The Oskar Kusch Case

[Venatore]

Oskar Kusch was born in Berlin in 1918 and in his teens he spent a few months in the Hitler Youth (when his non-Nazi youth group was outlawed) before leaving the unit when he was 17 years old.

He entered the Kriegsmarine in 1937 as officer candidate and became part of the 1937a crew. Among his fellow students were the Knights Cross winners Forstner (U-402) and Koitschka (U-616).

In 1940 he was sent to the U-boat arm where he served on the U-103 from June 1941 to Feb 1943 when he was given his first U-boat, the U-154 of type IXC. According to all accounts Kusch was a very outspoken and direct officer, handsome, athletic, very intelligent and close to his men.

On January 26, 1944, Oblt. z.S. Oskar Kusch was condemned to death by a military tribunal, after being denounced for alleged "Wehrkraftzersetzung" (sedition and defeatism) by his former IWO Dr. Abel - who Kusch had apparently told was not good enough to command his own boat after the first patrol. However after the second patrol in Dec 1943 Kusch gave Abel a good review.

One of eleven politically motivated accusations against Kusch was that he had ordered a Hitler portrait removed from the boat's officers' mess to a less conspicuous location with the commentary, "We are not in the business here of practicing idolatry."

At his trial his officers took the stand against him. His defence team pointed out his successful career and honorable record in all regards and that he only stated his opinions to his officers to stir up the conversations and make his men more aware of what was going on.

He was also sentenced to one year in prison for "listening to foreign radio stations". He was given a chance to ask for clemency but he chose to stand by his convictions and morals and admit no wrongdoing. He was also found to have had "liberal tendencies" by choosing to leave the almost-mandatory Hitler Youth years earlier. On the court was Oblt. Otto Westphalen, a fellow U-boat commander.

Oskar Kusch was executed by a firing squad on 12 May 1944 in Kiel-Holtenau. His father tried to seek justice for his son in May 1946 under new allied laws and in 1949 the judge who sentenced him, Karl-Heinrich Hagemann, was tried for "Crime against civil rights". This case dragged on until late 1950 when the judge was found to have acted within the laws at the time, a controversial verdict to many.

In 1996 Kusch's legal record was finally wiped clean, and in 1998 the city of Kiel erected a memorial and renamed a street in his honor not far from the military range along the Kiel Canal where he had been shot 54 years before.

Kusch was in command of the U-154 from 02-43 to 01-44. Oblt. Gerth Gemeiner assumed command 01-44 and went down with the U-154 five months later.

Those that tried to help Kusch and those that did nothing;

Among those that jumped to Kusch's defence were KrvKpt. Werner Winter, Kptlt. Gustav-Adolf Janssen (his former commanders on U-103), and Kptlt. Wilhelm Franken. After the war FrgKpt. Erich Topp tried hard to have Kusch rehabilitated but met with resistance from men such as Kpt. Karl-Friedrich Merten and Kpt. Hans Rudolf Rösing (Blair, 1998).

Most disappointing to many was that neither Karl Dönitz, Friedeburg nor Godt in the U-boat high command did anything to help - or even met with Kusch during the trial.

Article from U-boat.net

[Abd_von_Mumit]

His deeds and stance bring respect. One has only hope that he would dare to keep the same ethic level if put in Kusch's shoes. People like him make the world not such horrible place as it could be. And people like him are needed every day, every place.

[JScones]

Ironically OLzSdR Dr Ulrich Abel was to die three weeks before Kusch was executed, as he and U-193 were lost with all hands on his first patrol as Commander.

[Brag]

An example of what an officer should be like.

[javelina1]

Originally Posted by Abd_von_Mumit

His deeds and stance bring respect. One has only hope that he would dare to keep the same ethic level if put in Kusch's shoes. People like him make the world not such horrible place as it could be. And people like him are needed every day, every place.

indeed. spot on mate.

[Jimbuna]

I remember this well....yet further evidence that the Kriegsmarine were predominantly anti Nazi.

Good man got a bad deal.

[flag4]

similar article here - just fleshes out the story of U-Sunshine and her captain. what a travesty!!

http://www.ijnhonline.org/volume1_nu..._uboat.doc.htm

hope the link works.