A German soldier who refused to be shot. But there was one who did not shoot (4 photos). Doubts about the veracity of the circumstances of the execution

Joseph Schultz (Schultz)

German soldier, participant in World War II. He was shot by a German officer in a Serbian village for standing up for partisans sentenced to death. In the former Yugoslavia, and now in modern Serbia, he is considered an anti-fascist hero.

Josef Schulz (Schultz) (Jozef Šulc - Serbian) was born in 1909, Wuppertal, Germany. Shot on July 19, 1941, in the village of Smederevska Palanka, Yugoslavia. He was a German soldier, 114th Jaeger (714th Infantry) Division.

Colleagues considered Josef a calm person who could maintain fun in any company. He was not quick-tempered, reckless, more often considered soft. He was fond of playing the piano, and was also a good artist - he was excellent at reproductions of paintings by Dutch artists.

In July 1941, German troops on Mount Gradishte near the village of Vyshevets defeated the Palanatsky partisan company. In the Serbian village of Smederevska Palanka, the Germans captured 16 civilians, accusing them of aiding the partisans and sent them to a makeshift prison - the stable of the 5th Cavalry Regiment named after Queen Maria Karageorgievich. The military field court sentenced all 16 people to death, the sentence was to be carried out on the evening of July 19.

The same stable was chosen as the place for execution - the prisoners were placed with their backs to a haystack, the partisans were previously blindfolded. But just before the execution, Josef Schultz, who was included in the firing squad, suddenly threw his rifle to the ground and exclaimed:

— Ich schiese nothing! Diese Manner sind unschuldig! (I won't shoot! These people are innocent!)

The commander of the firing squad, hearing this phrase, froze in shock: the division soldier refused

carry out the order. The decision was made immediately - Schultz was recognized as a rebel, and for failure to comply with the order, he should be shot. The sentence was carried out immediately. Josef was buried next to the executed partisans.

Josef Schulz a few minutes before his death (indicated by an arrow)

Josef is standing in front of the partisans, there are no more weapons in his hands, and there is no helmet on his head either. On both sides - his armed colleagues. Photographer to the right of the firing squad. The identification of the figure in this particular photograph as Schultz is disputed by a number of historians and biographers….

To hide the fact of the rebellion in the division, Josef's family was sent a falsified "funeral", which was initiated by the command.

In 1972, Josef's brother Walter traveled to Yugoslavia to learn the details of his brother's death. After examining the photograph in question, Walter confirmed that it really depicts Josef Schulz.

Yugoslav journalist Zvonimir Janković was also able to find a photograph from the execution site showing a arguing Wehrmacht officer and soldier; although that soldier was in a German uniform, there were no distinguishing signs of the Wehrmacht on it. Apparently, this was the same Joseph. In 1973, journalists from the Yugoslav newspaper Politika paid a visit to Walter Schultz in Germany, who gave an interview and spoke about his brother.

In Yugoslavia, the German soldier was actually made a national hero and a symbol of anti-fascist resistance.

In the Bryansk region, the story of the destruction of Khatsuni on October 25, 1941 by punishers is widely known. After the opening of the memorial, visiting it by Putin V.V., broadcasting on television, this tragic story became known outside the Bryansk region, although one of the main documents - a report on the punitive action in Hatsuni, was brought to Bryansk by S. Shtopper, already known to us, even before the opening of the memorial .
Recently, on the Internet, I "caught" another story that shows that not all Germans were monsters. I present this story to your attention. A little more than three months remained before the events in Hatsuni ...

Joseph Schultz, a simple Wehrmacht private who served in Yugoslavia in 1941 with the 714th Infantry Division.
On July 19, 1941, after the defeat of the Serbian village of Orahovac, his platoon was ordered to join the firing squad and execute a group of detained "partisans". Josef silently but decisively refused to carry out the criminal order - throwing his weapon, he stood on a par with the condemned and was immediately shot by his colleagues along with the hostages.
In the photo, Josef Schultz, going to meet death...

