The Auschwitz trial began on November 24, 1947, in Kraków

Kraków

Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

, when Polish authorities

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 (the Supreme National Tribunal

Supreme National Tribunal

The Supreme National Tribunal was a war crime tribunal active in Poland from 1946 to 1948, with jurisdiction over fascist-hitlerite criminals and traitors to the Polish nation.The tribunal presided over seven high-profile cases ....

) tried 41 former staff of the Auschwitz concentration camp

Auschwitz concentration camp

Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...

s. The trials ended on December 22, 1947.

The best-known defendants were Arthur Liebehenschel

Arthur Liebehenschel

Arthur Liebehenschel was a commandant at the Auschwitz and Majdanek death camps during World War II. He was convicted of war crimes after the war and executed.-Biography:...

, former commandant; Maria Mandel

Maria Mandel

Maria Mandel was an Austrian SS-Helferin infamous for her key role in The Holocaust as a top-ranking official at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp where she is believed to have been directly responsible for the deaths of over 500,000 female prisoners.-Life:Mandel was born in Münzkirchen,...

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

Schutzstaffel

The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...

-doctor Johann Kremer

Johann Kremer

Dr Johann Paul Kremer served in the SS in the Auschwitz concentration camp as a physician during World War II, from 30 August 1942 to 18 November 1942....

. 38 other SS officers — 34 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

