English source-aligned edition
Erhard Milch
Erhard Milch served as State Secretary in the Reich Air Ministry; Inspector General and field marshal of the Luftwaffe. The profile reconstructs the person’s function in German Reich · occupied Europe through documented office, decisions, supervision or operational conduct. It does not assign every crime committed by an institution or region to one individual.
Confirmed findings
- Erhard Milch was born on 30 March 1892 in Wilhelmshaven. From 1933 he served as State Secretary in the Reich Air Ministry and later as Inspector General and field marshal of the Luftwaffe. (Source: Forschungsprojekt „Beamte nationalsozialistischer Reichsministerien” — biographical profile, career in the Reich Air Ministry and postwar section)
- In the Milch Case, the US Military Tribunal found him guilty on Counts I and III: war crimes and crimes against humanity connected with the use of forced labour. (Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — Milch Case judgment, pp. 741–794 in the published record; findings on Counts I–III and sentence; Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — sections “The Charges”, “The Verdict” and “The Sentence”)
- The tribunal found Milch not guilty on Count II concerning medical experiments. This profile does not describe him as convicted for those experiments. (Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — Milch Case judgment, pp. 741–794 in the published record; findings on Counts I–III and sentence; Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — sections “The Charges”, “The Verdict” and “The Sentence”)
- He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1947. The sentence was reduced to fifteen years in 1951, and he was released in 1954. (Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — Milch Case judgment, pp. 741–794 in the published record; findings on Counts I–III and sentence; Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — sections “The Charges”, “The Verdict” and “The Sentence”; Source: Forschungsprojekt „Beamte nationalsozialistischer Reichsministerien” — biographical profile, career in the Reich Air Ministry and postwar section)
Place in the chain of responsibility
Milch’s responsibility is limited to the tribunal’s findings on Counts I and III concerning forced labour. His senior Luftwaffe position is not used here to attribute every action of that organisation to him. (Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — Milch Case judgment, pp. 741–794 in the published record; findings on Counts I–III and sentence; Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — sections “The Charges”, “The Verdict” and “The Sentence”)
Key events and mechanisms
- 1933 – became State Secretary in the Reich Air Ministry (Source: Forschungsprojekt „Beamte nationalsozialistischer Reichsministerien” — biographical profile, career in the Reich Air Ministry and postwar section)
- 1946–1947 – trial before a US Military Tribunal (Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — Milch Case judgment, pp. 741–794 in the published record; findings on Counts I–III and sentence; Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — sections “The Charges”, “The Verdict” and “The Sentence”)
- 17 April 1947 – conviction on Counts I and III and acquittal on Count II (Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — Milch Case judgment, pp. 741–794 in the published record; findings on Counts I–III and sentence; Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — sections “The Charges”, “The Verdict” and “The Sentence”)
- 1951–1954 – sentence reduced to fifteen years and release (Source: Forschungsprojekt „Beamte nationalsozialistischer Reichsministerien” — biographical profile, career in the Reich Air Ministry and postwar section)
The circle records authority, function and agency. Several profiles may describe different parts of the same persecution chain, so profile-level totals must not be added together.
Postwar accountability
The US Military Tribunal sentenced Milch to life imprisonment. In 1951 the sentence was reduced to fifteen years, and he was released on 28 June 1954. (Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — Milch Case judgment, pp. 741–794 in the published record; findings on Counts I–III and sentence; Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — sections “The Charges”, “The Verdict” and “The Sentence”; Source: Forschungsprojekt „Beamte nationalsozialistischer Reichsministerien” — biographical profile, career in the Reich Air Ministry and postwar section)
Limits of the evidence
The judgment separated three counts: the convictions concerned forced labour (I and III), while the medical-experiments count (II) ended in acquittal. The profile does not extend those findings to the Luftwaffe’s collective conduct. (Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — Milch Case judgment, pp. 741–794 in the published record; findings on Counts I–III and sentence; Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — sections “The Charges”, “The Verdict” and “The Sentence”; Source: National Archives and Records Administration — Microfilm Publication M888, Records of the United States Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, United States of America v. Erhard Milch)
Sources
The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.