Veterans Day

Although conveniently for working people, the federal holiday was yesterday, I think of November 11 as the "real" Veterans Day. It originated to mark the Armistice which ended the western portion of World War I; at the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11 month, the guns finally fell silent.

This Veterans Day, I think, as I often do these days, of the service of my sometime uncle, Brigadier General Johnny Lentz. He counts as a "sometime uncle" because, by the time I came along, my aunt had gone on to husband number three of what was eventually four.

Lentz was the ex-husband my parents were proud to keep a connection with. He served as General George Patton's logistic officer during that tank commander's charge across occupied France and into Germany in 1944-5.

But when the shooting ended, Lentz took up a role which I only discovered much more recently in a book about the development of the laws of war in the post-WWII war crimes trials. 

General Lentz presided over the military court which tried the German officers who had run the Dachau concentration camp. That trial set the pattern for the much more significant Nuremberg trials of the Nazi leaders; Nuremberg is a prime source of international laws of war recognized by treaty and the United Nations.

After listening to the evidence, and the opportunities for defense, the Dachau tribunal found the defendants guilty. General Lentz pronounced:

'The evidence presented to this court convinced it beyond any doubt that the Dachau concentration camp and its by-camps subjected its inmates to killings, beatings, tortures, indignities, and starvation to an extent and degree that necessitates the indictment of everyone, high and low, who had anything to do with the conduct and operation of the camp. This court reiterates that it sits in judgment under international law and under such laws of humanity and human behavior that are commonly recognized by civilized people.

"Many of the acts committed at Dachau," Lentz said, "clearly had the sanction of the high officials of the German Reich and the de facto laws and customs of the German government. It is the view of this court, however, that when a state sets itself up above reasonably recognized international law, or transcends civilized customs of human behavior, then the individuals effecting such policies must be held responsible for their part in violating international law and the customs and laws to humanity."

That is, this court insisted on the responsibility of individuals for "just following orders." He ordered 38 defendants hanged.

The story of the postwar military tribunals and international law is explored thoroughly in Justice at Dachau which I got out of the San Francisco Public Library. 

Thank you for your service, Uncle Johnny.