivations through the medium of his interrogation reports. Those interrogations were conducted by the NKVD from December 1945 to January 1946. They formed a key part in the development of a case against Jeckeln for involve- ment in crimes against the Soviet people. Using a variety of coercive techniques Jeckeln's captors forced him to confront the enormity of his crimes. He was brought before a court and executed on the same day in February 1946. Keywords Holocaust - Friedrich Jeckeln - Interrogation - War crimes - SS - Nazi HSSPF This article explores the career and post-war interrogation of Higher SS and Police Leader Friedrich Jeckeln. Captured by the Red Army at the end of the war, he was one of the many minor war criminals tried by Allied courts in 1945-1946. While the Allies collaborated on bringing the major war criminals to justice at Nuremberg there was a greater diversity of approach in dealing with the minor war criminals. While the British used military tribunals operating under the Royal Warrant, prisoners held by the Russians found themselves investigated, tried and convicted under the norms of the Soviet legal system of the 1930s by which legal process and police investigation were one and the same.1 Extensive investigation ensured a quick trial. Jeckeln was tried and executed on the same day in February 1946. See for example, Bennett (2011). G. H. Bennett (E) University of Plymouth, Room 1, 6 Portland Villas, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA, UK e-mail: hlbennett@plymouth.ac.uk I Springer