Breda Four

The Breda Four (Dutch: Vier van Breda), later known as Breda Three (Dutch: Drie van Breda) and subsequently Breda Two (Dutch: Twee van Breda), were the last four imprisoned German war criminals in the Netherlands following the Second World War. The group consisted of Willy Lages, Joseph Kotalla, Ferdinand aus der Fünten, and Franz Fischer. They were incarcerated in the Koepelgevangenis in Breda, which inspired their collective name.

From the 1960s onward, calls for their release—supported in part by the West German government—were made, and multiple Dutch ministers considered granting clemency. However, these attempts consistently triggered social unrest and political opposition.

Lages was released in 1966, and died in 1971. Kotalla died in prison in 1979. Aus der Fünten and Fischer were released in 1989 and both died the same year.^[1]

Crimes

Left to right, top to bottom: Willy Lages, Ferdinand aus der Fünten, Franz Fischer and Joseph Kotalla

Willy Lages

Willy Lages (born 1901) was head of the Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Amsterdam and therefore responsible for the deportation of Jews to Poland and Germany. He was also responsible for the execution of resistance fighters.^[2]

Ferdinand aus der Fünten

Ferdinand aus der Fünten (born 1909) also worked at the Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Amsterdam and was in charge of daily management, similarly responsible for the deportation.^[2]

Franz Fischer

Franz Fischer (SS-Mitglied, 1901) [de] (born 1901) led the deportations in The Hague and was responsible for finding Jews in hiding.^[2]

Joseph Kotalla

Joseph Kotalla (born 1908) was head of administration and camp guard at Kamp Amersfoort. He was nicknamed the Executioner of Amersfoort for the many cruelties he committed.^[2]

Sentencing

As part of the Special Jurisdiction, the four were among the 240-242^[3] Germans tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Netherlands after the Second World War.^[4] Eighteen Germans received the death penalty, which had been reintroduced for the Special Jurisdiction after it had been abolished in 1870. Four of them were convicted in absentia and never apprehended.^[5]

Fischer and Aus der Fünten were initially sentenced to life imprisonment, but this was changed to the death penalty in cassation.^[6] Lages and Kotalla were sentenced to the death penalty both initially and in cassation.^[7]

Commutation to life imprisonment

The Breda Four were among nine prisoners on death row whose sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. The new Queen, Juliana of the Netherlands, in many cases refused to deny clemency requests as she opposed the death penalty.^[8] Minister of Justice Teun Struycken (KVP) made a compromise with Juliana. The death penalty would only be carried out if both the initial trial and the cassation had resulted in a death sentence. This meant that the sentences of Aus der Fünten and Fischer were be commuted to life imprisonment in January 1951, while in exchange Julius Herdtmann was executed.^[9]

The commutation led to indignation, in particular among the Dutch resistance and Jewish organisations. On 22 May 1951, parliamentarian Benno Stokvis (CPN) interpellated Struyckens successor, Hendrik Mulderije (CHU) about the clemency policy. Stokvis, as well as the ARP and the CHU, criticised the policy. A large majority led by KVP and PvdA opposed a motion by Stokvis to publish the clemency guidelines. A majority supported a motion by Leen Donker (PvdA), expressing concern about the possibility that the life sentence could later be converted into a temporary one.^[10]

Protest on 12 October 1952 at the Nieuwmarkt against possibly clemency for Lages

Mulderije decided in December 1951 to commute Kotalla's sentence to life imprisonment based on grounds of diminished responsibility.^[11] The decision to commute Lages' sentence sparked social unrest, with a protest in Amsterdam involving 15,000 to 20,000 demonstrators opposing the commutation.^[12]

Requests for clemency

The five other German prisoners initially sentenced to death,^[a] were released between December 1958 and May 1960 in relative silence.^[5]

In 1963, two progressive criminal law experts pleaded for the release of the four prisoners.^[13] Minister of Justice Albert Beerman (CHU) attempted to put release on the parliamentary agenda in the beginning of 1963, but failed.^[14]

