Majdanek trials
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The Majdanek Trials were a series of trials in Poland and Germany against former SS members of the camp staff of the Majdanek concentration camp . The first two trials took place in Lublin , in 1944 and 1946–1948, respectively. The third trial before the Düsseldorf Regional Court lasted from November 26, 1975 to June 30, 1981.
The first two Majdanek trials in Lublin and their prehistory
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The Majdanek camp was established in 1941 near the city of Lublin in what was then the General Government for the occupied Polish territories . The name comes from the Lublin district of Majdan Tatarski, officially it was called the Lublin concentration camp. A total of around 250,000 people were murdered or driven to their death in the Majdanek concentration camp. As the Red Army approached, the camp was abandoned and the 1,000 or so prisoners were taken away. The camp was liberated on July 23, 1944. A Polish-Soviet commission began investigating the crimes in July. In the first trial in Lublin, from November 27, 1944 to December 2, 1944, all six defendants were sentenced to death . These were SS-Obersturmführer Anton Thernes, SS-Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Gerstenmeier, SS-Oberscharführer Hermann Vögel, Kapo Edmund Pohlmann, SS-Rottenführer Theodor Schöllen and Kapo Heinrich Stalp. On December 3, 1944, all of the accused were hanged , with the exception of Pohlmann, who had committed suicide the night before . In the second trial (1946–1948), also in Lublin, 95 members of the SS were tried. Seven of the accused were sentenced to death in 1948 and executed by hanging, including the former superintendent of the women's camp, Else Ehrich , the others received prison terms .
The judgments in the second Majdanek trial
| # | Defendant | Date of birth | Rank | judgment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Else Ehrich | March 8, 1914 | Overseer | Hanging (executed October 26, 1948) |
| 2 | Friedrich Gebhardt | February 26, 1899 | SS-Unterscharführer | Hanging (execution on November 15, 1948) |
| 3 | Kurt Möller | January 11, 1918 | SS Oberscharführer | Hanging (execution on October 6, 1948) |
| 4th | Jakob Niessner | January 19, 1908 | SS riflemen | Hanging (execution on July 14, 1948) |
| 5 | Michael Pelger | March 27, 1908 | SS Rottenführer | Hanging (executed) |
| 6th | Peter Reiss | February 22, 1901 | SS storm man | Hanging (execution on June 23, 1948) |
| 7th | Franz Söss (Sweet) | November 30, 1912 | SS Rottenführer | Hanging (execution on September 20, 1949) |
| 8th | Friedrich Buschbaum | September 14, 1904 | SS riflemen | Hanging (converted to 15 years, released May 31, 1956) |
| 9 | Johann Weiss | February 24, 1915 | SS riflemen | Hanging (converted to 10 years imprisonment) |
| 10 | Wilhelm Reinartz | March 17, 1910 | SS-Unterscharführer | Hanging (converted to two years in prison for terminal illness) |
| 11 | Johann morning | 5th August 1904 | SS riflemen | Life imprisonment (released March 11, 1953) |
| 12th | Jakob Gemmel | May 27, 1913 | SS riflemen | Life imprisonment (converted to 12 years imprisonment) |
| 13 | Robert Frick | October 15, 1918 | SS-Unterscharführer | 15 years imprisonment (released May 2, 1956) |
| 14th | Georg Fleischer | November 24, 1911 | SS riflemen | 12 years imprisonment (released May 2, 1956) |
