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East Germany: An Elaborately Squandered Opportunity

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Nazi Collaborators on Trial during the Cold War

Part of the book series: The Holocaust and its Contexts ((HOLC))

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Abstract

This chapter covers the single case brought by East Germany against a suspected former Arajs Kommando man. The capture, investigation, and trial of this suspect—Stanislavs Šteins—in the German Democratic Republic were virtually contemporaneous with those of Arājs in the Federal Republic of Germany and both men received the same sentence. This case was probably prepared as part of East Germany’s obsessive competition with West Germany to prove itself the more anti-fascist of the two Germanies. However, the investigation itself was seriously and bizarrely flawed: the suspect was clearly guilty of crimes related to the Holocaust, but the process was so badly managed that almost all knowledge to potentially be gained from it was corrupted. In the end, the entire case remained secret.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    However, a statement by the prosecutor in the case against Stanislavs Šteins contradicts this figure enormously. He said that as of October 1979, when the trial of Šteins was in its final phases, 12,861 suspected Nazi criminals had gone through the East German courts. BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, p. 330. “Hoher Senat! Die Beweisaufnahme in der Strafsache gegen Stanislavs Steins ist angeschlossen.” Berlin, ca. September 1979. This discrepancy is probably explained if the number referenced by the prosecutor included all cases dealing with Nazi crimes, as distinct from only the subset involving direct killings.

  2. 2.

    Not included in this number are those that were pursuant to the so-called “Waldheim Affair,” which was sparked when the wartime activities of the former United Nations Secretary General and President of Austria, Kurt Waldheim, were uncovered. Because of their publicity, these trials represented a subset distinct from the “normal” cases in East Germany. They resulted in 24 death sentences (26%), 31 sentences of life imprisonment (34%), and 36 sentences of lesser prison terms (40%). There were no acquittals. These sentences were, statistically, much stiffer than those in ordinary East German cases against those accused of similar crimes. C.F. Rüter, L. Hekelaar Gombert, und Dirk Welmoed de Mildt. DDR-Justiz und NS-Verbrechen: Sammlung ostdeutscher Strafurteile wegen nationalsozialistischer Tötungsverbrechen. Register und Dokumente. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, and Munich: K.G. Saur Verlag, 2002–2010, p. ix.

  3. 3.

    It is not certain what proportion of these sentences were ultimately carried out.

  4. 4.

    C.F. Rüter, L. Hekelaar Gombert, und Dirk Welmoed de Mildt. DDR-Justiz und NS-Verbrechen: Sammlung ostdeutscher Strafurteile wegen nationalsozialistischer Tötungsverbrechen. Register und Dokumente. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, and Munich: K.G. Saur Verlag, 2002–2010, p. ix.

  5. 5.

    Ibid., p. 357. In only three cases tried in East Germany were the crimes in question committed in Latvia. Ibid., p. 330.

  6. 6.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, p. 10. Der Generalstaatsanwalt der deutschen demokratischen Republik.” “Anklageschrift.” Berlin, 5 June 1979.

  7. 7.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, p. 9. Stanislavs Šteins. “Persönliches Niederschrift.” Berlin, 30 December 1977.

  8. 8.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 4, pp. 88–98. Stanislavs Šteins. “Lebenslauf.” Berlin, 26 September 1977.

  9. 9.

    Andrew Ezergailis. The Holocaust in Latvia, 1941–1944: The Missing Center. Rīga and Washington, DC: The Historical Institute of Latvia in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1996. “Appendix 3d.1: Jews in Latvian Cities, 1935,” p. 403.

  10. 10.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, pp. 6–12. Stanislavs Šteins. “Persönliches Niederschrift.” Berlin, 30 December 1977. He once mentioned Jewish chandlers, although the German word, “Krämer,” can also be translated as “grocer” or “huckster.” The first definition seems to have been meant. See Ibid., p. 6.

  11. 11.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 6, pp. 66–68. Stanislavs Šteins. “Persönliches Niederschrift.” Berlin, 20 November 1977.

  12. 12.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, pp. 140–142. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 1 March 1978.

  13. 13.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, p. 6. Stanislavs Šteins. “Persönliches Niederschrift.” Berlin, 12 January 1979.

  14. 14.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, p. 140. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 1 March 1978.

  15. 15.

