American prisoners in the vicinity of Malmedy, between 16 December 1944 and 13 January 1945, and the massacre of 100 Belgian civilians mainly in the vicinity of Stavelot. During the Nuremberg Trials, the Waffen-SS was declared a criminal organisation for its major involvement in war crimes and for being an "integral part" of the SS. An exception was made for conscripts who were not given a choice in joining the ranks, and had not committed "such crimes". They were determined to be exempt. Post-war Waffen-SS veterans in post-war Germany Waffen-SS veterans in post-war Germany played a large role, through publications and political pressure, in the efforts to rehabilitate the reputation of the Waffen-SS, which had committed many war crimes during World War II. High ranking German politicians such as Konrad Adenauer, Franz Josef Strauss and Kurt Schumacher courted former Waffen-SS members and their veteran organisation, HIAG, in an effort to tap into the voter potential, and helped deflect blame for war crimes onto other branches of the SS. A small number of veterans served in the new German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, something that raised national and international unease in regards to how it would affect the democratic nature of the new army. SS Major General Heinz Lammerding, who commanded the SS Division Das Reich that perpetrated the Tulle and the Oradour-sur-Glane massacres in occupied France, died in 1971, following a successful business career in West Germany. The West German government refused to extradite him to France. A historical review in Germany of the impact of Waffen-SS veterans in post-war German society continues, and a number of books on the subject have been published in recent years. Waffen-SS veterans have received pensions (West Germany's War Victims' Assistance Act, or the "Bundesversorgungsgesetz") from the German government. According to The Times of Israel, "The benefits come through the Federal Pension Act, which was passed in 1950 to support war victims, whether civilians or veterans of the Wehrmacht or Waffen-SS." On 22 June 2005, the Italian military court in La Spezia found ten former Waffen-SS officers and NCOs living in Germany guilty of participation in the Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre and sentenced them in absentia to life imprisonment. However, extradition requests from Italy were rejected by Germany. Baltic states In 1990, Latvian Legion veterans started commemorating Legionnaire Day (Leģionāru diena) in Latvia. On 21 February 2012, The Council of Europe's Commission against Racism