Flossenbürg main trial
The Flossenburg main process was a war crimes trial of the United States Army in the American occupation zone in military court in Dachau . This process took place from June 12, 1946 to January 22, 1947 in the Dachau internment camp , where the Dachau concentration camp was located until the end of April 1945 . In this trial, 52 people were charged with war crimes in connection with the Flossenbürg concentration camp and its subcamps . The trial ended with 40 convictions. Officially, the case was named United States of America vs. Friedrich Becker et al. - Case labeled 000-50-46 . The Flossenbürg main trial was followed by 18 secondary trials with 42 defendants, which also took place as part of the Dachau trials .
Legal basis and indictment
The legal basis of the procedure was formed by the "Rules of Military Government Courts" based on the decrees of the Military Government .
The content of the indictment was the "violation of the customs and laws of war" committed against non-German civilians and prisoners of war during the period from January 1, 1942 to May 8, 1945 in Flossenbürg and the satellite camps. Crimes committed by German perpetrators against German victims went unpunished for a long time and were usually only tried in German courts later. The defendants were also accused of unlawfully and deliberately participating in the ill-treatment and killing of non-German civilians and prisoners of war as part of a common design .
The trial opened in the Military Tribunal on June 12, 1946. The prosecution under Chief Prosecutor William D. Denson consisted of several American officers and relied on the results of investigations by American investigators who had documented crimes in connection with the Flossenbürg concentration camp as part of the War Crimes Program . Legal counsel was provided to the defendants. Since the language of the court was English, interpreters had to translate into English and German between the court and the defendants. After reading out the indictment, the defendants all plead “not guilty”.
The charges against one accused were withdrawn. With six other accused on December 17, 1946 the continuation of the criminal proceedings were waived (among them the namesake of the trial Friedrich Becker); of them, however, four, including the camp doctor Heinrich Schmitz , had to answer in the following ancillary processes. The majority of the remaining 45 defendants, most of whom were German, were accused of neglecting, mistreating and killing prisoners, especially on the death marches . Most of the accused were members of the SS and Waffen SS . In addition, over 15 prison functionaries or former inmates were accused. These mostly "criminal" Kapos filled important functions within the camp in Flossenbürg, which in other concentration camps were occupied by so-called "political" prison functionaries.
On January 22, 1947, the judges were pronounced by the chairman of the military tribunal . In addition to 15 death sentences , eleven life sentences and 14 temporary prison sentences were imposed. Five of the defendants were acquitted. Following review procedures, three death sentences were reduced to life imprisonment and the other sentences were upheld. The convicts were transferred to the Landsberg war crimes prison . The death sentences were carried out on October 3 and 15, 1947 by the strand in Landsberg.
The 45 judgments in detail
Defendant | rank | function | judgment |
---|---|---|---|
Konrad Blomberg | SS-Obersturmführer and Chief Criminal Secretary | Head of the Political Department | Death sentence, executed October 3, 1947 |
Christian Mohr | SS-Unterscharführer | Command leader | Death sentence, executed October 3, 1947 |
Ludwig Schwarz | SS-Hauptsturmführer | Head of the Hersbruck subcamp | Death sentence, executed October 3, 1947 |
Bruno Skierka | SS-Untersturmführer | Head of a guard company | Death sentence, executed October 3, 1947 |
Albert Roller | SS Sturmscharführer | Head of the Lengenfeld subcamp | Death sentence, executed October 3, 1947 |
Erhard Wolf | SS rank unknown | Block leader and commando leader, head of the camp prison | Death sentence, executed October 3, 1947 |
Josef Wurst | SS Rottenführer | Security team outside camp | Death sentence, executed October 3, 1947 |
Cornelius Schwanner | SS-Hauptscharführer | Command leader of the subcamps Johanngeorgenstadt and Obertraubling | Death sentence, executed October 15, 1947 |
Josef Hauser | Function prisoner | Kapo | Death sentence, executed October 3, 1947 |
Christian Eisbusch | Function prisoner | Kapo | Death sentence, executed October 3, 1947 |
Willi Olschewski | Function prisoner | Kapo | Death sentence, executed October 3, 1947 |
August Ginschel | Function prisoner | Block elder | Death sentence, executed October 15, 1947 |
Wilhelm Brusch | SS-Oberscharführer | Head of the Wolkenburg subcamp | Death sentence reduced to life imprisonment |
Karl Keiling | SS Sturmscharführer | Guards | Death sentence reduced to life imprisonment |
Alois Schubert | SS-Obersturmführer | Director of the Messerschmitt factory | Death sentence reduced to life imprisonment |
Ludwig Buddensieg | SS-Hauptsturmführer | Commander of the Guard Battalion | lifelong prison sentence |