#	Defendant	Rank	Function	Sentence
1	Arthur Liebehenschel Arthur Liebehenschel Arthur Liebehenschel was a commandant at the Auschwitz and Majdanek death camps during World War II. He was convicted of war crimes after the war and executed.-Biography:...		camp commandant	death by hanging (carried out)
2	Hans Aumeier Hans Aumeier Hans Aumeier was a Nazi war criminal, an SS-Sturmbannführer and the deputy commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp.-Life before the War:...	SS-Sturmbannführer	Schutzhaftlagerführer	death by hanging (carried out)
3	Maximilian Grabner Maximilian Grabner Maximilian Grabner was a Austrian Gestapo chief in Auschwitz. At Auschwitz, the infamous torture chamber Block 11 was Grabner's own empire.-Early Life:...	SS-Untersturmführer Untersturmführer Untersturmführer was a paramilitary rank of the German Schutzstaffel first created in July 1934. The rank can trace its origins to the older SA rank of Sturmführer which had existed since the founding of the SA in 1921...	camp Gestapo Gestapo The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...  chief	death by hanging (carried out)
4	Karl Möckel Karl Möckel Karl Ernst Möckel was an SS-Obersturmbannführer and administrator at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was executed as a war criminal.- Life :...	SS-Obersturmbannführer	manager of camp administration	death by hanging (carried out)
5	Maria Mandel Maria Mandel Maria Mandel was an Austrian SS-Helferin infamous for her key role in The Holocaust as a top-ranking official at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp where she is believed to have been directly responsible for the deaths of over 500,000 female prisoners.-Life:Mandel was born in Münzkirchen,...	SS-Oberaufseherin	Birkenau female camp commandant	death by hanging (carried out)
6	Franz Xaver Kraus	SS-Sturmbannführer	information officer	death by hanging (carried out)
7	Ludwig Plagge Ludwig Plagge Ludwig Plagge was an SS-Oberscharführer and member of staff at Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Majdanek concentration camps. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial.- Life :...	SS-Oberscharführer Oberscharführer Oberscharführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that existed between the years of 1932 and 1945. Translated as “Senior Squad Leader”, Oberscharführer was first used as a rank of the Sturmabteilung and was created due to an expansion of the enlisted positions required by growing SA membership...	Rapportführer Rapportführer Rapportführer was a paramilitary title of the SS, specific to the Totenkopfverbande . An SS-Rapportführer was usually a mid-level SS-non-commissioned officer who served as the commander of a group of Blockführer who themselves were assigned to oversee barracks within a...	death by hanging (carried out)
8	Fritz Buntrock Fritz Buntrock Fritz Buntrock [died January 28, 1948] was as SS-Unterscharfuher at Auschwitz. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial.Buntrock was tried by the Supreme National Tribunal in Krakow and sentenced to death. He was hanged in Montelupich Prison on January 28, 1948....	SS-Unterscharführer Unterscharführer Unterscharführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party used by the Schutzstaffel between 1934 and 1945. The SS rank was created after the Night of the Long Knives...	Rapportführer	death by hanging (carried out)
9		SS-Hauptscharführer Hauptscharführer Hauptscharführer was a Nazi paramilitary rank which was used by the Schutzstaffel between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank was the highest enlisted rank of the SS, with the exception of the special Waffen-SS rank of Sturmscharführer....	subcamp commandant	death by hanging (carried out)
10	Otto Lätsch	SS-Unterscharführer	subcamp vice commandant	death by hanging (carried out)
11	Heinrich Josten	SS-Obersturmführer Obersturmführer Obersturmführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi party that was used by the SS and also as a rank of the SA. Translated as “Senior Assault Leader”, the rank of Obersturmführer was first created in 1932 as the result of an expansion of the Sturmabteilung and the need for an additional rank in...	commander of the camp guard	death by hanging (carried out)
12	Josef Kollmer Josef Kollmer Josef Kollmer was an SS-Obersturmführer at Auschwitz. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial.Born in Händlern, Bavaria, Kollmer was a farmer by trade. He became a member of the SS on January 1, 1935 after having previously spent several years in the German police force. He joined the Nazi party...	SS-Obersturmführer	commander of the camp guard	death by hanging (carried out)
13	Eric Muhsfeldt Eric Muhsfeldt SS-Oberscharführer Eric Mußfeldt was a senior NCO of the Sonderkommando at the Auschwitz concentration camp.-Personal life:...	SS-Oberscharführer	Birkenau crematoria manager	death by hanging (carried out)
14	Hermann Kirschner	SS-Unterscharführer	camp administration	death by hanging (carried out)
15	Hans Schumacher	SS-Unterscharführer	manager of camp food supplies	death by hanging (carried out)
16	August Bogusch August Bogusch August Raimond Bogusch was an SS-Scharführer and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial.- Life :...	SS-Scharführer Scharführer Scharführer was a Nazi Party title that was used by several paramilitary organizations from 1925 to 1945. Translated as “Squad Leader”, the title of Scharführer can trace its origins to the First World War, where a Scharführer was often a Sergeant or Corporal who commanded special action or shock...	camp administration	death by hanging (carried out)
