Werner Drechsler

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Werner Drechsler (born January 17, 1923, in Mühlberg, Germany - died March 12, 1944 in Papago Park, Arizona) was a German U-boat crewman during World War II. He was stationed on U-118 which was sunk off the Azores in 1943. When he was taken prisoner he enthusiastically cooperated with his captors due to the fact that his father had spent time in one of Hitler's Concentration Camps as a political prisoner.

Eventually, U.S. Navy intelligence officers convinced Drechsler to become an informer and placed him in a POW camp near Fort Meade, Maryland with other U-Boat sailors, where he discussed their submarines with them and presumably collected information for his interrogators.

On March 12, 1944 Drechsler was transferred to a camp in Arizona which was mostly filled with other Submariners, including some members of the U-118 crew. This transfer occurred despite the fact that he was supposed to be segregated from other naval prisoners. Unfortunately for Drechsler, many of the other POWs had learned of his collaboration with their enemy, and held a Kangaroo Court Martial while he was asleep. The other prisoners eventually decided that it was necessary to kill Drechsler to ensure he could no longer spy upon them, as well as provide a warning to any other POWs who may be inclined to engage in the same actions. The next morning Drechsler was found hanging in the shower room. He had been murdered only a matter of hours after he had arrived.

Seven men (Helmut Fischer, Fritz Franke, Gunther Kuelsen, Heinrich Ludwig, Bernard Ryak, Otto Stenger and Rolf Wizuy) were executed for the beating and hanging of Werner Drechsler. In what was to ultimately become the last mass execution in the United States, the men were hanged in August 1945 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

[edit] See also

• Prisoner of war
• Prisoner-of-war camp

[edit] External links

• A website which explains the story in detail
• website which follows history channel program about the mass execution
• A number of photographs taken around the time of Drechsler's capture
• Drechsler's article on the Spanish wikipedia

[edit] References

• Richard Whittingham, Martial Justice: The Last Mass Execution in the United States, Naval Institute Press, 1997 ISBN 1-55750-945-X

Persondata
NAME	Drechsler, Werner
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	WWII German POW murdered by fellow POWs for informing
DATE OF BIRTH	January 17, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mühlberg (Elbe), Germany
DATE OF DEATH	March 12, 1944
PLACE OF DEATH	Papago Park, Arizona