Johann Geisberger | SS-Hauptscharführer | Block leader | lifelong prison sentence |
Michael Gelhard | SS Rottenführer | Block, command and dog handlers | lifelong prison sentence |
Erich Mußfeldt | SS-Oberscharführer | Report leader | lifelong prison sentence |
Hermann Pachen | SS-Obersturmführer | Leader of an evacuation march | lifelong prison sentence |
Otto Pawliczek | SS-Oberscharführer | Block and command leaders | lifelong prison sentence |
Erich Penz | SS storm man | Guards, dog handlers | lifelong prison sentence |
Josef Pinter | SS Rottenführer | Guards, dog handlers | lifelong prison sentence |
Alois Jakubith | Function prisoner | Kapo | lifelong prison sentence |
Karl Mathoi | Function prisoner | Camp elder and Kapo | lifelong prison sentence |
Georg Weilbach | Function prisoner | second camp elder and Kapo | lifelong prison sentence |
Raymond Mason | Function prisoner | Kapo | 30 years imprisonment |
Gerhard Haubold | SS-Oberscharführer | Security guard in the camp prison | 20 years imprisonment |
Eduard Losch | SS rank unknown | Command leader | 20 years imprisonment |
Walter Reupsch | SS-Unterscharführer | Warehouse pharmacist | 20 years imprisonment |
Kurt Erich Schreiber | SS-Hauptscharführer | Command leader, trainer of the recruits | 20 years imprisonment |
Hermann Sommerfeld | SS-Obersturmführer | Leader of an evacuation march | 15 years imprisonment |
August Fahrnbauer | SS-Oberscharführer | Labor service leader and deputy camp manager of the Plattling subcamp | 15 years imprisonment |
Peter Bongartz | Function prisoner | Oberkapo in the Hersbruck subcamp | 15 years imprisonment |
Walter Paul Adolf Neye | Function prisoner | Block elder | 15 years imprisonment |
Hans Johann Lipinski | Function prisoner | Kapo | 10 years imprisonment |
Gustav Matzke | Function prisoner | Kapo Messerschmitt factory | 10 years imprisonment |
Karl graves | SS-Oberscharführer | Guards | 10 years imprisonment |
Franz Berger | SS-Sturmbannführer | Commander of the Guard Battalion | 3.5 years imprisonment |
Joseph Becker | SS rank unknown | Security team at the subcamp in Wolkenburg | 1 year imprisonment |
Karl Buttner | Flossenbürg prisoner | Block elder | acquittal |
Karl Friedrich Alois Gieselmann | Flossenbürg prisoner | unknown | acquittal |
Georg Hoinisch | Flossenbürg prisoner | unknown | acquittal |
Theodor Retzlaff | Flossenbürg prisoner | unknown | acquittal |
Peter's heart | unknown | unknown | acquittal |
Side processes
A further 18 secondary trials were based on the Flossenbürg main trial in which 42 suspects, including at least eleven prisoner functionaries, had to answer for war crimes in the Flossenbürg concentration camp and its subcamps. These secondary trials, in which up to seven suspects were tried, also took place in the Dachau internment camp from June 1947 to December 1947. In addition to 24 prison sentences, including eight life sentences, and seven acquittals, eleven death sentences were pronounced, six of which were carried out.
literature
- Robert Sigel: In the interests of justice. The Dachau war crimes trials 1945–1948. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 1992, ISBN 3-593-34641-9 .
- Ute Stiepani: The Dachau Trials and their significance in the context of the Allied prosecution of Nazi crimes. In: Gerd R. Ueberschär : The allied trials against war criminals and soldiers 1943–1952. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3-596-13589-3 .
- Review and Recommendations of the Deputy Judge Advocate for War Crimes: United States of America v. Friedrich Becker et al. - Case 000-50-46 original document Flossenbürg main trial May 21, 1947 (English, PDF file; 9.71 MB)
Web links
- Flossenbürg main process and secondary processes on jewishvirtuallibrary.org (English)
- Flossenbürg main trial / judgments on jewishvirtuallibrary.org
Individual evidence
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↑ Cf. Robert Sigel: In the interest of justice. The Dachau war crimes trials 1945–1948. Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 107f.
Flossenbürg Main Trial: Review and Recommendations of the Deputy Judge Advocate for War Crimes: United States of America v. Friedrich Becker et al. - Case 000-50-46, May 21, 1947. - ↑ Cf. Robert Sigel: In the interest of justice. The Dachau war crimes trials 1945–1948. Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 36.
- ↑ See Flossenbürg main process: Review and Recommendations of the Deputy Judge Advocate for War Crimes: United States of America v. Friedrich Becker et al. - Case 000-50-46, May 21, 1947.
- ↑ See Flossenbürg main process: Review and Recommendations of the Deputy Judge Advocate for War Crimes: United States of America v. Friedrich Becker et al. - Case 000-50-46, May 21, 1947, pp. 2f.
- ↑ Cf. Robert Sigel: In the interest of justice. The Dachau war crimes trials 1945–1948. Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 108.
- ↑ Flossenbürg main trial / judgments on jewishvirtuallibrary.org
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↑ Cf. Flossenbürg main process and secondary processes
Robert Sigel: In the interest of justice. The Dachau war crimes trials 1945–1948. Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 109.