An excerpt from Karl Bethke's article "German Anti-Hitler Resistance in (former) Yugoslavia":

The most extravagant pages in the history of German-Yugoslav relations are devoted to the case of Corporal Josef Schulz from Wuppertal, who allegedly refused to participate in the execution of 16 partisans in Smederevska Palanka on July 20, 1941, as a result of which he was executed himself. History was questioned (H. Lichtenstein, A. Rückerl, F. Stahl), because. examinations of the research center in Ludwigsburg and the Freiburg military archive prove that Schultz died the day before, already at two in the morning on July 20, a report of his death was received by the army command, a photograph of the fallen was sent to his relatives. Therefore, the assertion that the Schulz case is an illustrative example of the so-called. Befehlsnotstand (failure to carry out a criminal order), raises legitimate objections. Nevertheless, in Yugoslavia, as well as among Germans who value friendship with Yugoslavia and the Serbs, the Schultz myth has many supporters - which contributes to its popularity. The poet Antonje Iskaovich witnessed the execution in Palanka and described it in the story "Satovi", however, he does not mention a German soldier, but only 16 executed partisans. In addition, he claims that he saw photographs of the execution at an exhibition organized by the commission for the investigation of war crimes back in 1945 in Belgrade.
According to the director of the factory (then serving as a barracks), on the territory of which the execution was carried out, Chaslav Vlaich, after the war, during the exhumation, which he attended as a schoolboy, German shoe studs and pieces of a buckle were found - obviously, there was a German soldier in the grave, identifying the sign was then lost. The story of a soldier who, for ethical reasons, opposed his own - a classic plot of a heroic epic - was decided to be immortalized on a monument erected in 1947, for which they Germanized the name of a Croatian worker who was shot that day. Marcel Mezhich became Marcel Mazel - because of the alien-sounding name, they decided that he was of German origin. The story of the shot German surfaced again in 1961 in the Yugoslav press, in December of the same year, German magazines (Neuje Illustrirt, in 1966 Quick) published photographs from the military archive. They depict the shooting of hostages in the countryside, one showing the blurry figure of "a German soldier whose military insignia is unidentifiable." Without a helmet or belt, perhaps with his hands tied, he appears to be heading towards the victims to line up with them. The magazines turned to readers with the question: was there anyone who witnessed this incident. The film, according to an archive worker in Palanka, was taken by a local photographer, and after the division was transferred to the eastern front, it remained in Palanka. It is curious that photographs were published in the book about the history of Palanka, but not a word was said about the story with Schultz.
On the basis of the combat log of the 714th Infantry Division, the Bundestag deputy from the SPD Ostmann “identified” the photo as a shooting at Palanka, and the one who was shot as Schulz who died that day. Ostmann found Schultz's brother Walter and arranged for him to travel to Yugoslavia in 1972. After reviewing the details, Walter Schultz decided that his brother was in the photograph. However, Schultz's comrades-in-arms assured the Wuppertal Tageszeitung that they saw with their own eyes how Schultz died in battle with the partisans (Heinz Ufer said that he found the seriously wounded Schultz in his truck, and chaplain Braun remembered that Schultz was buried with military honors) . An examination of the research center in Ludwigsburg in 1972 unequivocally refuted the legend of the execution. The director of the factory, Vlaich, who spoke German and gave interviews to numerous media outlets, then maintained business contacts with German companies, in a conversation with the author, he confirmed that, among other things, he wanted to attract tourists by promoting the "Schulz case". Today, he tells the Serbian press that history is “still a big mystery” for him. To overcome doubts, another witness was revealed - Zvonimir Jankovic - he saw how the officer spoke angrily and "in a raised tone" with a protesting German without insignia. Against the background of the resumption of diplomatic relations, Schulz began to be used by both sides as a symbol of the "other Germany". In Yugoslavia, the history set forth in numerous publications and even in a school textbook dampened post-war anti-German speeches that did not fit in with the views of the younger generation and the development of economic ties. Bonn found his “good German” in Schulz from Smederevska Palanka. Predrag Golubovic filmed the story of Schultz in 1972. The short film, commissioned by the army film studio Zastava, was shown as a magazine in cinemas and shown at international festivals in Oberhausen, Atlanta, Birmingham, etc. It is curious that the director creatively reworked the critics' argument about the missing insignia in the photo. In the film, they are theatrically torn down. Mira Aleshkovich composed poems about the hero, the intention to name the street in his honor was not realized. In the late seventies there was a scandal. When Mina Kovacevic sculpted a figure of Schulz in 1978, local politicians and the Union of Veteran Partisans protested. The lawsuit lasted until 1981 and ended in the defeat of the sculptor. The local council of the community said that the sculpture depicting a foreign soldier, especially a German, despite his heroism, does not fit into the official paradigm. However, colleagues in Belgrade supported Kovacevic, and when she turned to the German embassy for help, even Stern drew attention to the "stubbornness of comrades from the Serbian hinterland."
In the summer of 1981, German Ambassador Horst Grabert, together with Yugoslav Foreign Minister Vrbovec, laid wreaths at the old monument, after which he reported to Genoscher that all of Yugoslavia was "on the side of Schulz." The research center in Ludwigsburg informed the German embassy of the legend's contradictions, but Grabert, appealing to the witness Jankovic and other evidence, made it clear that he "did not want to go against local beliefs." In 1997, Grabert returned to the story once more and called Schultz "a staunch Catholic". In Yugoslav newspapers after 1973, when journalists visited Schultz's brother Walter, new details also constantly surfaced: the artistic talent of the murdered corporal was emphasized, and later he even became a member of a secret anti-Hitler organization. A few meters from the old monument, in the early 80s, a new one was erected, on which the name of Schulz was added (and the name of the Croat Mezic was corrected). On July 20, 1997, German Ambassador Gruber spoke in front of the monument, footage of the speech was shown on television. Over the past 40 years, dozens of articles about Schultz have been published in Yugoslavia, in most of which there is little or no mention of the reasoned objections of German historians. The figure of Schultz is deeply rooted in the collective consciousness of the Serbs, regardless of the veracity of the original story. For example, in 1999, during demonstrations in Vojvodina, the leader of the Social Democrats there, Chanak, called on Serbian police to follow the example of Josef Schulz and go over to their side.

