Auschwitz trial
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This is about the trial held in Poland. See Frankfurt Auschwitz trials for the German Auschwitz trials.
The Auschwitz trial began on November 24, 1947, in Kraków, when Polish authorities tried 41 former staff of the Auschwitz concentration camps. The trials ended on December 22, 1947.
The best-known defendants were Rudolf Höß and Arthur Liebehenschel, former commandants; Maria Mandel, head of the Auschwitz women's camps; and SS doctor Johann Kremer. Thirty-eight other SS officers — 34 men and four women — who had served as guards or doctors in the camps were also tried.
[edit] Sentences
- Liebehenschel and Höß were condemned to death, as were Maria Mandel, Hans Aumeier, August Bogusch, Therese Brandl, Arthur Breitwiser, Fritz Buntrock, Wilhelm Gehring, Paul Gotze, Max (Maximilian) Grabner, Heinrich Josten, Hermann Kirschner, Josef Kollmer, Franz Kraus, Johann Kremer, Herbert Ludwig, Karl Mockel, Kurt Mueller, Erich Muehsfeldt, Ludwig Plagge, Hans Schumacher Paul Szczurek and Harvey Taunt.
- Arthur Breitwieser and Johann Kremer had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
- Luise Danz, Hans Koch, Anton Lechner, Adolf Medefind, Detlef Nebbe, and Karl Seufert received life sentences;
- Oswald Kaduk was sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment;
- Alexander Bulow, Hans Hofmann, Hildegard Lachert, Eduard Lorenz, Alice Orlowski, Franz Romeikat, and Johannes Weber were sentenced to 15 years;
- Richard Schroeder received 10 years, Erich Dinges five years, and Karl Jeschke three years.
- Dr. Hans Münch of the SS was acquitted.
Rudolf Höß was executed on April 16, 1947 in front of the crematorium at Auschwitz I. All other executions were carried out in a Kraków prison on January 28, 1948; Maria Mandel and Therese Brandl were the first to be executed.