17	Therese Brandl Therese Brandl Therese Brandl was a Nazi concentration camp guard. She was convicted of crimes against humanity after the war and executed....	SS-Aufseherin	SS-Erstaufseherin	death by hanging (carried out)
18	Paul Szczurek	SS-Unterscharführer	Blockführer Blockführer Blockführer was a paramilitary title of the SS, specific to the Totenkopfverbande . An SS-Blockführer was typically in charge of a prisoner barracks of between two to three Concentration Camp prisoners; in larger camps, this number could be as a high as 1000...	death by hanging (carried out)
19	Paul Götze Paul Götze Paul Götze was an SS-Rottenführer at Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.Born in Halle, Götze was a painter by profession. He joined the Nazi party in 1937 and the SS in 1942. In July 1942 he was posted to Auschwitz, where he initially served as a guard and supervisor of work groups...	SS-Rottenführer Rottenführer Rottenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in the year 1932. The rank of Rottenführer was used by several Nazi paramilitary groups, among them the Sturmabteilung , the Schutzstaffel and was senior to the paramilitary rank of Sturmmann.The insignia for Rottenführer...	Blockführer	death by hanging (carried out)
20	Herbert Paul Ludwig	SS-Oberscharführer	Blockführer	death by hanging (carried out)
21	Kurt Hugo Müller	SS-Unterscharführer	Blockführer	death by hanging (carried out)
22	Johann Kremer Johann Kremer Dr Johann Paul Kremer served in the SS in the Auschwitz concentration camp as a physician during World War II, from 30 August 1942 to 18 November 1942....	SS-Obersturmführer	camp doctor	death by hanging (commuted to life imprisonment)
23	Artur Breitwieser	SS-Unterscharführer	camp administration
24	Detlef Nebbe Detlef Nebbe Detlef Nebbe was an SS-Hauptscharführer and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....	SS-Sturmscharführer Sturmscharführer Sturmscharführer was a Nazi rank of the Waffen-SS that existed between 1934 and 1945. The rank was the most senior enlisted rank in the Waffen-SS, the equivalent of a Sergeant Major in other military organizations...	sergeant of the guard company	life imprisonment
25	Karl Seufert	SS-Hauptscharführer	manager of prisoner block	life imprisonment
26	Hans Koch Hans Koch (SS man) Hans Koch was an SS-Unterscharführer and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....	SS-Unterscharführer	camp desinfection	life imprisonment
27	Luise Danz Luise Danz Luise Danz is a former concentration camp guard. She was born in Walldorf , Thuringia.-Camp work:On January 24, 1943 at the age of 26, Luise Danz was conscripted as an Aufseherin within the Nazi concentration camp system. She served as guard in several camps, such as Kraków-Płaszów, Majdanek,...	SS-Aufseherin	female guard	life imprisonment
28	Adolf Medefind	SS-Unterscharführer	guard	life imprisonment
29	Anton Lechner Anton Lechner Anton Lechner was an SS-Rottenführer and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....	SS-Rottenführer	guard	life imprisonment
30	Oswald Kaduk Oswald Kaduk Oswald Kaduk was a German SS-Unterscharführer and Rapportführer at Auschwitz concentration camp.-Biography:...	SS-Unterscharführer	Rapportführer	25 years imprisonment
31	Franz Romeikat Franz Romeikat Franz Romeikat was an SS-Unterscharführer and staff member at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted in the Auschwitz Trial....	SS-Unterscharführer	camp administration	15 years imprisonment
32	Hans Hoffmann Hans Hoffmann Hans Hoffmann was an SS-Rottenführer and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....	SS-Rottenführer	camp Gestapo unit	15 years imprisonment
33	Hildegard Lächert Hildegard Lachert Hildegard Martha Lächert was a notorious female guard, Aufseherin, at several German World War II concentration camps. She became publicly known for her service at Ravensbrück, Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau...	SS-Aufseherin	female guard	15 years imprisonment
34	Alice Orlowski Alice Orlowski Alice Orlowski was a high-ranking SS official at many of the Nazi German camps in occupied Poland during World War II....	SS-Aufseherin	female guard	15 years imprisonment
35	Johannes Weber Johannes Weber Johannes Weber was an SS-Sturmmann and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....	SS-Sturmmann Sturmmann Sturmmann was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in the year 1921. The rank of Sturmmann was used by the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel ....	camp kitchen	15 years imprisonment
36	Alexander Bülow Alexander Bülow Alexander Bülow was an SS-Sturmmann and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....	SS-Sturmmann	guard	15 years imprisonment
37	Eduard Lorenz Eduard Lorenz Eduard Lorenz was an SS-Unterscharführer and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....	SS-Unterscharführer	guard	15 years imprisonment
38	Richard Schröder Richard Schröder Richard Schröder was an SS-Unterscharführer and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....	SS-Unterscharführer	camp accounting	10 years imprisonment
39	Erich Dinges Erich Dinges Erich Adam Oskar Dinges was an SS-Sturmmann and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....	SS-Sturmmann	driver	5 years imprisonment
40	Karl Jeschke Karl Jeschke Karl Hermann Jeschke was an SS-Oberscharführer and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....	SS-Oberscharführer	guard	3 years imprisonment
41	Hans Münch Hans Münch Hans-Wilhelm Münch was a German citizen and Nazi Party member who, during World War II, worked as a SS physician at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi occupied Poland from 1943 to 1945. He was the only person acquitted of war crimes at the 1947 Auschwitz trials in Kraków...	SS-Untersturmführer	doctor in SS Higene Institute	acquitted

