Nordhorn, Heinrich fr

Country of proceedings: Italy
Context of crimes: World War II (Italy)
Date: 2006
Keywords: War crimes (murder, against civilians)

Court Documents (in Italian)
03-11-2006 - Sentenza (Tribunale militare della spezia)

Presentation of the case
Heinrich Nordhorn was a Wehrmacht (German Armed Forced) Second Lieutenant and platoon Commander of the 525 Tank Destroyer Division located nearby Forli, Italy in 1944.

On 28 August 1944 four civilian detainees were hanged on a road nearby Forli as reprisal for an alleged partisan attack conducted on the previous day in which a German soldier was wounded. Afterwards, on 9 September 1944, six more detainees were hanged in reprisal for a mine explosion in which a German Soldier was seriously injured. Before the execution, German troops rounded up hundreds civilians, brought them in front of the gallows and forced them to be present at the hanging.
Heinrich Nordhorn ordered both executions which were carried out in order to intimidate the local population.

More than sixty years later, the Military Tribunal of La Spezia decided to prosecute Heinrich Nordhorn. Nordhorn was charged in absentia with 2 counts of multiple murders.

Although Nordhorn’s legal adviser said he was just complying with orders, on 3 November 2006 the Tribunal sentenced him to life imprisonment with the additional punishment of daytime isolation.

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