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After the war, the Soviet Union held several show trials for war crimes in various cities. These trials were usually more about establishing collective responsibility than individual guilt. In the case of von Rappard, the Soviets collected him as part of an almost random representative set of soldiers of all ranks that had served at Velikiye Luki. After the show trial, the remainder of those who had served there were generally mass sentenced to 20 to 25 year terms.
The point I want to make is that the von Rappard sort of trials do not necessarly say one thing or another about individual responsiblity of those found guilty. The trials can be held as a judgement of guilt against these units as a whole. The punishment of the individual was not necessarly always proportional to their role or their individual actions. 70.234.244.65 (talk) 04:11, 3 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
