Wilhelm Reinhold Johannes Kunze (March 5, 1904 – November 4, 1943) was a German
World War IIprisoner of war (POW) held at Camp Tonkawa,
Oklahoma.[1] He was a Gefreiter in the
Afrika Korps. Following a trial before a
kangaroo court on November 4, 1943, he was beaten to death by his fellow POWs since he had been
spying for the Americans. He became a suspect of fellow prisoners of war after expressing defeatist comments and indifference to the outcome of the war.[2]
The unmasking of Kunze happened by accident; he had been in the habit of passing notes to the American doctor at the camp during sick call. These notes contained useful information regarding the activities of various POWs in the camp, some still loyal
Nazis. One day a new American doctor was on duty who did not know about Kunze's role as spy and who could not speak German. When Kunze handed over his note, the American doctor accidentally blew Kunze's cover by sending it back via another POW, who read the incriminating note and quickly realized that Kunze was a spy.[1] News of this discovery spread quickly and soon afterwards Kunze was killed inside the camp by his fellow POWs. He is buried in the Fort Reno prisoner of war cemetery.[1]
Five German POWs were court-martialed for Kunze's murder.[1] The case was prosecuted by
Leon Jaworski, later the special prosecutor in the
Watergate scandal.[3] The trial took place at Camp Gruber near Muskogee.[3] All five defendants were found guilty of premeditated murder, sentenced to death, and subsequently executed by
hanging at the
United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth,
Kansas, on July 10, 1945.[3] Although the death sentences were confirmed by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt in October 1944, the executions were delayed until after the end of the war in Europe due to the fear of reprisals against Allied prisoners held by Germany.[4] Afterwards, the bodies of the executed men were buried in
Fort Leavenworth Military Prison Cemetery.[5]
Kunze's death is the subject of two nonfiction accounts:
Vincent S. Green's Extreme Justice,[6] and Wilma Parnell's Killing of Corporal Kunze.[7]