| 15th | Johann Kessler | February 28, 1910 | SS storm man | 12 years imprisonment (death in prison on February 25, 1950) |
| 16 | Hans Kottre (Kotre) | August 22, 1912 | SS storm man | 12 years imprisonment (released May 9, 1956) |
| 17th | Andreas Lahner | December 10, 1921 | SS storm man | 12 years imprisonment (released May 2, 1956) |
| 18th | Georg New | August 1, 1921 | SS riflemen | 12 years imprisonment (released May 9, 1956) |
| 19th | Franz Wirth | November 8, 1909 | SS Rottenführer | 12 years imprisonment |
| 20th | Andreas Buttinger | May 29, 1910 | SS riflemen | 10 years imprisonment (death in prison on April 26, 1949) |
| 21 | Jakob Jost | October 6, 1895 | SS Oberscharführer | 10 years imprisonment (released April 30, 1956) |
| 22nd | Martin Löx | February 7, 1908 | SS Rottenführer | 10 years imprisonment (death in prison on June 26, 1949) |
| 23 | Kasper Marksteiner | November 1, 1913 | SS storm man | 10 years imprisonment (death in prison on June 20, 1949) |
| 24 | Hans Aufmuth | January 18, 1905 | SS riflemen | 8 years imprisonment (released March 17, 1954) |
| 25th | Johann Betz | December 18, 1906 | SS storm man | 8 years imprisonment (released July 3, 1955) |
| 26 | Anton Hoffmann | September 17, 1910 | SS storm man | 8 years imprisonment (released December 17, 1954) |
| 27 | Johann Radler | September 9, 1909 | SS riflemen | 8 years imprisonment (released March 1, 1955) |
| 28 | Thomas Radrich | October 19, 1912 | SS Rottenführer | 8 years imprisonment |
| 29 | Johann Setz | June 26, 1907 | SS storm man | 8 years imprisonment (extradited to Germany on February 28, 1955) |
| 30th | Michael Bertl | June 23, 1909 | SS storm man | 7 years imprisonment (released July 15, 1954) |
| 31 | Paul Keller | October 16, 1910 | SS storm man | 7 years imprisonment (released July 15, 1954) |
| 32 | Karl Muller | March 10, 1907 | SS storm man | 7 years imprisonment |
| 33 | Walter Biernat | March 28, 1920 | SS Rottenführer | 6 years imprisonment (death in prison on February 6, 1952) |
| 34 | Josef Hartmann | March 22, 1918 | SS storm man | 6 years imprisonment (released January 5, 1954) |
| 35 | Hans Georg Hess | June 17, 1910 | SS Rottenführer | 6 years imprisonment |
| 36 | Heinrich Kühn | December 16, 1909 | SS storm man | 6 years imprisonment (death in prison on April 16, 1951) |
| 37 | Franz morning | January 23, 1920 | SS storm man | 6 years imprisonment |
| 38 | Helmut Zach | August 19, 1909 | SS-Unterscharführer | 6 years imprisonment |
| 39 | Jakob Dialler | December 8, 1913 | SS storm man | 5 years imprisonment (released December 23, 1951) |
| 40 | Hans Durst | November 23, 1909 | SS Rottenführer | 5 years imprisonment |
| 41 | Franz Kaufmann | July 23, 1908 | SS-Unterscharführer | 5 years imprisonment |
| 42 | Paul Kiss | July 13, 1902 | SS storm man | 5 years imprisonment (death in prison on April 26, 1950) |
| 43 | Johann Kubasak | December 31, 1909 | SS Rottenführer | 5 years imprisonment |
| 44 | Johann Lassner | July 26, 1909 | SS riflemen | 5 years imprisonment |
| 45 | Johann Lienert | August 5, 1915 | SS storm man | 5 years imprisonment (death in prison on June 16, 1949) |
| 46 | Stefan Mantsch | September 24, 1922 | SS riflemen | 5 years imprisonment (released April 12, 1951) |
| 47 | Hans Merle | May 15, 1914 | SS riflemen | 5 years imprisonment (released January 2, 1953) |
