THE FIRST AUSCHWITZ TRIAL VERDICT (22 DECEMBER 1947)

            On this date, 22 December 1947, The Auschwitz Trial ended. I will post information from Wikipedia about the trial.

The Auschwitz Trial began on November 24, 1947, in Kraków, when Polish authorities (the Supreme National Tribunal) tried 40 former staff of the Auschwitz concentration camps. The trials ended on December 22, 1947.

The best-known defendants were Arthur Liebehenschel, former commandant; Maria Mandel, head of the Auschwitz women's camps; and SS-doctor Johann Kremer. 38 other SS officers — 34 men and four women — who had served as guards or doctors in the camps were also tried.

 

Cracow, Poland, A view of the courtroom at the Auschwitz trial (PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/newsletter/10/auschwitz_trials.asp)

Accused Germans, Auschwitz Trial Kraków - "The Trial of Forty German Butchers of Auschwitz Camp," November 24-26, 1947

Verdict of the Supreme National Tribunal in the first Auschwitz trial

W uzasadnieniu wyroku Najwyższego Trybunału Narodowego

Znęcanie się nad i tak nadmiernie udręczonymi więźniami dowodzi wielkiego zezwierzęcenia tych oskarżonych, którzy w wyniku przewodu sądowego zostali skazani na karę śmierci. To znęcanie się ze strony tych oskarżonych, którzy wszyscy brali mniejszy lub większy udział w zabijaniu więźniów, wskazuje też na to, że ci oskarżeni brali udział w tych zabójstwach z potrzeby wewnętrznej zabijania, a nie w wykonaniu rozkazu przełożonych. Gdyby bowiem nie odczuwali potrzeby zabijania, to albo okazywaliby więźniom współczucie, albo też byliby dla nich obojętni, lecz nie znęcaliby się nad nimi.

Excerpts from Explanation of Jury Decisions

Torturing of prisoners [of Auschwitz] already tormented to the extreme [by extrajudicial means], is the evidence of inhuman savagery perpetrated by those defendants who as a result of the trial were sentenced to death. The listed violent crimes committed by named defendants, who all took smaller or larger part in the mass murder of prisoners, also reveal that the accused were involved in the acts of killing for pleasure, and not pursuant to orders of their superiors. If it were not for their expressed desire to kill, they would have otherwise displayed elements of sympathy for the victims, or at least show indifference to their plight, but not torture them to death.

