The Auschwitz trial began on November 24, 1947, in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, when

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Supreme National Tribunal The Supreme National Tribunal (; NTN) was a war crime, war-crime tribunal active in Polish People's Republic, communist-era Poland from 1946 to 1948. Its aims and purpose were defined by the State National Council in decrees of 22 January and 17 Oc ...

tried forty former staff of the

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

s. The trials ended on December 22, 1947. The best-known defendants were

Arthur Liebehenschel Arthur Liebehenschel (; 25 November 1901 – 24 January 1948) was a German commandant at the Auschwitz and Majdanek concentration camps during the Holocaust. After the war, he was convicted of war crimes by the Polish government and executed ...

, former commandant;

Maria Mandl Maria Mandl (sometimes erroneously spelled Mandel; 10 January 1912 – 24 January 1948) was an Austrian-born Holocaust perpetrator who was the (camp leader) of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration camp from 1942 until her arrest in 1945. ...

, head of the Auschwitz women's camps; and SS-doctor

Johann Kremer Johann Paul Kremer (26 December 1883 – 8 January 1965) was a German professor, physician and war criminal. He was a professor of anatomy and human genetics at Münster University who joined the Wehrmacht on May 20, 1941. He served in the SS ...

. Thirty-seven other SS officers—thirty-three men and four women—who had served as guards or doctors in the camps were also tried.

Verdict of the Supreme National Tribunal in the first Auschwitz trial

Rudolf Höss Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss (also Höß, Hoeß, or Hoess; ; 25 November 1901 – 16 April 1947) was a German SS officer and the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp. After the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of World War II, he w ...

, sentenced in a previous trial, was

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

on April 16, 1947, in front of the crematorium at

Auschwitz I Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschwitz ...

. The trial of camp commandant Höss, which took place at the

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

throughout March 1947, was the first trial held at Auschwitz, followed by the trials in Kraków several months later.

Summary

The Supreme National Tribunal presiding in Kraków issued 23 death sentences, and 17 imprisonments ranging from life sentences to 3 years. All

executions Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

were carried out on January 24, 1948, at the Kraków

Montelupich Prison The Montelupich Prison, named for the street on which it is located, the ''ulica Montelupich'' ("street of the Montelupi family"),Ulica Montelupich or "street of the Montelupis" itself is named after the Montelupi manor house (Kamienica (archite ...

, "one of the most terrible Nazi prisons in occupied Poland" used by

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

throughout World War II.Adam Bajcar, ''Poland: A Guidebook'', translated by S. Tarnowski, Interpress Publishers,

1972. Maria Mandl and Therese Brandl were the first to be executed. One person was acquitted: Sergeant Major Hans Münch, who refused to participate in the selection process and made futile, although confirmed, requests for more food to the inmates. Liebehenschel, Mandel and Kremer were condemned to death, as were Hans Aumeier, August Bogusch,

Therese Brandl Therese Brandl (1 February 1902 – 24 January 1948) was a Nazi concentration camp guard. In March 1942, Brandl was among the SS women assigned to Auschwitz I concentration camp. Her duties included watching over women in the sorting sheds and ...

, Arthur Breitwieser, Fritz Buntrock, Wilhelm Gehring, Paul Götze,

Maximilian Grabner Maximilian Grabner (2 October 1905 – 24 January 1948) was an Austrian Gestapo chief in Auschwitz. At Auschwitz he was in command of the torture chamber Block 11, where he gained a reputation of brutality. He was executed for crimes aga ...

, Heinrich Josten, Hermann Kirschner,

Josef Kollmer Josef Kollmer (26 February 1901 – 24 January 1948) was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era who committed mass murder at Auschwitz. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial. Born in Händlern, Bavaria, Kollmer was a farmer by trade. ...

, Franz Kraus, Herbert Ludwig, Karl Möckel, Kurt Mueller,

Eric Muhsfeldt Erich Mußfeldt also spelled Erich Muhsfeldt (18 February 1913 – 24 January 1948) was a German war criminal. Muhsfeldt served as an SS NCO in three extermination camps during World War II in German occupied Poland and Germany: Auschwitz, Ma ...

Ludwig Plagge Ludwig Plagge (13 January 1910 – 24 January 1948) was an SS-''Oberscharführer'' and member of staff at Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen, and Majdanek concentration camps. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial, and executed for war crime ...

, Hans Schumacher and Paul Szczurek (Arthur Breitwieser and Johann Kremer had their sentences commuted to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

Luise Danz Luise Danz (11 December 1917 – 21 June 2009) was a Nazi concentration camp guard in World War II. Danz was captured in 1945 and put on trial for crimes against humanity at the Auschwitz trial in Kraków, Poland. She was sentenced to life impri ...

, Hans Koch, Anton Lechner, Adolf Medefind,

Detlef Nebbe Detlef Nebbe (also Detleff; 20 June 1912 – 17 April 1972) was an SS-''Hauptscharführer'' and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz trial. Born in Husum, German Empire, in June 1912, Nebbe complete ...

, and Karl Seufert received

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are c ...

Alexander Bülow Alexander Bülow (born 28 April 1905, date of death unknown) was an SS-'' Sturmmann'' and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial. Bülow was born in Andriówka. A farm worker, he was unable to ...

, Hans Hoffmann,

Hildegard Lächert Hildegard Martha Lächert (19 March 1920 – 14 April 1995) was a female guard, or '' Aufseherin'', at several concentration camps controlled by Nazi Germany. She became publicly known for her service at Ravensbrück, Majdanek and Auschwitz- ...

, Eduard Lorenz,

Alice Orlowski Alice Orlowski (30 September 1903 – 21 May 1976) was a German concentration camp guard at several of the Nazi concentration camps in German-occupied Poland (1939-1945) during World War II. After the war, a Polish court convicted of her crimes ...

, Franz Romeikat, and

Johannes Weber Johannes Weber (March 23, 1902 – October 11, 1949) was an SS-''Sturmmann'' and member of staff in Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial. Weber was born in Wörblitz. He worked as a farmer and a miller. He joine ...

were sentenced to 15 years. Richard Schroeder received 10 years,

Erich Dinges Erich Adam Oskar Dinges (20 November 1911 – 23 April 1953) was an SS-''Sturmmann'' and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial. Dinges was born in Frankfurt am Main. He worked as a driving ...

five years, and Karl Jeschke three years.

Hans Münch Hans Wilhelm Münch (14 May 1911 – 6 December 2001), also known as The Good Man of Auschwitz, was a German Nazi Party member who worked as an SS physician during World War II at the Auschwitz concentration camp from 1943 to 1945 in German oc ...

was

acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal means that the criminal prosecution has failed to prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge presented. It certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an o ...

Notes and references

* Cyprian T., Sawicki J., ''Siedem wyroków Najwyższego Trybunału Narodowego'',

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

, 1962 * G. Álvarez, Mónica. "Guardianas Nazis. El lado femenino del mal". Madrid: Grupo Edaf, 2012. {{Holocaust Poland 1947 in Poland 1940s trials Holocaust trials Trials in Poland

Verdict of the Supreme National Tribunal in the first Auschwitz trial

Summary

See also

Notes and references