I’m continuing my WWII Timeline series with a look at 1947 and beyond in this post. This is the final post of my WWII Timeline series.
A Timeline of WWII, 1947 and Beyond
April 16, 1947
Former Auschwitz Kommandant Rudolf Höss was hanged at Auschwitz near Crematory I.
September 15, 1947
Twenty-one former SS-Einsatz leaders went on trial before the U.S. Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. Fourteen were sentenced to death, with only the four group commanders actually being executed. The others’ death sentences were commuted.
May 1948
The Soviets blockaded Berlin.
Regarding the Malmedy Massacre trial, political complications arose after the Soviets blockaded Berlin. The strategic importance of post-war Germany in the emerging Cold War became apparent to the U.S. amid public outcry in Germany against war crime trials being conducted by the U.S. Army.
June 25, 1948
President Harry Truman signed the Displaced Persons Act which allowed more than 200,000 European refugees to settle in the United States.
November 1948
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East sentenced Japanese War Minister Tojo Hideki to death for his war crimes.
1949
Regarding the Malmedy Massacre trial, in 1949, following a series of public charges and counter charges by trial participants and further investigations over whether justice had been served in the conduct of the trial, six of the remaining death sentences were commuted.
A U.S. Senate Armed Services Subcommittee then began an investigation, led by Sen. Joseph McCarthy, concerning the U.S. Army’s overall handling of the case. The Senate investigation heightened the controversy surrounding the trial, due in part to the aggressive behavior of Sen. McCarthy.
April 4, 1949
The United States, Canada, and several Western European nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty which established NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization).
May 1949
Following the establishment of NATO, the Soviets lifted their blockade of western Berlin.
Early 1950’s
Regarding the Malmedy Massacre trial, by the early 1950s, following years of accusations, denials, investigations, controversy, and political turmoil, the final remaining death sentences were commuted and release of all of the convicted SS men began.
December 1, 1950
President Harry Truman created the Federal Civil Defense Administration under the Office of Emergency Management.
September 8, 1951
The declaration of war against Japan in 1941 was officially lifted when forty-nine nations signed the Japanese Peace Treaty in San Francisco. It reestablished Japanese sovereignty and peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers on behalf of the United Nations.
October 19, 1951
The declaration of war against Germany in 1941 was officially lifted when President Harry Truman signed an act formally ending World War II after having Congress abolish the state of war with Germany.
December 1956
The last prisoner from the Malmedy Massacre trial, Jochen Peiper, was released from Landsberg Prison. He eventually settled in eastern France.
May 11, 1960
Adolf Eichmann was captured in Argentina by the Israeli secret service.
April 11 – August 14, 1961
Adolf Eichmann was tried in Jerusalem and found guilty of crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. A fellow Nazi reported Eichmann once said he would,
leap laughing into the grave because the feeling that he had five million people on his conscience would be for him a source of extraordinary satisfaction.
May 31, 1962
Adolf Eichmann was hanged at Ramleh.
July 14, 1976
In the last of the acts following the Malmedy Massacre trial, on Bastille Day in France, Jochen Peiper was killed when a fire of mysterious origin destroyed his home. Firefighters responding to the blaze found their water hoses had been cut.
Sources:
This series of posts is based on a compilation of timelines from:
The History Place:
The National WWII Museum Interactive Timeline
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
World War II Chronicle by the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.
Most recent post from the series:
This is the final post of my WWII Timeline series.
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2020
The Arrowhead Club 