#	Defendant	Rank	Function	Sentence
1	Arthur Liebehenschel	SS-Obersturmbannführer	camp commandant	death by hanging (carried out)
2	Hans Aumeier	SS-Sturmbannführer	Schutzhaftlagerführer	death by hanging (carried out)
3	Maximilian Grabner	SS-Untersturmführer	camp Gestapo chief	death by hanging (carried out)
4	Karl Möckel	SS-Obersturmbannführer	manager of camp administration	death by hanging (carried out)
5	Maria Mandel	SS-Oberaufseherin	Birkenau female camp commandant	death by hanging (carried out)
6	Franz Xaver Kraus	SS-Sturmbannführer	information officer	death by hanging (carried out)
7	Ludwig Plagge	SS-Oberscharführer	Rapportführer	death by hanging (carried out)
8	Fritz Buntrock	SS-Unterscharführer	Rapportführer	death by hanging (carried out)
9	Wilhelm Gerhard Gehring	SS-Hauptscharführer	subcamp commandant	death by hanging (carried out)
10	Otto Lätsch	SS-Unterscharführer	subcamp vice commandant	death by hanging (carried out)
11	Heinrich Josten	SS-Obersturmführer	commander of the camp guard	death by hanging (carried out)
12	Josef Kollmer	SS-Obersturmführer	commander of the camp guard	death by hanging (carried out)
13	Eric Muhsfeldt	SS-Oberscharführer	Birkenau crematoria manager	death by hanging (carried out)
14	Hermann Kirschner	SS-Unterscharführer	camp administration	death by hanging (carried out)
15	Hans Schumacher	SS-Unterscharführer	manager of camp food supplies	death by hanging (carried out)
16	August Bogusch	SS-Scharführer	camp administration	death by hanging (carried out)
17	Therese Brandl	SS-Aufseherin	SS-Erstaufseherin	death by hanging (carried out)
18	Paul Szczurek	SS-Unterscharführer	Blockführer	death by hanging (carried out)
19	Paul Götze	SS-Rottenführer	Blockführer	death by hanging (carried out)
20	Herbert Paul Ludwig	SS-Oberscharführer	Blockführer	death by hanging (carried out)
21	Kurt Hugo Müller	SS-Unterscharführer	Blockführer	death by hanging (carried out)
22	Johann Kremer	SS-Obersturmführer	camp doctor	death by hanging (commuted to life imprisonment)
23	Arthur Breitwieser	SS-Unterscharführer	camp administration	death by hanging (commuted to life imprisonment)
24	Detlef Nebbe	SS-Sturmscharführer	sergeant of the guard company	life imprisonment
25	Karl Seufert	SS-Hauptscharführer	manager of prisoner block	life imprisonment
26	Hans Koch	SS-Unterscharführer	camp desinfection	life imprisonment
27	Luise Danz	SS-Aufseherin	female guard	life imprisonment
28	Adolf Medefind	SS-Unterscharführer	guard	life imprisonment
29	Anton Lechner	SS-Rottenführer	guard	life imprisonment
30	Franz Romeikat	SS-Unterscharführer	camp administration	15 years imprisonment
31	Hans Hoffmann	SS-Rottenführer	camp Gestapo unit	15 years imprisonment
32	Hildegard Lächert	SS-Aufseherin	female guard	15 years imprisonment
33	Alice Orlowski	SS-Aufseherin	female guard	15 years imprisonment
34	Johannes Weber	SS-Sturmmann	camp kitchen	15 years imprisonment
35	Alexander Bülow	SS-Sturmmann	guard	15 years imprisonment
36	Eduard Lorenz	SS-Unterscharführer	guard	15 years imprisonment
37	Richard Schröder	SS-Unterscharführer	camp accounting	10 years imprisonment
38	Erich Dinges	SS-Sturmmann	driver	5 years imprisonment
39	Karl Jeschke	SS-Oberscharführer	guard	3 years imprisonment
40	Hans Münch	SS-Untersturmführer	doctor in SS Higene Institute	acquitted

 

Höss immediately before being hanged

Rudolf Höss, sentenced in another trial, was executed on April 16, 1947 in front of the crematorium at Auschwitz I. The trial of camp commandant Höss which took place at the Supreme Court of Poland in Warsaw throughout March 1947 was the actual first ever Auschwitz trial, followed by the trials in Kraków several months later.

Hans Aumeier on trial, Supreme National Tribunal, Kraków, Poland

Summary

The Supreme National Tribunal presiding in Kraków issued 23 death sentences, and 17 imprisonments ranging from life sentences to 3 years. All executions were carried out on January 28, 1948 at the Kraków Montelupich Prison, "one of the most terrible Nazi prisons in occupied Poland" used by Gestapo throughout World War II. Maria Mandel and Therese Brandl were the first to be executed. One person was acquitted; Sergeant Major Hans Münch, who refused to participate in the selection process and made futile, though confirmed requests for more food to the inmates.

Liebehenschel, Mandel and Kremer were condemned to death, as were Hans Aumeier, August Bogusch, Therese Brandl, Arthur Breitwiser, Fritz Buntrock, Wilhelm Gehring, Paul Götze, Maximilian Grabner, Heinrich Josten, Hermann Kirschner, Josef Kollmer, Franz Kraus, Herbert Ludwig, Karl Möckel, Kurt Mueller, Eric Muhsfeldt, Ludwig Plagge, Hans Schumacher and Paul Szczurek (Arthur Breitwieser and Johann Kremer had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment). Luise Danz, Hans Koch, Anton Lechner, Adolf Medefind, Detlef Nebbe, and Karl Seufert received life sentences. Alexander Bülow, Hans Hoffmann, Hildegard Lächert, Eduard Lorenz, Alice Orlowski, Franz Romeikat, and Johannes Weber were sentenced to 15 years. Richard Schroeder received 10 years, Erich Dinges five years, and Karl Jeschke three years. Hans Münch was acquitted.