| 48 | Kurt Erwin Ohnweiler | March 25, 1913 | SS riflemen | 5 years imprisonment (released March 1, 1952) |
| 49 | Michael Thal | January 16, 1910 | SS riflemen | 5 years imprisonment |
| 50 | Jakob morning | March 8, 1909 | SS storm man | 5 years imprisonment |
| 51 | Martin Berger | January 18, 1910 | SS Rottenführer | 4 years imprisonment (death in prison on October 15, 1948) |
| 52 | Michael Fleischer | August 18, 1912 | SS Rottenführer | 4 years imprisonment |
| 53 | Franz Habel | May 31, 1912 | SS Rottenführer | 4 years imprisonment |
| 54 | Karl Brückner | May 5, 1904 | SS-Unterscharführer | 4 years imprisonment (released February 28, 1951) |
| 55 | Josef Janowitsch | August 22, 1910 | SS storm man | 4 years imprisonment |
| 56 | Johann Günesch | May 17, 1913 | SS riflemen | 3 ½ years imprisonment (extradited to Germany on February 9, 1951) |
| 57 | Fritz Frischolz | October 5, 1911 | SS Oberscharführer | 8 years imprisonment (released March 10, 1955) |
| 58 | Michael Gall | July 22, 1902 | SS riflemen | 3 years imprisonment (extradited to Germany on January 15, 1951) |
| 59 | Hans Grabert | May 31, 1907 | SS Oberscharführer | 3 years imprisonment (extradited to Germany on June 16, 1950) |
| 60 | Stefan Mantsch | September 24, 1922 | SS riflemen | 3 years imprisonment (released April 12, 1951) |
| 61 | Josef Moos | January 24, 1904 | SS Rottenführer | 3 years imprisonment (death in prison on April 20, 1950) |
| 62 | Konrad Anacker | February 13, 1892 | SS riflemen | 3 years imprisonment (released June 26, 1950) |
| 63 | Wilhelm Petrak | February 14, 1909 | SS storm man | 8 years imprisonment (death in prison on July 28, 1948) |
The third Majdanek trial before the Düsseldorf Regional Court
As a reaction to the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Israel, criminal prosecution of Nazi perpetrators was intensified in the Federal Republic of Germany . After many years of investigations into the crimes in the Majdanek concentration camp, the main hearing began on November 26, 1975 at the Düsseldorf Regional Court , where the Treblinka trials had also taken place in the 1960s . All of the accused were part of the guards at the Majdanek concentration and extermination camp. The allegation was crimes of mass extermination in camps and Nazi violent crimes in detention centers. Around 350 witnesses from home and abroad were heard, including 215 prisoners who once again had to grapple with the terrible experiences of their imprisonment in the concentration camp. The presiding judge at the regional court Günter Bogen, the prosecution represented the prosecutors Wolfgang Weber and Dieter Ambach . Some of the defenders of the accused SS men belonged to neo-Nazi organizations. Due to the long distance to the crime and the provision of concrete evidence of the criminal offenses of murder or accessory to murder, the witness evidence turned out to be extremely difficult, which was ultimately reflected in the judgments announced on June 30, 1981.
A special scandal caused the lawyer of the former concentration camp guard Hildegard Smiling ("the bloody Brygida") Ludwig Bock . On the 154th day of the trial, Bock applied for the witness and concentration camp inmate Henryka Ostrowska to be arrested in the courtroom for aiding and abetting murder. She had testified that in Majdanek she had been forced to bring containers with Zyklon B into the gas chambers.