Sentence interruption of Lages

In May 1966,^[2] Willy Lages was diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and doctors did not expect him to survive surgery.^[14] Minister of Justice Ivo Samkalden (PvdA) granted him a three-month suspension of his sentence to receive treatment in Germany. He was transferred to a hospital in Braunlage on 9 June. This decision came at a time when there was increased attention on wartime events, particularly regarding the Holocaust.^[15] Samkalden's decision sparked protests, especially in Amsterdam. His own party was particularly divided, with some Jewish members of the PvdA expressing disbelief that the Jewish Samkalden had made this decision. Despite the unrest, the decision was accepted by the coalition parties.^[16]

Less than a month later, Samkalden was informed that Lages did not have colorectal cancer, but another disease which was life threatening, but not acutely fatal. He was however not able to imprison Lages again, because of Lages' medical condition and the fact that the West-German constitution did not allow extradition. Another protest was held in Amsterdam and a debate in the House of Representatives, where he kept the support of the coalition parties and the CHU.^[17] Lages was released from the hospital in November 1966, but stayed in Braunlage, where he died in 1971.^[18] His release contributed to the rejection of a legislative amendment which would have made it possible for those imprisoned for life to be release on parole.^[13]

Minister Polak

At the end of the 1960s, the three remaining prisoners again requested clemency. Minister of Justice Carel Polak was planning to, but abandoned this after the Supreme Court of the Netherlands advised against.^[1]

Minister Van Agt

Polak's successor, Dries van Agt sent a letter to the House of Representatives, in which he indicated his intention to release the three prisoners. By sending the letter beforehand, he wanted to avoid presenting the House with a fait accompli and furthermore asked for advice. At first, a majority of the House indicated that they would support his decision. Before the debate, a hearing was held on 24 February 1972, in which resistance members and victims spoke out about a possible release. A majority of the speakers opposed release and a majority of the House was swayed.^[19] A thirteen-hour debate was held on 29 February 1972.^[13] A motion by Joop Voogd (PvdA), which said the cabinet should not execute their plan to release the prisoners, passed after the debate with 85 votes in favour and 61 against.^[1]

In 1977, German war criminal Herbert Kappler escaped prison and died a year later, making The Breda Three the longest imprisoned Germans for crimes in the Second World War in West-Europe.^[20] Kotalla died in 1979.

Release

Minister of Justice Frits Korthals Altes and his party, the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, had always opposed clemency. However around 1988 he changed his mind, arguing that it might be better for the victims if they were released, so the publicity would not resurface every time clemency was discussed. Korthals Altes would later also say that the decisive reason was that the intensive individual medical care they received, did not belong in a prison. To find a reason for clemency, he requested medical examination, which however provided no reason.^[2]

Around the same time, 5 July 1988, Korthals Altes and Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers received a letter pleading for the release of the two. It was signed by nineteen (prominent) Dutch people, including resistance member Bib van Lanschot and former minister Samkalden.^[b] During a debate in January 1989 about the proposed release, Korthals Altes referred to the letter.^[2] The House of Representatives supported the release.^[13] On 27 January 1989, Fischer and Aus der Fünten were released and dropped by an ambulance across the border near Venlo as unwanted aliens.^[2]^[13]

German support

The Breda Four received support from the West German government starting in the 1960s. They were provided with legal assistance from three lawyers, allowances, and magazine subscriptions. The German government raised the issue of their release in bilateral meetings. Public support also grew in Germany, with leaflets distributed at the border and hundreds of thousands of signatures collected in petitions calling for their release.^[22]

Notes

^ These included Johann Friedrich Stöver, Friedrich Bellmer, Bernard Georg Haase and F. Frankenstein
^ The full list of signatories:^[21] Peter Baehr, Dien Barendsen-Cleveringa, S.W. Couwenberg, Christiaan Justus Enschedé (lawyer) [nl], Frans Feij, Til Gardeniers-Berendsen, J.J.Ph. Hers, C.C. van den Heuvel, Piet de Jong, Bib van Lanschot, Theo van Lier, W. Nijsse, Gerard Peijnenburg, Eric Roest, Ivo Samkalden, D. Simons, Max van der Stoel, Hans Teengs Gerritsen, W.J.C. Tensen

