Walter Reder

{{Infobox criminal

| name = Walter Reder

| birth_date = 4 February 1915

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1991|4|26|1915|2|4}}

| image = Reder123.jpg

| caption = Walter Reder at his trial

| birth_place = Freiwaldau, Austria-Hungary

| death_place = Vienna, Austria

| citizenship =

| occupation = Regimental commander, Reichsführer-SS Division of the Waffen-SS

| known_for = Vinca massacre
Marzabotto massacre

| conviction_penalty = Life imprisonment

| conviction_status = Deceased

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| conviction = War crimes

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Walter Reder (4 February 1915 – 26 April 1991) was an Austrian SS commander and war criminal during World War II.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13512908.html| language=de |title=Österreich: Verlorener Sohn |magazine=Der Spiegel |date=28 January 1985 |access-date=23 May 2017}} He served with the SS Division Totenkopf and the SS Division Reichsführer-SS. He and the unit under his command committed the Vinca massacre and Marzabotto massacre in Italy in 1944. After the war, Reder was convicted of war crimes in Italy.

Early life

Walter Reder was born in Freiwaldau, Austrian Silesia, Austria-Hungary. His family was of conservative orientation. After World War I and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the family left Austrian Silesia and settled in Garsten near Steyr, their ancestral home. Reder's father, Rudolf, worked at the Brotfabrik Reders Söhne ("Bread Factory Reder's Sons") in Garsten and founded a calculator factory in 1925. According to press records from the 1920s, the company was not financially stable and went bankrupt in 1928. Subsequently, Reder's father received a prison sentence for fraud.Christian Reder: Deformierte Bürgerlichkeit. S. 287{{cite web|title=Reisser und Reder|periodical=Rechenmaschinenlexikon.de|publisher=|url=http://www.rechenmaschinenlexikon.de/fr/artikel/Reisser_und_Reder|url-status=|format=|access-date=2019-10-22|archive-url=|archive-date=|last=|date=|year=|language=|pages=|quote=}}{{citation |title=Ein zusammengebrochenes Luftschloß |date=1932-01-19 |url=https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=lvb&datum=19320119&seite=8%20Online |periodical=Linzer Volksblatt |volume=64 |issue=14 |page=8 |access-date=2023-12-24 |place=auf ANNO – AustriaN Newspapers Online |publication-place=Linz |language=German}}{{citation |title=Rechenmaschinenfabrik Reisser und Reder |date=1932-01-21 |url=https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=tab&datum=19320121&seite=9 |periodical=Tagblatt |volume=17 |issue=16 |page=9 |access-date=2023-12-24 |place=auf ANNO – AustriaN Newspapers Online |publication-place=Linz |language=German}}

As a result of the bankruptcy, Reder left his family and settled with an aunt in Vienna. In 1932, he left for Linz and received education at the {{ill|Handelsakademie_Linz|lt= Handelsakademie Linz|de}}. That same year, he joined the Hitler Youth.Barbara Tóth: Der Handschlag. Die Affäre Frischenschlager-Reder. S. 24–25

SS career

File:Walter Reder (1915-1991).jpg]]

Reder joined the SS-Verfügungstruppe and was granted German citizenship in December 1934. During World War II, he served in the Waffen-SS. In March 1943 he was wounded and lost his left arm. Upon recovering, he was assigned to the SS Panzergrenadier Training and Replacement Battalion 3. (This unit was involved in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of April-July 1943). In December 1943, Reder was transferred to the newly formed 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS and served in Italy until 1945. In 1943, Reder became the commander of the SS-Panzer-Aufklärungsabteilung 16, which committed several massacres in 1944. In March 1945, his division withdrew to Hungary and later to Austria. Reder was taken into custody by U.S. soldiers, who then handed him over to British forces near Klagenfurt.{{Cite news |last=Ap |date=1991-05-04 |title=Walter Reder, 75, Dies; A Nazi War Criminal |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/04/obituaries/walter-reder-75-dies-a-nazi-war-criminal.html |access-date=2022-09-20 |issn=0362-4331}}

Trial and conviction

Reder was extradited to Italy in May 1948 to stand trial for war crimes. He was tried by an Italian military court in Bologna for ordering the destruction of town of Marzabotto and other villages near Bologna in August and September of 1944 during so-called anti-partisan sweeps, and for ordering the execution of 2,700 Italian civilians in Tuscany and Emilia during the same period. In October 1951, he was sentenced to life imprisonment at a fortress prison in Gaeta, on the Tyrrhenian Sea coast between Naples and Rome.{{Cite web |title=Marzabotto, settanta anni fa la strage nazista |url=https://www.rainews.it/dl/rainews/articoli/Marzabotto-settanta-anni-fa-la-strage-nazista-d9a069f9-729d-445e-87bd-edce71741c7e.html |access-date=2022-10-28 |website=rainews |date=29 September 2014 |language=italian}}

The citizens of Marzabotto and survivors of the massacre voted 237 to 1 against freeing Reder. Local officials had stated that as many as 1,830 civilians died in massacres in and around Marzabotto.{{cite news|title=Last Nazi war criminal held by Italy given early release|date=January 25, 1985|newspaper=The Dallas Morning News|page=A7}}

Years later, a group of SS men whom Reder had commanded in 1944 were tried and convicted for their role in the Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre. Their convictions and sentencing were conducted in absentia.{{Cite web |date=2005-06-23 |title=10 former Nazis convicted of Tuscan massacre |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/jun/23/secondworldwar.italy |access-date=2022-09-20 |website=the Guardian |language=en}} Reder was paroled in January 1985, after which he returned to Austria. He died in 1991.

References

Sources

Beschluss des Militärtribunals van Bari (Italien) vom 14. Juli 1980, translation by the court interpreter Dr. Oscar Groschup, commissioned by advocat general Dr. Robert Linke, Ministry of Justice, Austria
Marzabotto: The Crimes of Walter Reder - SS-Sturmbannführer, by {{ill|Christian Ortner|de|Christian Ortner (Historiker)|lt= Christian Ortner}} (Vienna, 1985)
Barbara Tóth: Der Handschlag. Die Affäre Frischenschlager-Reder. Dissertation an der Universität Wien, Wien 2010 ([http://othes.univie.ac.at/10810/1/2010-06-10_9300522.pdf Volltext] [PDF; 1,5 MB], 10. Juni 2010).

External links

{{cite web |access-date=2024-07-18 |author=Carlo Gentile |title=Walter Reder |url=https://www.ns-taeter-italien.org/en/perpetrators/walter-reder |website=ns-taeter-italien.org}}

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Category:1915 births

Category:1991 deaths

Category:Austrian Legion personnel

Category:Austrian mass murderers

Category:Austrian Nazis convicted of war crimes

Category:Austrian people imprisoned abroad

Category:Austrian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment

Category:Austrian Waffen-SS personnel