Third Reich

In July 1941, German troops on Mount Gradishte near the village of Vyshevets defeated the Palanatsky partisan company. In the Serbian village of Smederevska Palanka, the Germans captured 16 Yugoslav partisans from the same company and sent them to prison - to the stable of the 5th Cavalry Regiment named after Queen Maria Karageorgievich. The military court sentenced all 16 people to death, the sentence was to be carried out on the evening of July 19.

The same stable was chosen as the place for execution - the prisoners were placed with their backs to a haystack, the partisans were previously blindfolded. But just before the execution, Josef Schultz, who was included in the firing squad, suddenly threw his rifle to the ground and exclaimed:

I won't shoot! These people are innocent!

original text(German)

Ich schiese nothing! Diese Manner sind unschuldig!

The commander of the firing squad, hearing this phrase, froze in shock: the division soldier refused to obey the order. The decision was made immediately - Schultz was recognized as a rebel, and for failure to comply with the order, he should be shot. The sentence was carried out immediately. Josef was buried next to the executed partisans.

Facts about Josef Schulz

Colleagues considered Josef a calm person who could maintain fun in any company. He was not short-tempered, reckless or aggressive, more often considered gentle. He was fond of playing the piano, and was also a good artist - he was excellent at reproductions of paintings by Dutch artists.

The letters that Josef wrote to relatives and friends have not been preserved: during the bombing of the city, the apartment with all the property burned to the ground. Among the property were not only letters, but also over 200 records.

Doubts about the veracity of the circumstances of the execution

The veracity of the fact that Josef Schulz was executed for trying to intercede for civilians has been and is disputed by some historians. Some argue that, in fact, Schultz did not participate in the execution, and his name was simply given to one of the partisans in order to create the impression of an anti-Nazi rebellion in the division. At the same time, the identification of the remains of the buried soldiers showed that a German soldier was indeed buried in the village.

Josef's mother, Berte, and younger brother Walter, on August 9 of the same year, received a notice of the death of Josef Schulz, which allegedly happened the day before the events, and Wisevica was named the place of death, and not Smederevska-Palanka. The letter was issued by the unit headquarters with field mail number 42386 °C. According to the text of the funeral, Josef was mortally wounded in the lung while fighting against Tito's partisans. The personal belongings of the deceased were listed. The full text of the letter is:

External images
Execution of Joseph Schulz
	Partisans before being shot. The guy and the girl hold hands, everyone is blindfolded. Photographer to the left of the firing squad.
	Josef Schulz a few minutes before his death (indicated by an arrow). Josef is standing in front of the partisans, there are no more weapons in his hands, and there is no helmet on his head either. On both sides - his armed colleagues. Photographer to the right of the firing squad. The identification of the figure in this particular photograph as Schultz has been disputed by a number of historians and biographers.
	Monument to Josef, 1960s-70s
	Monument at the place of execution of 16 partisans and Wehrmacht soldier Josef Schulz

A simple (modest) cross adorns his grave! He died like a hero! During a fierce firefight, he received a ricocheted bullet in his right lung. Then reinforcements arrived and put the communist gang to flight, and your son was bandaged. But any possible help was in vain. He died within minutes.