    That is to say that the difference in age would not have had an effect on his wartime eligibility for military or police service in order to defuse suspicion.

  16. 16.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, p. 72. Stanislavs Šteins. “Persönliche Niederschrift.” Berlin, 22 September 1977.

  17. 17.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 8, pp. 21–25. Irmgard Blosat. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Rostock, 27 June 1978.

  18. 18.

    Ibid.

  19. 19.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 1, p. 12. “Haftbefehl.” Berlin, 23 September 1977.

  20. 20.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, p. 409. “Strafprozeβvollmacht.” Berlin, 18 July 1979.

  21. 21.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, p. 312. “Hoher Senat! Die Beweisaufnahme in der Strafsache gegen Stanislavs Steins ist angeschlossen.” Berlin, ca. September 1979. The document announced the official end of the process of collecting evidence, but itself appears undated.

  22. 22.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, p. 315. “Hoher Senat! Die Beweisaufnahme in der Strafsache gegen Stanislavs Steins ist angeschlossen.” Berlin, ca. September 1979.

  23. 23.

    Ibid., p. 329.

  24. 24.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, pp. 315–316, 325. “Hoher Senat! Die Beweisaufnahme in der Strafsache gegen Stanislavs Steins ist angeschlossen.” Berlin, ca. September 1979.

  25. 25.

    For more information about the charges, also see: Also see: BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, pp. 8–18. Der Generalstaatsanwalt der deutschen demokratischen Republik. “Anklageschrift.” Berlin, 5 June 1979.

  26. 26.

    Ibid., p. 314.

  27. 27.

    Ibid.

  28. 28.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, p. 331. “Hoher Senat! Die Beweisaufnahme in der Strafsache gegen Stanislavs Steins ist angeschlossen.” Berlin, ca. September 1979.

  29. 29.

    Ibid., p. 330.

  30. 30.

    See, among other examples: BStU ZUV 63 Band 26, pp. 149–154. “Bericht der gerichtsmedizinischen Expertenkommission zu den von den faschistischen deutschen Eindringlingen im Rayon Rīga/Lett. SSR begangenen Verbrechen.” Rīga, 12 December 1944. Also: BStU ZUV 63 Band 26, pp. 119–134. “Akt über die in der Stadt Rīga begangenen Verbrechen und Zerstörungen durch die deutsch-faschistischen Eindringlinge und ihrer Helfers-helfer.” Rīga, 15 December 1944. Also: BStU ZUV 63 Band 26, pp. 164–188. “Akt über die Erschiessung von 35,000 sowjetischen Kindern durch deutsch-faschistische Aggressoren auf dem Territorium der Lettischen SSR.” Rīga, 5 May 1945. Also: BStU ZUV 63 Band 26, pp. 119–134. “Akt über die in der Stadt Rīga begangenen Verbrechen und Zerstörungen durch die deutsch-faschistischen Eindringlinge und ihrer Helfers-helfer.” Rīga, 15 December 1944.

  31. 31.

    See, among other examples: BStU ZUV 63 Band 24, pp. 63–71. SS-Oberscharführer [illegible]. “Vorläufige Richtlinien für die Behandlung der Juden im Gebiet des Reichskommissariats Ostland.” Rīga, undated. Also: BStU ZUV 63 Band 24, p. 95. SS-BRīgadeführer Müller. “An Einsatzgruppe A und B.” Berlin, 25 August 1941. Also: BStU ZUV 63 Band 24, pp. 97–127. Generalkommisar in Rīga, Abteilung IIa. “Betr.: Monatlicher Bericht über Einrichtung von in jüdischen Arbeitslagern, Arbeitseinsatz, Behandlung der Juden.” Rīga, 28 November 1941.

  32. 32.

    See, among other examples: BStU ZUV 63 Band 17, p. 46. Tēvija. “Das Leben normalisiert sich.” Rīga, 2 July 1941. Also: BStU ZUV 63 Band 17, p. 99. Tēvija. “Aufforderung.” Rīga, 4 July 1941. Also: BStU ZUV 63 Band 24, p. 59. Deutsche Zeitung im Osten. “Die Juden unter sich: bis zum heutigen Tag müssen alle Rīgaer Juden das Ghetto bezogen.” Rīga, undated copy, presumably 25 October 1941.

  33. 33.

    LVVA. Fond 2942. Apr. 1, p. 2145. “Mājas grāmata, Brīvības iela 35 dz. 30.”

