Supreme National Tribunal of Poland
The Supreme National Tribunal of Poland (Polish: Najwyższy Trybunał Narodowy, NTN) was a war crimes tribunal that existed from 1946 to 1948. It was supposed to speak about the main culprits for crimes committed by the Third Reich on Polish territory. Seven trials with a total of 49 defendants were carried out before him.
Processes
In contrast to the numerous political trials under communist domination, the trials were carried out according to conventional legal and moral standards comparable to Western trials of this period and implemented the prosecution of war crimes as decided in the Moscow Declaration . The court consisted of 3 judges and 4 jurors each and negotiated in different places:
| accused | function | Processor location | Start of process | End of process | Sentence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arthur Greiser | Reichsstatthalter and Gauleiter Wartheland 1939–45 | Poses | June 21, 1946 | July 7, 1946 | Death sentence |
| Amon Goeth | Commandant of the Plaszow concentration camp 1943–44 | Krakow | August 27, 1946 | September 5, 1946 | Death sentence |
| Ludwig Fischer , Ludwig Leist , Josef Meisinger , Max Daume | high-ranking NS officials in Warsaw | Warsaw | December 17, 1946 | February 24, 1947 | three death sentences, eight years imprisonment |
| Rudolf Höss | Commander of the Auschwitz concentration camp 1940–43 | Warsaw | March 11, 1947 | March 29, 1947 | Death sentence |
| Arthur Liebehenschel and 39 other defendants in the Kraków Auschwitz Trial | Commander and members of the camp SS of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp | Krakow | November 24, 1947 | December 16, 1947 | 23 death sentences, 17 prison sentences, Hans Münch acquittal |
| Albert Forster | Reichsstatthalter 1939–45 and Gauleiter 1930–45 Danzig-West Prussia | Danzig | April 5, 1948 | April 29, 1948 | Death sentence |
| Josef Bühler | State Secretary and Deputy Governor General in the Government General | Krakow | June 17, 1948 | July 5, 1948 | Death sentence |
In the trial of Arthur Greiser, the court passed the first verdict for genocide and crimes against peace , but received little attention in the development of international criminal law .
literature
- Mark A. Drumbl: Germans are the Lords and Poles are the Servants. The Trial of Arthur Greiser in Poland, 1946. In: Kevin Jon Heller , Gerry J. Simpson (Eds.): The Hidden Histories of War Crimes Trials. Oxford University Press 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-967114-4 , pp. 411-429.
- Andrzej Rzepliński: Prosecution of Nazi Crimes in Poland in 1939-2004. (PDF) Lecture March 2004