Wallet with contents: 12 Reichsmarks, 2 keys and a wedding ring
Various empty envelopes
Medallion containing various photographs
Bar of soap for washing, 4-piece cutlery
Bar of shaving soap, 4 handkerchiefs
Automatic pencil (silver plated), one notebook
Glasses, letters from home
Harmonica, letter home
Scissors, letter home
Exita watch brand
Pocket mirror and comb

For all questions of social security and assistance, you should contact the relevant departments of the Wehrmacht, the location of which will be happy to inform you in any military institution. We grieve with you for the loss of your son, because he was, to all of us, a valuable and reliable comrade. He will forever remain in our memory.

Signature: Gollub

Oberleutnant, company commander.

original text(German)

Ein schlichtes Kreuz ziert sein Grab! Er starb als Held! Bei einem Feuergefecht erhielt er nach heftigem Feuerkampf einen Querschläger in die rechte Lunge. Durch inzwischen eingetroffene Verstärkung wurde die Kommunistenbande in die Flucht geschlagen und Ihr Sohn verbunden. Jede menschliche Hilfe war jedoch vergeblich. Der Tod trat nach wenigen Minuten ein.
1 Geldbörse mit Inhalt: 12.- RM 2 Schlüssel u. 1 Tracing
1 „leer Diverse Briefe
1 Nähkasten mit Inhalt Diverse Bilder
1 Stuck Waschseife Essbesteck 4teilig
1 Stuck Rasierseife 4 Taschentucher
1 Drehbleistift (versilbert) 1 Notizbuch
1 Brille Briefe aus der Heimat
1 Mundharmonika Brief zur Heimat
1 Schere 1 Brief zur Heimat
1 Armbanduhr Marke Exita
1 Taschenspiegel u. Kamm
In allen Fürsorge- und Versorgungsfragen wird Ihnen das zuständige Wehrmachtsfürsorge- und Versorgungsamt, dessen Standort bei jeder militärischen Dienststelle zu erfahren ist, bereitwilligst Auskunft erteilen. Wir trauern mit Ihnen um den Verlust Ihres Sohnes, denn er war uns allen ein liebwerter und treuer Kamerad. Er wird uns unvergessen bleiben.
Unterschrift: Gollub
Oberleutnant and Kompaniechef

In the 1960s, German weeklies Neue illustrations and Quick published photographs from the place of execution, and one of them showed a soldier without a weapon and without a helmet. The Germans were asked about who this person could be. Bundestag deputy Wilderich Freiherr Ostman von der Leie, after examining the photograph, soon stated that Josef Schulz was indeed depicted in the photograph - the source was the diary of division commander Friedrich Stahl, which was provided by his own son, who worked in the Freiburg military archive. However, Joseph's colleagues, who shot the partisans, argued the opposite: the photograph did not depict a dead soldier at all. Similar statements were made in Ludwigsburg by members of the commission investigating the crimes of the Nazis. Although the date of Schulz's death was not in doubt (after the battle with the Yugoslavs on July 19, 1941, the death of the division commander was reported at 2 am on July 20), archivists stated that the incident in the village was a fiction of Yugoslav propaganda.

perpetuation of memory

Soon in 1972, Josef's brother Walter traveled to Yugoslavia to learn about the details of his brother's death. After examining the photograph in question, Walter confirmed that it really depicts Josef Schulz. As it turned out, the family was sent a falsified "funeral", which was created by German officers, most likely to hide the fact of a rebellion in the division. Yugoslav journalist Zvonimir Janković was also able to find a photograph from the execution site showing a arguing Wehrmacht officer and soldier; although that soldier was in a German uniform, there were no distinguishing signs of the Wehrmacht on it. Apparently, this was the same Joseph. In 1973, journalists from the Yugoslav newspaper Politika paid a visit to Walter Schultz in Germany, who gave an interview and spoke about his brother.

In Yugoslavia, the German soldier was actually made a national hero and a symbol of anti-fascist resistance. In Serbia, two monuments were erected to him: one is located in the village of Lokve (dedicated to himself), and the other in the village of Smeredyanska Palanka, at the place of death (dedicated to 16 executed partisans). The partisans themselves opposed the erection of a monument to the German, and the writer Mina Kovashevich, who supported the idea of ​​erecting a monument, even ended up in prison. In and 1997, German ambassadors to Yugoslavia Horst Grabert and Wilfred Gruber participated in commemorative ceremonies: both laid flowers at Josef's monuments. In 1973, a short 13-minute film "Josef Schulz" by Predrag Golubić was made about the events in the village. The film involved archival footage of German military photo and video chronicles.