  34. 34.

    This document is frequently adduced in the depositions but the record group, unfortunately, does not seem to contain a copy.

  35. 35.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 18, pp. 142–144. Stanislavs Šteins. “Dienstzeitbescheinigung.” 20 January 1945.

  36. 36.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 18, p. 148. Stanislavs Šteins. “Gebührniskarte.” 21 March 1945.

  37. 37.

    E. Avotiņš. Daugavas Vanagi—Who Are They? Rīga: Latvian State Publishing House, 1963. As will be shown in the next chapter, American authorities also viewed this and other similar works critically.

  38. 38.

    Zur Geschichte der Ordnungspolizei, 1936–1945. Teil I: 1. Hans-Joachim Neufeldt. “Entstehung und Organisation des Hauptamtes Ordnungspolizei.” 2. Jürgen Huck. “Ausweichstellen und Aktenschicksal des Hauptamtes Ordnungspolizei im 2. Weltkrieg.” Teil II: Georg Tessin. “Die Stäbe und Truppeneinheiten des Ordnungspolizei.” Koblenz: Bundesarchiv, 1957. The caution with which this source was treated by the East Germans was justified. The study established the constituent units and posts of the Order Police, but did so in conjunction with former members of the Order Police. It sanitized the organization’s record of deep involvement in Nazi crimes. The thesis amounts to an Order Police equivalent of the “clean Wehrmacht” myth. The work is useful for what it provides; it is highly problematic for what it elides.

  39. 39.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 1, p 77. “Bestätigung.” Berlin, 25 April 1979.

  40. 40.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, pp. 19–22. “Der Generalstaatsanwalt der deutschen demokratischen Republik. “Anklageschrift; Anlage.” Potsdam, 5 June 1979.

  41. 41.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, p. 83. “Öffentliche Hauptverhandlung des Bezirksgerichts Potsdam.” Potsdam, 18 September–1 October 1979. Notices were sent to the East German Court informing it of the special medical needs of some of the persons in question. See, for example: Ibid., 27, p. 59. “Ministerium für Gesundheitswesen der Lettischen SSR.” 3 July 1979.

  42. 42.

    All three also gave testimony in the West German case against Viktors Arājs.

  43. 43.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 7, pp. 114–127. Jānis Bedelis. “Zeugenvernehmungsprotokoll.” Rīga, 5 April 1978.

  44. 44.

    Ibid.

  45. 45.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 26, p. 7. Jānis Bedelis. “Zeugenvernehmungsprotokoll.” Rīga, 7 March 1979.

  46. 46.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 7, pp. 103–104. Jānis Bedelis. “Zeugenvernehmungsprotokoll.” Rīga, 10 August 1978.

  47. 47.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, pp. 76–79. Aleksejs Proškovičs. “Protokoll der Gegenüberstellung von Personen zum Zwecke der Identifizierung.” Rīga, 11 March 1979.

  48. 48.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band, 26, pp. 76–7. Aleksejs Proškovičs. “Protokoll der Vernehmung eines Zeugen.” Rīga, 11 March 1979.

  49. 49.

    For more details of Proškovičs’s experiences in the Kommando, see: BStU ZUV 63 Bd. 12, pp. 40–54. Aleksejs Proškovičs. “Zeugenvernehmungsprotokoll.” Rīga, 6 April 1978.

  50. 50.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, p. 425. Oberstes Gericht der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. “In Names des Volkes!” 7 December 1979.

  51. 51.

    This author does not know the origin of the felid handle, but it appears in: Andrew Ezergailis. The Holocaust in Latvia, 1941–1944: The Missing Center. Rīga: The Historical Institute of Latvia in Association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1996. Appendix 2. “German and Latvian SD in Latvia: Members of the Latvian SD, 1941–1944,” p. 390.

  52. 52.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, pp. 147–150. Jānis Vanders. “Protokoll der Gegenüberstellung von Personen zum Zwecke der Identifizierung.” Rīga, 6 April 1979.

  53. 53.

    BStU ZUV 63 Bd. 13, p. 246. Jānis Vanders. “Vernehmung.” Rīga, 6 April 1978.

  54. 54.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 18, pp. 142–144. Stanislavs Šteins. “Dienstzeitbescheinigung.” 20 January 1945.