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c "Veertig jaar geleden: de Drie van Breda" (in Dutch). Retrieved 18 July 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h "Waarom kregen de Duitse oorlogsmisdadigers 'de Drie van Breda' gratie?". NPO kennis (in Dutch). 9 April 2024. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
^ Piersma 2005, p. 205.
^ Piersma 2005, p. 7.
^ ^a ^b Heiden, Leenders & Lijser 2012, p. 365.
^ Piersma 2005, pp. 35–38.
^ Piersma 2005, pp. 39, 44.
^ Piersma 2005, pp. 55–56.
^ Merriënboer & Bovend'Eert 1992, pp. 538–539; Merriënboer 1997, p. 507.
^ Merriënboer 1997, pp. 507–511.
^ Merriënboer 1997, p. 514; Piersma 2005, p. 44.
^ Piersma 2005, p. 51.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Piersma, Hinke (14 August 2020). "De Drie van Breda". brabantserfgoed.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 18 July 2024.
^ ^a ^b Van Kessel et al. 2010, p. 252.
^ Van Kessel et al. 2010, p. 248.
^ Van Kessel et al. 2010, pp. 253–256.
^ Van Kessel et al. 2010, pp. 256–258.
^ Van Kessel et al. 2010, p. 258.
^ Lavell, Hilde (30 April 2022). "Emotie en logica in het debat over de Drie van Breda". Serie Parlementaire Geschiedenis (in Dutch). Retrieved 19 July 2024.
^ Verburg, Marja (11 July 2017). "'Duitse steun aan Drie van Breda schrikbarend groot'". Duitsland Instituut Amsterdam (in Dutch). Retrieved 18 July 2024.
^ Piersma 2005, p. 247.
^ Van Walsum, Sander (14 January 2019). "'Er werden honderdduizenden handtekeningen verzameld voor de vrijlating van oorlogsmisdadigers'". De Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 18 July 2024.

References

Van Kessel, Alexander; Adriaanse, Mirjam; Leenders, Marij; Verberne, Teun (2010). "Immateriële zaken: Bijlmer - Numerus clausus - Oorlogsdossiers". In Van der Heiden, Peter; Van Kessel, Alexander (eds.). Rondom de Nacht van Schmelzer: De kabinetten-Marijnen, -Cals en -Zijlstra 1963-1967. Parlementaire geschiedenis van Nederland na 1945 (in Dutch). Boom. hdl:2066/86577. ISBN 978-94-6105-362-6.
Merriënboer, J.C.F.J van; Bovend'Eert, P.P.T. (1992). "Het rustige tuintje van rechter Wijers". In Maas, P.F. (ed.). Het kabinet-Drees-Van Schaik (bd. B): Anticommunisme, rechtsherstel en infrastructurele opbouw. Parlementaire geschiedenis van Nederland na 1945 (in Dutch). Nijmegen: Gerard Noodt Instituut. hdl:2066/158102. ISBN 90-71478-22-X.
Heiden, Peter van der; Leenders, Marij; Lijser, Suzanne de (2012). "Nieuwe tijden, nieuwe normen : Liberalisatie en modernisering van familie- en strafrecht". In Merriënboer, Johan van; Baalen, Carla van (eds.). Polarisatie en hoogconjunctuur: Het kabinet-De Jong 1967-1971 (in Dutch). Amsterdam: Boom. hdl:2066/120953. ISBN 978-94-6105-509-5.
Piersma, Hinke (2005). De drie van Breda : Duitse oorlogsmisdadigers in Nederlandse gevangenschap, 1945-1989 (PhD thesis) (in Dutch). Amsterdam: Balans. hdl:11245/1.229423. ISBN 978-90-5018-661-2.
Merriënboer, J.C.F.J. van (1997). "Het justitiebeleid van Mulderije: Een strijd voor geestelijke herbewapening". In Ramakers, J.J.M. (ed.). Het kabinet-Drees II: In de schaduw van de Koreacrisis. Parlementaire geschiedenis van Nederland na 1945 (in Dutch). Nijmegen: GNI. hdl:2066/91118. ISBN 90-71478-51-3.