Why are there German graves in the old USDB cemetery?
The graves of fourteen German Prisoners of War are in the USDB cemetery on Fort Leavenworth. They came to be here because the post held German and Italian POWs convicted of crimes while in POW status and the Geneva Conventions require the custodial powers to exercise judicial control over the prisoners in their hands. These men were tried, convicted and executed for murdering their fellow POWs. While there has been much talk over the years of repatriating the bodies, nothing has ever come of it. The graves have been decorated in the German tradition since soon after the executions by local residents of German descent. There is some confusion over the execution site. Vincent Green in Extreme Justice and Richard Whittingham in Martial Justice both say the execution took place in building 466. But their narratives, and that of the other witness, say the execution took place in an elevator shaft and 466 does not now and did not in 1945 have an elevator or shaft. The MP’s teach their new so