Rudolf Höß

Rudolf Höß

Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss was an SS-Obersturmbannführer , and from 4 May 1940 to November 1943, the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, where it is estimated that more than a million people were murdered...

, sentenced in another trial, was executed on April 16, 1947 in front of the crematorium at Auschwitz I.

Summary

The Supreme National Tribunal issued 23 death sentences, and 17 imprisonments ranging from life sentences to 3 years. One person was acquitted. All executions were carried out in a Kraków prison on January 28, 1948; Maria Mandel and Therese Brandl were the first to be executed.

Liebehenschel, Mandel and Kremer were condemned to death

Death Sentence

Death Sentence is a short story by the American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov.-Plot summary:...

, as were Hans Aumeier

Hans Aumeier

Hans Aumeier was a Nazi war criminal, an SS-Sturmbannführer and the deputy commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp.-Life before the War:...

, August Bogusch, Therese Brandl

Therese Brandl

Therese Brandl was a Nazi concentration camp guard. She was convicted of crimes against humanity after the war and executed....

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

Paul Götze

Paul Götze was an SS-Rottenführer at Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.Born in Halle, Götze was a painter by profession. He joined the Nazi party in 1937 and the SS in 1942. In July 1942 he was posted to Auschwitz, where he initially served as a guard and supervisor of work groups...

, Maximilian Grabner

Maximilian Grabner

Maximilian Grabner was a Austrian Gestapo chief in Auschwitz. At Auschwitz, the infamous torture chamber Block 11 was Grabner's own empire.-Early Life:...

, Heinrich Josten, Hermann Kirschner, Josef Kollmer

Josef Kollmer

Josef Kollmer was an SS-Obersturmführer at Auschwitz. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial.Born in Händlern, Bavaria, Kollmer was a farmer by trade. He became a member of the SS on January 1, 1935 after having previously spent several years in the German police force. He joined the Nazi party...

, Franz Kraus, Herbert Ludwig, Karl Möckel

Karl Möckel

Karl Ernst Möckel was an SS-Obersturmbannführer and administrator at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was executed as a war criminal.- Life :...

, Kurt Mueller, Eric Muhsfeldt

Eric Muhsfeldt

SS-Oberscharführer Eric Mußfeldt was a senior NCO of the Sonderkommando at the Auschwitz concentration camp.-Personal life:...

, Ludwig Plagge

Ludwig Plagge

Ludwig Plagge was an SS-Oberscharführer and member of staff at Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Majdanek concentration camps. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial.- Life :...

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

Life imprisonment

Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...

). Luise Danz

Luise Danz

Luise Danz is a former concentration camp guard. She was born in Walldorf , Thuringia.-Camp work:On January 24, 1943 at the age of 26, Luise Danz was conscripted as an Aufseherin within the Nazi concentration camp system. She served as guard in several camps, such as Kraków-Płaszów, Majdanek,...

, Hans Koch

Hans Koch (SS man)

Hans Koch was an SS-Unterscharführer and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....

, Anton Lechner

Anton Lechner

Anton Lechner was an SS-Rottenführer and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....

, Adolf Medefind, Detlef Nebbe

Detlef Nebbe

Detlef Nebbe was an SS-Hauptscharführer and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....

, and Karl Seufert received life sentences. Oswald Kaduk

Oswald Kaduk

Oswald Kaduk was a German SS-Unterscharführer and Rapportführer at Auschwitz concentration camp.-Biography:...

 was sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment. Alexander Bülow

Alexander Bülow

Alexander Bülow was an SS-Sturmmann and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....

, Hans Hoffmann

Hans Hoffmann

Hans Hoffmann was an SS-Rottenführer and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....

, Hildegard Lächert

Hildegard Lachert

Hildegard Martha Lächert was a notorious female guard, Aufseherin, at several German World War II concentration camps. She became publicly known for her service at Ravensbrück, Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau...

, Eduard Lorenz

Eduard Lorenz

Eduard Lorenz was an SS-Unterscharführer and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....

, Alice Orlowski

Alice Orlowski

Alice Orlowski was a high-ranking SS official at many of the Nazi German camps in occupied Poland during World War II....

, Franz Romeikat

Franz Romeikat

Franz Romeikat was an SS-Unterscharführer and staff member at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted in the Auschwitz Trial....

, and Johannes Weber

Johannes Weber

Johannes Weber was an SS-Sturmmann and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....

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

Erich Dinges

Erich Adam Oskar Dinges was an SS-Sturmmann and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....

 five years, and Karl Jeschke

Karl Jeschke

Karl Hermann Jeschke was an SS-Oberscharführer and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....

 three years. Hans Münch

Hans Münch

Hans-Wilhelm Münch was a German citizen and Nazi Party member who, during World War II, worked as a SS physician at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi occupied Poland from 1943 to 1945. He was the only person acquitted of war crimes at the 1947 Auschwitz trials in Kraków...

 was acquitted

Acquittal

In the common law tradition, an acquittal formally certifies the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as the criminal law is concerned. This is so even where the prosecution is abandoned nolle prosequi...

.

External links

• Watch the Auschwitz Trial at Youtube.com