  55. 55.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, pp. 204–208. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 28 June 1978.

  56. 56.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, p. 217. Stanislavs Šteins. “Persönliche Niederschrift.” Berlin, 27 August 1978.

  57. 57.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, p. 144. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 27 September 1978.

  58. 58.

    At a guess, probably much fewer than 10% of the Latvian auxiliaries would have spoken fluent German. There would have been more bilingual recruits among the Kommando’s earlier cadres than among the later ones. Those who were exclusively Latvian-speaking no doubt gradually picked up some “work”-oriented terminology and could follow simple commands in the German language.

  59. 59.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, p. 196. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 15 November 1977.

  60. 60.

    For the original assertion, see: BStU ZUV 63 Band 6, p. 79. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 20 June 1978. For the retraction above the objections of Captain Muregger, see: BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, p. 20. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 25 January 1979.

  61. 61.

    That is only to say that this author has never seen the claim made by any accused or convicted member of the Kommando, but there may be testimonies that this author has not read or of which this author is unaware. On this matter, Professor Eduard Anders, a Latvian-Jewish Holocaust survivor and trained chemist, says the following:

    ‘Lime,’ or more correctly ‘slaked lime,’ is not very effective for sterilizing corpses, perhaps better for decomposing them. ‘Bleaching powder’ (Chlorkalk in German) is a powerful oxidant and hence disinfectant, made from chlorine gas and slaked lime = Ca(OH)2: 2Cl2 + 2Ca(OH)2 → Ca (OCl)2 + CaCl2 + 2H2O.It also contains unreacted Ca(OH)2. It too is white (or yellowish) but has a strong chlorine smell. People not knowing much chemistry may have called both of them lime, but Šteins may have been right in calling it bleach.

  62. 62.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, p. 235. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 3 October 1978.

  63. 63.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 3, p. 56. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 22 August 1978. He reiterated this claim many times and in many different ways. For example, see: BStU ZUV 63 Band 2 p. 182. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 28 September 1978. Also see: BStU ZUV 63 Band 2 p. 194. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 15 November 1977.

  64. 64.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 5, p. 35. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 8 November 1977.

  65. 65.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, p. 178. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 28 September 1978. Also see: BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, pp. 191–192. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 2 October 1978.

  66. 66.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 3, pp. 84–85. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 13 September 1978.

  67. 67.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, p. 322. “Hoher Senat! Die Beweisaufnahme in der Strafsache gegen Stanislavs Steins is abgeschlossen.” Undated.

  68. 68.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, p. 104. Stanislavs Šteins. “Persönliches Niederschrift.” Berlin, 7 January 1978.

  69. 69.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, pp. 72–73. Stanislavs Šteins. “Persönliche Niederschrift.” Berlin, 22 September 1977.

  70. 70.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, p. 101. Stanislavs Šteins. “Persönliche Niederschrift.” Berlin, 7 January 1978.

  71. 71.

    See, for example: Ibid., pp. 99–100.

  72. 72.

    Ibid., p. 100.

  73. 73.

    Ibid.

  74. 74.

    Ibid., p. 101.

  75. 75.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 4, p. 125. Stanislavs Šteins. “Persönliche Niederschrift.” Berlin, 28 September 1977. When he was getting married, he explained to her why he could not send to Latvia for a birth certificate. He told her “under a seal of silence,” but only gave her the same basically innocuous explanation that he settled on giving to his interrogators which will be described below.

  76. 76.

    Ibid.

  77. 77.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 1, pp. 124–127. Stanislavs Šteins. “Venehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 23 August 1977.

  78. 78.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, p. 105. Stanislavs Šteins. “Persönliches Niederschrift.” Berlin, 7 January 1978.

  79. 79.

    Ibid., pp. 103–104.

  80. 80.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 8, pp. 21–25. Irmgard Blosat. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Rostock, 27 June 1978.

  81. 81.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, pp. 125–130. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 19 January 1978.

  82. 82.

    See, for example: BStU ZUV 63 Band 3, pp. 102–109. Stanislavs Šteins. “Venehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 22 September 1978.

  83. 83.

    See: BStU ZUV 63 Band 13, pp. 165–171. Nikolai Šteins. “Zeugenvernehmungsprotokoll.” Rīga, 12 April 1978. Also: BStU ZUV 63 Band 13, pp. 152–157. Nadezhda Šteins. “Protokoll der Vernehmung eines Zeugen.” Rīga, 12 April 1978.

