The end of silence - 50 years of the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial

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The end of silence - 50 years of the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial are the title and subtitle of a two-part television documentary and a web special about the first Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt am Main from 1963 to 1965. This television documentary was mainly compiled by Rolf Bickel and Dietrich Wagner. The second film documentary by them comes from 2013 with material from 1993. Bickel and Wagner had analyzed the 500-hour tape logs of the process that were tracked down in 1992 and processed them with original images from the process. The tape recordings, unique in German judicial history, had been specially approved by the Federal Court of Justice because of the large number of witnesses and the foreseeable length of the proceedings . They were not destroyed after the procedure was completed. This resulted in the three-part, almost three-hour film documentary from 1993, the 2013 material of which is the basis of a short version by the same directors.

In 2005 the broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk published a web special video of the same name with image, sound and film. The web special is not interactive, but a continuous video image montage.

The films appeared as independent productions earlier or later under the following name

Both films are now available in stores on DVD with additional material under the title " Auschwitz vorgericht - Strafsache 4 Ks 2/63 ".

content

Both films and the video sequences on the website show how, at the request of the Hessian Public Prosecutor Fritz Bauer, an overall proceeding regarding the Auschwitz concentration camp complex came about. The film follows the long course of the proceedings and contains the historical reviews listed below as insertions for understanding the subject matter of the proceedings, particularly when taking evidence.

Criminal case 4 Ks 2/63, part 1

The investigations (1993, 57 min.)

The defendants (see below); Fritz Bauer ; The Eichmann case / trial in Jerusalem; The arrests; Mentality of hardship; selected tape recordings of the witnesses; Testimony of the former SS judge Konrad Morgen ;

Part 2: the process

(1993, 57 min.)

The daily ordeals and torture methods in Auschwitz concentration camp; Social ranks of individual groups of people; Traumatized witnesses; The Auschwitz sick block; Rudolf Höß and the Freikorps (especially to the Angekl. Robert Mulka ); State robbery (by the SS-Wirtschaftsbetriebe, IG Farben, etc.); The defendants' denial of any responsibility until their conclusion;

Part 3: verdict and sentences

(1993, 58 min.)

Opening credits - Heinrich Himmler's speech; The selection process ; The Sonderkommando ; The cremations; The statements of the defendants; The beginning of the quasi-industrial extermination of the Jews; The verdict and serving the sentences

Auschwitz in court

(Film from 2013, short version from the previous three parts, 45 min.)

Opening credits, the defendants are brought forward, information about the investigation; Dr. Berner's statement; On-site meeting of the court at the Auschwitz memorial; Interview excerpt F. Bauer; State raid (SS business enterprises, IG Farben, etc.); Judgments

people

Participants in the proceedings

Jury court
Hans Hofmeyer (chairman), Josef Perseke, Walter Hotz, Werner Hummerich, Günther Seiboldt
Public prosecutor
Hanns Großmann, Georg Friedrich Vogel, Joachim Kügler, Gerhard Wiese
Private prosecution
Henry Ormond , Christian Raabe, Friedrich Karl Kaul
accused
Wilhelm Boger , Robert Mulka , Josef Klehr , Oswald Kaduk , Victor Capesius , Stefan Baretzki , Emil Bednarek , Heinrich Bischoff , Arthur Breitwieser , Pery Broad , Klaus Dylewski , Willy Frank , Emil Hantl , Karl Höcker , Franz Hofmann , Franz Lucas , Gerhard Neubert , Willi Schatz , Herbert Scherpe , Bruno Schlage , Johann Schoberth , Hans Stark
defense
Rudolf Aschenauer , Rainer Eggert, Benno Erhard, Hans Fertig, Gerhardt Göllner, Ivens Hans-Peter, Engelbert P. Joschko, Friedrich Jugl, Hans Herbert Knögel, Hans Laternser , Herbert Ernst Müller, Herbert W. Naumann, Anton Reiners, Hans J. Schallock, Karlheinz Staiger, Fritz Steinacker , Hermann Stolting II, Albert Wilms, Wolfgang Zarnack
Witnesses

Interviewed persons

Film staff

  • Book: Alker Armin, Katja Brinkmann
  • Camera: Alker Armin, Katja Brinkmann, Hartmut Fischer, Günther Milius, Jody Routh, Colin Rosin
  • Editing: Beate Gottschall, Krzysztof Swietlik, Siegried Rienäcker
  • Sound: Wolfgang Horch, Dieter Fuhr, Wolfgang Moritz, Lothar Schöne, Zvika Shefy

See also

literature

  • Focus on Hessen of the Hessian State Center for Political Education, Wiesbaden; Editor Angelika Röming, issue blickpunkt No. 16, 2013 - also online. (Various contributions to the proceedings that play an important role in the film. At the end of 1958, the state justice ministers of the Federal Republic of Germany set up the “Central Office of the State Justice Administrations for the Prosecution of National Socialist Violent Crimes” in Ludwigsburg , which focused on the prosecution of Nazi crimes outside of the Federal Republic of Germany. As a result, a number of those accused in the later Auschwitz trial were arrested.)

Web links