Hans Münch
Encyclopedia
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
. Later on, he returned to Germany and worked as a practising physician in Roßhaupten
in Bavaria
.
, Hans Münch studied medicine
at Tübingen
and Munich
Universities and became engaged in the political section of the Reichsstudentenführung (Reich’s leadership of university students). In 1934, he joined the NSDStB.- Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund (National Socialist German Students' League
) and the NSKK - Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrerkorps (National Socialist Motor Corps
). In May 1937, he joined the NSDAP. He received his doctor's degree and married a physician in 1939.
When World War II
started, he replaced country doctors in their practices in the Bavarian countryside as they had been inducted into the army; Münch himself had attempted to enlist in the Wehrmacht
, but was rejected as his work as a doctor was considered too important.
and was sent to the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS in Raisko, about four km from the main camp at Auschwitz. Münch worked alongside the infamous Josef Mengele
, who was the same age and also came from Bavaria. Münch continued the bacteriological
research he was known for before the war, as well as making occasional inspections of the camps and the prisoners. In summer 1944, he was promoted to SS-Untersturmführer
(second lieutenant).
Along with other doctors, Münch was expected to participate in the "selections" at the ramp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, to decide which of the incoming Jewish women, men, and children could work, which would be experimented on
, and which would be put to death in the gas chambers. He found this abhorrent and refused to take part; this was confirmed by witnesses' testimony at his trial. The book on SS physicians of Auschwitz by Robert Jay Lifton
(1986) mentions Münch as the only physician whose commitment to the Hippocratic oath
proved stronger than that to the SS.
While Münch did conduct human experiments, these were often elaborate farces intended to protect inmates, as experiment subjects who were no longer useful were usually killed. Allegedly, Münch's last act before the camp was abandoned was to provide inmate Dr Louis Micheels with a revolver
to assist his escape.
After the evacuation of Auschwitz in 1945, Münch spent three months at the Dachau concentration camp near Munich.
in 1946 to stand trial in Kraków.
He was specifically accused of injecting inmates with malaria
-infected blood, and with a serum
that caused rheumatism
; however, many former prisoners testified in support of Münch in their witness speeches. The court acquitted him on December 22, 1947, "not only because he did not commit any crime of harm against the camp prisoners, but because he had a benevolent attitude toward them and helped them, while he had to carry the responsibility. He did this independently from the nationality, race-and-religious origin and political conviction of the prisoners." The court's acquittal was based, amongst other things, on his strict refusal to participate in the selections. Of the 41 Auschwitz staff tried in Kraków, only Münch was acquitted. He was called the 'Good Man of Auschwitz', who had saved prisoners from death in the gas chambers.
, Bavaria.
In 1964, Münch testified in the first Auschwitz Trial
in Frankfurt on Main and in the following trials, he was called on for his expert opinion.
In the Federal Republic of Germany, Münch took part in discussion meetings and commemoration ceremonies. He was appreciated for having saved many Auschwitz prisoners at the risk of his own life. In 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, he made a journey back to the concentration camp. Münch was invited by Eva Mozes Kor
, a survivor of Josef Mengele's experiments on twins. Münch and Kor signed public declarations regarding what had happened there and declaring that such a thing should never be allowed to happen again.
Münch has also commented on Holocaust denial
. In an interview made by German filmmaker Bernhard Frankfurter, Frankfurter asks about the negationist claim that Auschwitz was a hoax, to which Münch wearily responds:
During his final years, Münch lived in the Allgäu
region, by Forggen Lake, with a view on the Neuschwanstein Castle. He died at 90 in 2001.
. Schirra and Münch had watched the film Schindler's List
, and the interview was conducted directly after the viewing.
A few days later, Dirk Münch, Münch's son, publicly expressed his lack of comprehension of this interview. He explained that his father had been suffering from poor concentration for two years. He criticised the fact that Schindler's List had been watched directly before the interview, saying that this would had been very exhausting due to the film's three hour length and his father's advanced age. Dirk Münch stated that, after the film, his father had even confused the female house cat Minka with the male cat Peter.
