Waffen-SS Officer Joachim Peiper at Malmedy Massacre Trial in 1946

Mugshot of Leibstandarte SS frontline veteran Joachim Peiper

Jochen Peiper receiving his death sentence by hanging

After Nazi Germany's capitulation SS-Standartenführer Joachim Peiper was imprisoned and humiliated for his alleged part in the Malmedy massacre, and most likely wrongly accused of having ordered the executions of U.S. POWs. The widely-criticised Malmedy massacre trial was held in May–July 1946 in Dachau. It attracted great attention because of the later disputes about the conduct of the trial. The highest-ranking defendant was the former SS-Oberstgruppenführer Josef Sepp Dietrich. Many of the accused, as well as eye witnesses, testified that officers and non-commissioned officers of SS-Kampfgruppe Peiper were physically abused. The prisoners claimed to have been threatened that if they did not confess they would be hanged. They should also have been told that if they did not sign the required confessions, their families would be handed over to the Soviets. These allegations does not appear to have impressed the court at that time. Nevertheless, Joachim Peiper offered himself and accepted any and all responsibility for whatever any of his men had been accused of - whether true or untrue. Although he was not at the scene when the incident occured and that the court could not prove that he had ordered the killings, Joachim Peiper was sentenced to death together with 42 other defendants. The discovery of grave misconduct at the Malmedy trial was later reported to Washington DC. Time magazine reported on misconduct in the trial in January 1949 and major newspapers, including the New York Times, Washington Post and Chicago Tribune, regularly included coverage. The senate of the USA proceeded to investigate the case. This investigation took place after the verdicts had been handed down. The prosecutions star witness, former U.S. Army sergeant Kenneth Ahrens was later uncovered having been giving false testimony on which basis dozens of men had been executed. Lt. Col. Burton L Ellis, the prosecuting attorney said that he personally did not believe in the accusations. Major Hal McCown (former POW of Peiper) of the U.S. 30th Infantry Division came to the trial to testify about Joachim Peiper's honorable treatment of the American prisoners in Stoumont. Left image: a mugshot of Joachim Peiper taken at Schwäbisch Hall prison before the verdict was delivered. Credit: Marina Amaral. U.S. Army Signal Corps Collection. FU. Right clip: the 31-year-old Joachim Peiper when sentenced to death by hanging on June 21 1946. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Archive Number: 111 ADC 5965.

Highly-decorated Officer Joachim Peiper Sentenced to Death by Hanging

Jochen Peiper on the witness stand during the Malmedy massacre trial

Jochen Peiper when receiving his death sentence by hanging

Mistreated German prisoners of war in American custody

Knight's Cross with Oakleaves and Swords holder Joachim Peiper was sentenced to death by hanging and accepted the decision stoically. He waited every day for five years for execution while in solitary confinement. However, he was not executed because U.S. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy from Wisconsin proved the courts perfidy. This did not help those men who had been killed before the inquiry ever began. After eleven years of custody Peiper was released as the last of his comrades in December 1956. No formal investigations or prosecutions were ever made concerning American and British abuse and massacres of German POWs (due to lack of political will or other practical and political reasons). Allied Forces committed similar atrocities both before and after the Malmedy massacre. According to American historian Professor Stephen Edward Ambrose, who interviewed around 1,000 U.S. combat veterans, roughly 30 percent told him they had seen U.S. troops kill German prisoners of war. U.S. Army Major-General Raymond F. Hufft of 180th Infantry Regiment of the 45th Infantry Division had instructed his troops not to take prisoners when they crossed the Rhine in 1945. Hufft admitted when reflected on the war crimes he authorized: If the Germans had won, I would have been on trial instead of them. General George S. Patton, commander of the U.S. 3rd Army, describes the mind-set of the Allies in his wartime diaries. The following quote is from January 4 1945: also murdered 50 odd German med. I hope we can conceal this. The typed transcript "cleans it up" a bit: There were also some unfortunate incidents in the shooting of prisoners. (I hope we can conceal this). Top image: Prosecutor Lieutenant Colonel Burton L. Ellis with former Waffen-SS officer Joachim Peiper on the witness stand on June 21 1946. Middle image: Joachim Peiper when sentenced to death by the American Military Tribunal on July 16 1946. Bottom image: weariness and defeat etch the faces of a line of German POWs in a prison camp of the U.S. 3rd Army in 1945. According to the original cutline the men belonged to Waffen-SS units taking part in the Battle of the Bulge and therefore suspected of having shot U.S. POWs in Malmedy. Stills: Archive No: 111 ADC 5965. Photo: U.S. NARA.