German General Behind Thousands of Executions in Serbia: Franz Böhme
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Franz Böhme was an Austrian-born German general whose command in occupied Serbia became associated with some of the largest reprisal executions carried out by the Wehrmacht during the Second World War.
Appointed chief commander in Serbia in September 1941, Böhme enforced a policy under which 100 hostages were to be shot for every German soldier killed and 50 for every soldier wounded. Under his command, civilians were arrested, villages burned, and thousands executed.
The policy culminated in the Kragujevac massacre of October 1941, when an estimated 2,778 to 2,794 people were killed, including 144 high school students and children as young as 12. German records later claimed that between 20,000 and 30,000 civilians were executed in reprisal operations during Böhme’s three months in command.
After the war, Böhme was indicted in the Hostages Trial for war crimes committed in Serbia. He died by suicide in Nuremberg on 29 May 1947 before his case could be heard.
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