The judgments and crimes in the third Majdanek trial
| Defendant | Rank in the Majdanek concentration camp | Offense | judgment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hermione Braunsteiner-Ryan | Overseer | joint murder in two cases of at least 100 people | Life sentence |
| Hildegard smiles | Overseer | Joint accessory to the murder of at least 100 people in two cases | 12 years imprisonment |
| Hermann Hackmann | SS-Hauptsturmführer | Joint accessory to the murder of at least 141 people in two cases | 10 years imprisonment |
| Emil Laurich | SS-Hauptscharführer | Community accessory to the murder of at least 195 people in five cases | 8 years imprisonment |
| Heinz Villain | SS-Unterscharführer | Joint accessory to murder in two cases of at least 17,002 people ( harvest festival ) | 6 years imprisonment |
| Fritz Heinrich Petrick | SS Oberscharführer | Community accessory to the murder of 41 people | 4 years imprisonment |
| Arnold Strippel | SS-Unterscharführer | Community accessory to the murder of 41 people | 3.5 years imprisonment |
| Thomas Ellwanger | SS Rottenführer | Community accessory to the murder of 41 people | 3.5 years imprisonment |
| Heinrich Groffmann | SS-Hauptscharführer | acquittal |
Four of the other defendants were acquitted in 1979 after the proceedings had been separated for lack of evidence: Rosy Süss, Charlotte Mayer, Hermine Böttcher and the camp doctor Heinrich Schmidt . The accused Wilhelm Reinartz was put out of prosecution. The defendants Günther Konietzny and Robert Seitz dropped out because they were unable to stand trial before the start of the proceedings. Alice Orlowski died during the trial. The court rulings subsequently sparked heated debates, as many observers found the sentences imposed to be too low. The Majdanek Trial, which lasted almost six years and was the last major Nazi trial, went down in Germany's judicial history as the most complex and costly trial.
The former camp doctor Heinrich Rindfleisch was also included in the list of the main perpetrators in the Majdanek trial . However, due to his death in 1969, he could no longer be held responsible.
Other Majdanek trials
Up until the 1990s, several other trials took place against individual members of the camp staff of the Majdanek concentration camp. The trial against Karl-Friedrich Höcker , who had already been sentenced to seven years in prison in the 1st Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial, should be emphasized . Because of his actions in the Majdanek concentration camp, Höcker was sentenced to four years imprisonment by the Bielefeld Regional Court on May 3, 1989 .
| Defendant | Rank | Offense | judgment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karl-Friedrich Höcker | SS-Obersturmführer and adjutant of the camp commandant Weiß | Participation in gassings through the procurement of at least 3610 kg Zyklon B from the Hamburg company Tesch & Stabenow | 4 years imprisonment |
literature
- Martin Roos, Helen Quandt: "... and behind the faces ..." Biographical notes on those involved in the Majdanek trial 1975–1981. Edited and published by Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Düsseldorf , 1996, DNB 949728039 .
- Werner Krebber (ed.): The memory of mankind ... memories of the Majdanek concentration and extermination camp and the Majdanek trial. Interview with Heiner Lichtenstein. Portraits by Minka Hauschild. Rainer Padligur Verlag, Hagen 1996, ISBN 3-922957-45-5 . (Contributions to the Promotion of Christian-Jewish Dialogue, Volume 16)
- These eyes . In: Der Spiegel . No. 12 , 1979, pp. 92 ( online ).
- Dietrich Strothmann : None of us will sit. In: The time . No. 50/1979.
documentary
- The process. A representation of the Majdanek process in Düsseldorf. BRD 1984, by Eberhard Fechner (script and direction), part 1: “indictment”, part 2: “taking evidence”, part 3: “judgments”, 90 minutes each.
Web links
- Düsseldorf Regional Court speaks judgments in the Majdanek trial . In: Landtag Intern , June 26, 2001 ( Landtag North Rhine-Westphalia )
- Third Majdanek Trial on jewishvirtuallibrary.org
- Majdanek Trial 1944 on jewishvirtuallibrary.org
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Gencer Caglayan: The judgment of the Düsseldorf Regional Court received international attention. 20 years ago: Majdanek trial against members of the SS. In: Landtag intern, Volume 32, Issue 11, page 6. State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, June 26, 2001, accessed on June 30, 2021 .
- ↑ Bock, Ludwig | Belltower News. Retrieved August 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Yvonne Brandt: Majdanek Trial: In the nights came the horror . In: Westdeutsche Zeitung . January 18, 2017 ( wz.de [accessed August 2, 2017]).
- ↑ absolutmedien.de website accessed on July 24, 2019.