  84. 84.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 1, p. 12. “Haftbefehl.” Berlin, 23 September 1977.

  85. 85.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, p. 37. Stanislavs Šteins. “Venehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 30 January 1979.

  86. 86.

    No legal system, of course, is ideal. In at least one related US case, the prosecution egregiously failed to respect a discovery request by the defense, prompting the following outburst from the defense attorney:

    MR. BERZINS: And the question I want to ask is simply this: Why have I not been furnished copies of these documents which are clearly exculpatory up to this very minute, when the Government has had them in their file for years? I have demanded them all the time up to now. Why have they been hidden from me up to now? I'm sorry, I'm upset, but I really am upset… Your Honor, I must respectfully submit that this is an outrage. Exhibits 12, 13, and 14 are clearly exculpatory and I'll bet you the Government has had them for a whole year and I have not been given those and I have been asking and asking and asking. THE COURT: All right, Mr. Berzins. Let's control ourselves. All right.

    StaH. 213–12 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht—NSG—0044-13. “Arajs Verfahren.” Sonderband 40, pp. 6925–6927. Department of Immigration and Naturalization, File No. A 10303 336. Albany New York, 9 March 1979.

  87. 87.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, pp. 37–38. Stanislavs Šteins. “Venehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 30 January 1979.

  88. 88.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, p. 15. Stanislavs Šteins. “Venehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 25 January 1979.

  89. 89.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, p. 33. Stanislavs Šteins. “Venehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 30 January 1979. We must leave to one side the question of whether or not the East German representative of justice had himself acquired this piece of information from firsthand experience. Speculation might even be made as to whether or not this was, in fact, a means of articulating a threat.

  90. 90.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, p. 12. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 24 January 1979.

  91. 91.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, p. 17. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 25 January 1979.

  92. 92.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 7, p. 123. Jānis Bedelis. “Zeugenvernehmungsprotokoll.” Rīga, 5 April 1978. This information might have been redacted so that Šteins would not see it, but it is impossible to tell.

  93. 93.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 12, pp. 48, 47, 50. Aleksejs Proškovičs. “Zeugenvernehmungsprotokoll. Rīga, 6 April 1978. Again, these details may or may not have been withheld by the investigators. There is no way of knowing.

  94. 94.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, p. 33. Stanislavs Šteins. “Venehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 30 January 1979.

  95. 95.

    Ibid., p. 19. Also see: Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 25 January 1979. These were Ukrainians convicted by the German Democratic Republic of Nazi crimes. These are also the same fellow prisoners Šteins alleged to have told him about how many victims would fit in a truck from the period, among other advice. See: BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, p. 14. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 25 January 1979.

  96. 96.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, p. 19. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 25 January 1979.

  97. 97.

    Ibid.

  98. 98.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, p. 5. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 3 March 1979. When pressed, Šteins added that this only applied to the “bourgeois” Latvian army organizationally—it was not meant to condemn that institution as in character similar to the Arajs Kommando.

  99. 99.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, p. 47. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 1 February. 1979.

  100. 100.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 1, p. 90. Stanislavs Šteins. “Erklärung.” Berlin, 22 September 1977. Also see: BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, pp. 72–73. Stanislavs Šteins. “Persönliche Niederschrift.” Berlin, 22 September 1977.

  101. 101.

    Ibid., pp. 90–91.

  102. 102.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, pp. 19–21. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 25 January 1979.

  103. 103.

    For one of countless examples, see: BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, p. 9. Stanislavs Šteins. “Venehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 24 January 1979.

  104. 104.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, p. 58. Stanislavs Šteins. “Ergänzung zum heutigen Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 22 February 1979.

  105. 105.

    There were still a few scattered depositions. See, for example: BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, pp. 2–7. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 3 March 1979.

  106. 106.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, pp. 4–5. Stanislavs Šteins. “Venehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 12 January 1979.

  107. 107.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, p. 35. Stanislavs Šteins. “Venehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 30 January 1979.

  108. 108.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 3, pp. 11–12. Stanislavs Šteins. “Venehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 26 September 1978.

  109. 109.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 25, p. 35. Stanislavs Šteins. “Venehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 30 January 1979.