Notes

1. According to other sources - Orahovac
2. Josef Schulz or there is always a choice (Russian)
3. Manoschek Walter"Serbien ist judenfrei". Militärische Besatzungspolitik und Judenvernichtung in Serbien 1941/42. - 2. - Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 1995. - P. 189. -

Joseph Schulz(German Josef Schulz (Schultz), Serbohorv. Jozef ulc / Josef Schulz; 1909, Wuppertal - July 19 or 20, 1941, Smederevska Palanka) - German soldier, participant in World War II, corporal of the Wehrmacht. Presumably, he was shot in the Serbian village of Smederevska Palanka on July 20, 1941 for refusing to participate in the execution of hostages. In the countries of the former Yugoslavia, he is considered an anti-fascist hero.

In German historiography, the case of Josef Schulz (German: Der "Fall Schulz") is treated as a myth.

Biography and characteristics

The eldest son in the family (there were three children in total). Father died during the second battle of Ypres. In the interwar period, he studied at the trade school in Wuppertal, worked as a window dresser, earning some money for the family. In 1939 he was drafted into the army, in 1941 he was sent to Yugoslavia. He served in the 714th Infantry Division, rose to the rank of corporal. Lived in the Barmen quarter.

Colleagues considered Josef a calm person who could maintain fun in any company. He was not short-tempered, reckless or aggressive, more often considered gentle. He was fond of playing the piano, and was also a good artist - he was excellent at reproductions of paintings by Dutch artists. The letters that Josef wrote to relatives and friends have not been preserved: during the bombing of the city, the apartment with all the property burned to the ground. Among the property were not only letters, but also over 200 records.

Storyline

In July 1941, German troops on Mount Gradishte near the village of Vyshevets defeated the Palanatsky partisan company. In the Serbian village of Smederevska Palanka, the Germans captured 16 Yugoslav partisans from the same company and sent them to prison - to the stable of the 5th Cavalry Regiment named after Queen Maria Karageorgievich. The military court sentenced all 16 people to death, the sentence was to be carried out on the evening of July 19 (according to other sources - July 20).

The same stable was chosen as the place for execution - the prisoners were placed with their backs to a haystack, the partisans were previously blindfolded. However, according to a popular legend, just before the execution, Josef Schulz, who was included in the firing squad, suddenly threw his rifle to the ground and exclaimed:

I won't shoot! These people are innocent!

Original text (German) Ich schiee nicht! Diese Mnner sind unschuldig!

The commander of the firing squad, hearing this phrase, froze in shock: the division soldier refused to obey the order. The decision was made immediately - Schultz was recognized as a rebel, and for failure to comply with the order, he should be shot. The sentence was carried out immediately. Josef was buried next to the executed partisans.

Historians' estimates

The German historian Karl Bethke in 2002 calls the case of Corporal Josef Schulz the "most bizarre" page of the German-Yugoslav past. He notes that this event was called into question by a number of researchers (Heiner Liechtenstein, Albert Rückerl, Friedrich Stahl), since the expertise of the Central Administration of the Land Offices of Justice for the investigation of Nazi crimes (German: Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen zur Aufklrung nationalsozialistischer Verbrechen), as well as The Federal Military Archive in Freiburg testified that J. Schultz died the day before the described execution of the partisans. Since then, there has been an opinion that the Schulz case could be classified as an example of extreme necessity when applied to a criminal order, but, in fact, the myth of Corporal Josef Schulz found many supporters, mainly in Yugoslavia. The historian sees the reason for this in the desire to overcome the past and reach agreement between Germany and Yugoslavia.

In a 2011 review of the book The Search for a Hero, Swiss historian Andreas Ernst, a specialist in the countries of South-Eastern Europe, states that the Schulz case is not only a false story of a hero, but also an example of the conflicting interests of politics and justice in "overcoming the German of the past". In Germany, the legend of the "good soldier" dispelled only many years after its refutation. For a long time it seemed too good not to be true. In Serbia, however, it has survived to this day.

Memory

In Yugoslavia, the German soldier was actually made a national hero and a symbol of anti-fascist resistance. In Serbia, two monuments were erected to him: one is located in the village of Lokve (dedicated to himself), and the other in the village of Smeredyanska Palanka, at the place of death (dedicated to 16 executed partisans). The partisans themselves opposed the erection of a monument to the German, and the writer Mina Kovashevich, who supported the idea of ​​erecting a monument, even ended up in prison. In 1981 and 1997, the German ambassadors to Yugoslavia, Horst Grabert and Wilfred Gruber, participated in commemorative ceremonies: both laid flowers at Josef's monument. In 1973, a short 13-minute film by Predrag Golubić "Josef Schulz" was made about the events in the village. The film involved archival footage of German military photo and video chronicles.