Anton Dostler

Anton Dostler
Dostler (right) with his interpreter, Albert O. Hirschman, at his trial (1945)
Born	Anton Dostler (1891-05-10)10 May 1891 Munich, German Empire
Died	3 December 1945(1945-12-03) (aged 54) Aversa, Province of Caserta, Kingdom of Italy
Cause of death	Execution by firing squad
Criminal status	Executed
Motive	Superior orders
Conviction(s)	War crimes
Criminal penalty	Death
Details
Victims	15
Date	26 March 1944
Country	Italy
Target(s)	American POWs
Military career
Allegiance	Germany
Service/branch	Imperial German Army  Reichsheer  German Army
Years of service	1910–45
Rank	General of the Infantry
Commands held	57th Infantry Division 163rd Infantry Division LXXV Army Corps LXXIII Army Corps
Battles/wars	Second World War

Anton Dostler (10 May 1891 – 1 December 1945) was a German army officer who fought in both World Wars. During World War II, he commanded several units as a General of the Infantry, primarily in Italy. After the Axis defeat, Dostler was executed for war crimes—specifically, ordering the execution of fifteen American prisoners of war in March 1944 during the Italian Campaign.

Dostler was tried during the first Allied war crimes trials to be held after the end of the war in Europe; at Nuremberg, he mounted a defense on the grounds that he had ordered the executions only because he himself was obeying superior orders, and that as such only his superiors could be held responsible. The Nuremberg judges rejected Dostler's defense, ruling, in an important precedent (later codified in Principle IV of the Nuremberg Principles and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights), that citing superior orders did not relieve soldiers or officers of responsibility for carrying out war crimes.^[1] After being found guilty, Dostler was sentenced to death and executed by a United States Army firing squad.