  110. 110.

    Ibid., pp. 35–36.

  111. 111.

    Ibid., p. 36.

  112. 112.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, p. 17. Der Generalstaatsanwalt der deutschen demokratischen Republik. “Anklageschrift.” Berlin, 5 June 1979.

  113. 113.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, p. 318. “Hoher Senat! Die Beweisaufnahme in der Strafsache gegen Stanislavs Steins ist angeschlossen.” Berlin, ca. September 1979.

  114. 114.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, p. 24. “Verfügung.” 29 July 1979. Also see: BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, p. 83. “Öffentliche Hauptverhandlung des Bezirksgerichts Potsdam.” Potsdam, 18 September–1 October 1979.

  115. 115.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, p. 83. “Öffentliche Hauptverhandlung des Bezirksgerichts Potsdam.” Potsdam, 18 September–1 October 1979. The Court was convinced that he promptly turned informant on his fellow editors and denounced at least four students (functionaries of the CPSU or Komsomol [All Union Leninist Young Communist League/Vissavienības Ļeņina Komunistiskās Jaunatnes Savienība, VĻKJS]), two of which fell into the fascists’ hands and were killed: Antons Bruwers and Jānis Logiņš , the latter of whom was sent to the Salaspils camp as a result, and died there. The actual name of Stanislavs Šteins was never connected to these events. See, among other examples: BStU ZUV 63 Band 22, pp. 95–99. Padomju Students. “Es gab keine unbekannten Helden.” 24 February 1960.

  116. 116.

    Andrew Ezergailis. The Holocaust in Latvia, 1941–1944: The Missing Center. Rīga: The Historical Institute of Latvia in Association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1996. Appendix 2. “German and Latvian SD in Latvia: Members of the Latvian SD, 1941–1944,” pp. 284–391. The list contains the names of 1188 individuals and represents our most comprehensive estimate of the personnel composition of the Latvian SD, including naturally the Arajs Kommando.

  117. 117.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, pp. 63–65. “Protokoll über die Vernehmung des Viktor Arajs.” Hamburg, 3 August 1979. Perhaps strangely, this brief deposition does not appear in the trial records in Hamburg, but it does appear in the East German records. Also, Arājs incorrectly gives the wartime German occupants’ name for the University of Latvia, which he attended in the 1930s.

  118. 118.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 27, pp. 412–413. Stanislavs Šteins. “Betrifft: Meine Berufung.” Berlin, 1 November 1979.

  119. 119.

    LVVA. Fond 2942. Apr. 1, p. 2145. “Mājas grāmata, Brīvības iela 35 dz. 30.”

  120. 120.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 2, pp. 147–148. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 27 September 1978.

  121. 121.

    Neither Siņiņš nor Pūdniks are anywhere documented to have been members of the Latvian SD. Andrew Ezergailis. The Holocaust in Latvia, 1941–1944: The Missing Center. Rīga: The Historical Institute of Latvia in Association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1996. Appendix 2. “German and Latvian SD in Latvia: Members of the Latvian SD, 1941–1944,” pp. 388–389.

  122. 122.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 18, pp. 142–144. Stanislavs Šteins. “Dienstzeitbescheinigung.” 20 January 1945.

  123. 123.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 3, pp. 165–169. Stanislavs Šteins. “Vernehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 18 April 1978.

  124. 124.

    Also see the related: BStU ZUV 63 Band 18, p. 148. Stanislavs Šteins. “Gebührniskarte.” 21 March 1945.

  125. 125.

    BStU ZUV 63 Band 3, pp. 106–107. Stanislavs Šteins. “Venehmungsprotokoll.” Berlin, 22 September 1978. It should be pointed out that the document in question is not itself reproduced in the record group, making it impossible to verify its authenticity.

  126. 126.

    For a powerful story of one person’s encounter with the Stasi, see: Timothy Garton Ash. The File: A Personal History. New York: Vintage Books, 1998.

  127. 127.

    Amongst the literature, see especially the dispassionate and fair: David Childs and Richard Popplewell. The Stasi: The East German Intelligence and Security Service. New York: New York University Press, 1996.

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    Richards Plavnieks

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Plavnieks, R. (2018). East Germany: An Elaborately Squandered Opportunity. In: Nazi Collaborators on Trial during the Cold War. The Holocaust and its Contexts. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57672-5_5

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