Mühldorf trial

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The Mühldorf process was a war crimes trial of the United States Army at the military court in Dachau . In the process, 14 people were charged with war crimes in connection with concentration camps and armaments projects near Mühldorf. The proceedings - part of the Dachau trials - lasted from April 1 to May 13, 1947 and ended with twelve convictions. Officially, the case was named Case 000-50-136 United States of America v. Franz Auer et al. designated.

prehistory

Main articles: Weingut I and Mühldorf external command

Since July 1944, construction work has been going on in Mühldorfer Hart in the Upper Bavarian district of Mühldorf for the Weingut I project , the aim of which was to build a semi-underground armament bunker for the production of the Messerschmitt Me 262 , the first operational military aircraft with jet engines . The construction project was managed by the company Polensky & Zöllner (P & Z) on behalf of the Organization Todt (OT). In connection with this construction project, there were also several concentration camps around Mühldorf , in Mettenheim , in Mühldorfer Hart, in Mittergars and in Thalham near Obertaufkirchen . There were also several OT labor camps in the vicinity of the construction site, most of which housed forced laborers .

The accusation

The charges were based on an investigation by War Crimes Investigating Team # 6827 , which investigated war crimes and obtained evidence under the War Crimes Program . The investigations found that beatings, overwork, unsanitary living conditions, inadequate accommodation with completely inadequate clothing and nutrition, and failure to provide medical assistance resulted in the deaths of at least 1,800 prisoners. Overwork, combined with malnutrition, was the leading cause of death. In this context one speaks of “ destruction through work ”. 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 legal basis of the procedure was formed by the “Legal and Penal Administration”, which came into force in March 1947, based on the military government decrees .

The Control Council Law no. 10 were convicted of 20 December 1945 on the basis of those war crimes, crimes against peace or crimes against humanity were accused played in military court proceedings only a minor role.

The defendants

A total of 14 people were charged in the Mühldorf trial:

  • Franz Auer was SS-Hauptscharführer and was responsible for the distribution of the forced laborers as head of work.
  • Karl Bachmann was director of the Munich branch of P & Z and responsible for coordinating the work on the construction sites.
  • Wilhelm Bayha was SS-Oberscharführer of the guard team.
  • Heinrich Engelhardt was SS-Hauptscharführer and executive adjutant .
  • Dr. Erika Flocken was an OT doctor and responsible for the medical care of the inmates and the selections for Auschwitz.
  • Karl Gickeleiter was P&Z site manager on the main construction site of Weingut I.
  • Hermann Giesler was the managing director of OT.
  • Daniel Gottschling was SS-Unterscharführer and responsible for the food supply of the prisoners.
  • Wilhelm Griesinger was the architect on the main construction site and responsible for fulfilling the contract.
  • Wilhelm Jergas was SS-Hauptscharführer in the forest camp and was responsible for guarding the main construction site.
  • Anton Ostermann was captain and responsible for guarding the forest camp.
  • Jakob Schmidberger was an SS squad leader and was deployed as a guard in the forest camp.
  • Herbert Spaeth was SS-Hauptscharführer of the guard team.
  • Otto Sperling was an employee of P&Z and head of cement mixing on the main construction site.

The judgments

All of the defendants pleaded not guilty as prosecuted. The verdicts were pronounced on May 13, 1947. Only the defendants Bachmann and Ostermann were acquitted. Bachmann's culpable involvement in the conditions of the work assignment could not be proven and Ostermann had the prisoners issue a clean bill of health in April 1945 . Auer, Flocken, Jergas, Spaeth and Sperling were sentenced to death by hanging . The sentence for Engelhardt and Giesler was life imprisonment . Gickeleiter, Griesinger and Schmidberger were sentenced to 20 years, Gottschling to 15 and Bayha to ten years in prison. After the trial ended, the prisoners were taken to the Landsberg am Lech war crimes prison . Auer was born on November 26, 1948 executed . The remaining death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment in May 1947 and later gradually reduced. Bayha was released on February 24, 1952. Heinrich Engelhard's life sentence was reduced to 25 years in May 1948, and finally to 15 years in August 1951. He was released on June 16, 1955. Erika Flocken's sentence was reduced to 38 years. However, she was finally released on July 13, 1958. Gickeleiter was released on July 19, 1952 after having reduced his sentence twice. OT director Giesler served his sentence until October 18, 1952. Gottschling was released on January 11, 1952 in July 1951, after his prison term was reduced. Griesinger's prison sentence lasted until February 28, 1952. Jergas was released on April 9, 1958 after having reduced his term several times. Schmidberger was the first of the defendants to be released on December 14, 1951. Spaeth's sentence lasted until July 4, 1957, and Sperling remained in custody until July 20, 1957.

Further processes

The commandant of the Mühldorf concentration camp, Walter Langleist, and Johann Kirsch , commando leader in Mittergars , a subsidiary camp of the Dachau external command in Mühldorf , had already been sentenced to death in the main Dachau trial in December 1945 and executed on May 28, 1946.

In the so-called Mühldorf Ring Trial ( United States of America v. Michael Vogel et al. - Case No. 000-50-2-112 ), seven other suspects, including a Kapo , were in a follow-up to the Dachau main trial from 8th to 12th Indicted July 15, 1947. In addition to four life and two term imprisonment, he was also acquitted.

Furthermore, Georg Schallermair was negotiated in a further secondary process ( Case No. 000-50-2-121 US vs. Georg Schallermair ) relating to the Dachau main proceedings from September 18 to 23, 1947. The former report leader of the external command Mühldorf was accused of mistreating prisoners, sometimes resulting in death. Schallermair was sentenced to death on September 23, 1947 and executed on June 7, 1951.

literature

  • Robert Sigel: In the interests of justice. The Dachau war crimes trials 1945-48. Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, ISBN 3-593-34641-9

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