1. The proceedings of a Military Court (War Crimes) convened for the trial of the above named war criminals and held at HAMBURG between the 19th December 1947 and 24th February 1948 have been received by me for my advice to you before confirmation.
2. All the accused were tried jointly upon a charge alleging that they were concerned in the ill treatment of allied nationals interned in a Labour Education Camp in Bremen. Of the above accused, HASSE, SAUER, WALHORN, ZEHNTER, MEYER, VELKE, were found guilty.
3. In addition., HEIDBREDER, MEYER, PLOTHE, VELKE, and WALHORN were tried on a second charge of being concerned in the killing of allied nationals interned in the same camp, only one of these accused, PLOTHE, was convicted.
4. The sentences passed by the court on the accused were:

5. The camp in question was a camp formed for the pupose of ‘educating’men who did not do sufficient work for employers when they were so detailed either as forced labourers from occupied countries, prisoners of war or Germans who had been released from concentration camps.
6. This camp, like other Labour Education Camps [Arbeitsertziehungslagers], was under the control of the local Gestapo (BREMEN) Office and the authorities in the Gestapo on receiving a report that a man was workshy, could sentence him to anything up to three months internment in the camp,
7. At the beginning of the War there were only some 40 or 50 inmates of the camp; by the end of the War the numbers had reached somewhere in the neighbourhood of 600.
8. Included in the numbers in the camp were some 30 or 40 British and natives of Eire who were seamen on board ships which had been torpedoed and who had been captured by the Germans. They were previously held in a naval prisoner of war camp but in 1943 were transferred first to the Gestapo Prison and later to the Bremen-Farge camp where they were held until the end of the war. They had apparently refused to work for Germany.
9. Three of these men were called to give evidence in person at the trial, one as a witness for the defence of the doctor of the camp, (the second accused) and two for the prosecution.
10. The evidence called before the court did not vary in any way from the evidence which had been called on a number of previous occasions in respect of camps of a similar nature which existed throughout Germany, The only difference in this case was that there were a certain number of British Internees as well as Internees of allied countries.
11. The now well-known story of lack of food, brutal ill treatment, lack of clothing and killings, said to be In order to prevent escape, was told in this case. There is no doubt that there was a great deal of very brutal treatment meted out in the camp during the period covered by the first charge and in my opinion if the court were satisfied that any of the accused were concerned in any way themselves in the ill treatment, they were entitled to find the accused guilty of the charge.
12. I propose to deal only with those accused who have been convicted of either one or other of the charges.
13. Of these accused HASSE, who had been a member of the SS since 1931 and who was a member of the Gestapo was a deputy of the Gestapo…stelle from April 1944 to 11 March 1945 and he admitted in his statement and at the trial that he was responsible for sending prisoners to the camp when reports were received that they had been idle at their work.
14. He must have known of the reason for the camp and of the ill treatment which was meted out there and in my opinion the court were entitled to convict him of the charge.
15. PLOTHE was convicted of the second charge only, having been acquitted of the first. He only arrived in the camp in February 1945 as a guard having been forced to join the Allemagne SS. Very shortly after he arrived he was promoted to a corresponding rank in the SS of Company Serjeant Major. He admits having shot a Pole on the orders of the camp comandant and he further admits being present at the shooting of others and also having seen a number of persons ill treated,
16. In my opinion the court were entitled to convict the accused on the second charge and I find it difficult to understand why he was not convicted of the first.
17. SAUER a member of the Kripo, was in the camp from 1942 to May 1943. He admits having taken part In the ill treatment and there was ample evidence to justify the conviction.
18. WALHORN a member of the Gestapo was appointed the camp commandant where he remained for about two years until he left in 1944. He admits occasionally hitting internees himself and firing at prisoners who were trying to steal potatoes. In his evidence he stated that he accepted responsibility for everything that went on in the camp while he was there. In view of this accused's own admission there is no doubt that the court were entitled to convict him on the first charge and I find it difficult to understand in view of his own evidence, why they did not convict him of the second charge.
19. ZEHNTER was a prisoner in the camp originally but he became a foreman. He admitted that the conditions at the camp were bad and admitted that he as foreman frequently ill treated his fellow prisoners. He says however he only did this when the staff were looking on in order to avoid being beaten himself.
20. In my opinion the court were entitled to convict this accused.
21. MEYER a member of the Gestapo, was at the camp from 1941 to 1944 as a member of the guard. He admits having beaten the internees and the court were entitled therefore in my opinion to convict him.
22. VELKE was also a member of the Gestapo and a member of the guard from November 1944 until the end. He admits having beaten internees and in consequence in my opinion the court were entitled to convict.
23. In my opinion the sentences are In order and you may confirm them.
24. All the accused have petitioned with the exception of VELKE. In my opinion these petitions raise no fresh point and I advise that they should be dismissed, Signed: Brigadier (R C HALSE):

15th March 1948: Sentencing/Photographs: Nazi War Criminals: Bremen-Farge War Crimes Trial