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''Nacht und Nebel'' (German for "Night and Fog") was a directive ((ドイツ語:Erlass)) from Adolf Hitler on 7 December 1941 targeting political activists and resistance "helpers" that was originally intended to winnow out "anyone endangering German security" (''die deutsche Sicherheit gefährden'') throughout Nazi Germany's occupied territories. Its name was a direct reference to a ''Tarnhelm'' spell, from Wagner's ''Das Rheingold''; it was coincidentally issued the same day as Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor half a world away.〔Toland (1976) — ''Adolf Hitler'', p. 770.〕 Three months later Armed Forces High Command Feldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel expanded it to include all persons in occupied countries who had been taken into custody; if they were still alive eight days later, they were to be handed over to the Gestapo.〔''Nürnberger Dokumente'', PS-1733, NOKW-2579, NG-226. Cited in Bracher (1970). ''The German Dictatorship: The Origins, Structure, and Effects of National Socialism'', p. 418.〕 The decree was meant to intimidate local populations into submission, by denying friends and families of seized persons any knowledge of their whereabouts or their fate. The prisoners were secretly transported to Germany, and vanished without a trace. In 1945, the abandoned ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD) records were found to include merely names and the initials "NN" (''Nacht und Nebel''); even the sites of graves were unrecorded. The Nazis even coined a new term for those who "vanished" in accordance with this decree; they were ''vernebelt'' - transformed into mist.〔Conot (2000). ''Justice at Nuremberg'', p. 300.〕 To this day, it is not known how many thousands of people disappeared as a result of this order.〔Manchester (2003). ''The Arms of Krupp, 1587-1968'', p. 519.〕 The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg held that the disappearances committed as part of the ''Nacht und Nebel'' program were war crimes which violated both the Hague Conventions and customary international law. ==Background== Even before the Holocaust gained momentum, the Nazis had begun rounding up political prisoners from both Germany and occupied Europe. Most of the early prisoners were of two sorts: they were either prisoners of personal conviction (belief), political prisoners whom the Nazis deemed in need of "re-education" to Nazi ideals, or resistance leaders in occupied western Europe.〔Spielvogel (1992). ''Hitler and Nazi Germany: A History'', pp. 82-120, pp. 232-264.〕 Up until the time of the ''Nacht und Nebel'' decree, prisoners from Western Europe were handled by German soldiers in approximately the same way as other countries: according to international agreements and procedures such as the Geneva Convention.〔Dülffer (2009). ''Nazi Germany 1933-1945: Faith and Annihilation'', pp. 160-163.〕 Hitler and his upper level staff, however, made a critical decision not to conform to what they considered unnecessary rules and in the process abandoned "all chivalry towards the opponent" and removed "every traditional restraint on warfare."〔Walter Görlitz, "Keitel, Jodl, and Warlimont," cited in Barnett ed., (2003). ''Hitler’s Generals'', p. 152.〕 On 7 December 1941, ''Reichsführer-SS'' Heinrich Himmler issued the following instructions to the Gestapo: On 12 December, Keitel issued a directive which explained Hitler's orders: He further expanded on this principle in a February 1942 letter stating that any prisoners not executed within eight days were: Himmler immediately communicated Keitel's directive to various SS stations and within six months the decree was sent to concentration camp commanders by Richard Glücks.〔Mayer (2012). ''Why Did the Heavens Not Darken?: The “Final Solution” in History'', pp. 337-338.〕 The ''Nacht und Nebel'' prisoners were mostly from France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Night and Fog Decree )〕 They were usually arrested in the middle of the night and quickly taken to prisons hundreds of miles away for questioning, eventually arriving at concentration camps such as Natzweiler, Esterwegen or Gross-Rosen, if they survived.〔Kogon (2006). ''The Theory and Practice of Hell: The German Concentration Camps and the System behind Them'', pp. 204-205.〕 Natzweiler concentration camp in particular, became an isolation camp for political prisoners from northern and western Europe under the decree's mandate.〔Overy (2006). ''The Dictators: Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Russia'', p. 605.〕 Up to 30 April 1944, at least 6,639 persons were captured under the ''Nacht und Nebel'' orders.〔Lothar Gruchmann: "Nacht- und Nebel-"Justiz... In: VfZ 29 (1981), S. 395.〕 Some 340 of them may have been executed. The 1955 film ''Night and Fog'', directed by Alain Resnais, uses the term to illustrate one aspect of the concentration camp system as it was transformed into a system of labour and death camps. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nacht und Nebel」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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