Horst Günther

Horst Günther (23 September 1920 - 6 April 1944) was a German World War II prisoner of war. An Afrika Korps "gefreiter", he was "captured on 9 May 1943 in Tunisia [and] murdered in Camp Aiken prisoner-of-war camp, South Carolina". [ [http://home.arcor.de/kriegsgefangen/deutsch/cemetery/fort_gordon.html Original German text: "Gefangennahme am 09.05.1943 in Tunesien. Er wurde im Kriegsgefangenenlager Aiken, South Carolina, ermordet."] ] He was suspected of collaborating with the American authorities and strangled by two fellow prisoners-of-war, Erich Gauss and Rudolf Straub. "His body was hanged on a tree to make it appear a suicide." ["Newsweek"; "Death and Treason", 5 February 1945.] Gauss and Straub were hanged on 14 July 1945 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. They were buried in the prison cemetery. [ [http://www.interment.net/data/us/ks/leavenworth/ftleav_prison/index.htm Fort Leavenworth Military Prison cemetery] ] Straub is alleged to have said just before his execution: "What I did was done as a German soldier under orders. If I had not done so, I would have been punished when I returned to Germany." [ [http://venus.soci.niu.edu/~archives/ABOLISH/mar98/0037.html "Abolish" Death penalty news, 1 March 1998] ]

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