The Bavarian Justice Ministry initiated proceedings of criminal prosecution as a reaction to the interview. The Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen zur Aufklärung nationalsozialistischer Verbrechen (the central authority of the judicial administrations of the German Länder for the clarification of National Socialist crimes) opened preliminary proceedings. The Simon Wiesenthal Center
demanded the Bavarian government immediately arrest Dr. Münch. The authorities looked through Stasi
-files from the secret police of East Germany (GDR) and demanded Der Spiegel hand over the tape recordings of the Münch interview in order to determine to what extent the public prosecutor should act. The assumptions of possible participations in National Socialist crimes were based on three indications:
The criminal proceedings against Dr. Münch were dropped in January 2000 due to "progressed dementia
". One year later, Dr. Münch died.
and in Germany in March 2000. As a contemporary witness, he met and talked with camp survivor Renée Firestone, whose sister had died in Auschwitz during experiments with humans. A film review pointed out that the American version of the film made no clear indication that Dr. Münch suffered from Alzheimer's disease
at this time. Only the credits of the film provided this information and then only in French.
in the French radio France-Inter, where he said that the gas chambers would have been the only solution for them. Münch was accused of "incitement of racial hatred". He did not take part in the court hearing. A medical expert opinion had certified him "psychologically disturbed". The acquittal was based on this expert opinion. The Agence France-Presse
(AFP) reported on May 7, 2001, that the Paris
appeal court had annulled the acquittal from June 2000.
In May 2001, Münch was convicted in Paris for "incitement of racial hatred" and "belittlement of crimes against humanity". The prosecutor
demanded not the imprisonment of Münch but his release on licence. Münch was found guilty, but due to his old age and his mental health, the Paris appeal court decided that the 89-year old Münch should not serve out the sentence. As in the previous proceedings, Münch did not attend the court hearings.
In September 2001, the French Radio rebroadcast the 1998 interview with Münch. Lawyers Without Borders
, the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism
and the Union of Jewish Students in France
lodged complaints. In 2002, all of the accused responsible staff members of the public-law broadcasting institution Radio France
were acquitted of the accusation of assistance in incitement to race hatred. The reasoning of the court decision reads that all radio listeners would have understand that Münch's statements about Sinti and Roma and about NS-extermination camps were taken from the Nazi-propaganda.
(Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft) has Dr. Hans Münch in its listings as a participant in malaria experiments on Auschwitz inmates; however, he is not listed for the malaria experiments in the Dachau concentration camp, which had taken place until April 5, 1945 under the direction of physician Claus Schilling
.
-Institute in Frankfurt on Main focused on the analysis of the first Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial
and its effects on the socio-political-judicial-historical levels in the Federal Republic of Germany. There was an explicit invitation to participate in the series of public meetings and discussion events on perpetrators' and victims' biographies in the Nazi regime. On November 4, 2002, Prof. Dr. Helgard gave the lecture "SS-Ärzte in Auschwitz und im Ersten Frankfurter Auschwitz-Prozess" (SS-physicians in Auschwitz and in the first Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial).
and even called as an expert on 2 and 5 March 1964. Until the year 2000, the public prosecutor of Frankfurt-on-Main had only knowledge about the judgement of the Kraków proceedings but not about the protocols and the witness hearings. Dr. Münch had stated that he had been forced into the Waffen-SS and that he had come to Birkenau at the end of 1944. During the discussion of the second hearing he corrected himself, stating that he had already arrived in 1943.
The documents of the witness hearing provided the answer of Dr. Münch to the precise questions of the prosecutor during the main hearing of 1947:
Dr. Münch was questioned about the medical experiments he had effected in Block 10. The questioning was stopped, when he demanded an expert colleague as interrogator. Professor Jan Sehn
had prepared the Kraków Trial of 1947 as examining magistrate. He ordered Dr. Münch with the medical treatment of another inmate. He also sent the whole stock of files of the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen-SS in Raisko into his cell for "arranging". Then the files were kept by the Kraków journalist Mieczysław Kieta, who later on engaged himself with the most efforts for the exculpation of Dr. Münch. Kieta worked within the command range of the SS-Hygienics Institute as a laboratory assistant under the supervision of Münch. Several concentration camp inmates have certified the fairness of Dr. Münch. Three of them are often quoted. The Hungarian medical science professor Geza Mansfeld was regarded as the most important among them. He praised Dr. Münch, as he had prevented his selection for the gas chambers and who had given him drugs because Prof. Mansfeld suffered from a stomach ulcer. In return Dr. Münch obtained a training in Serology
, Bacteriology
and Chemistry
. Mansfeld was one of the international famous "capacities" in these fields and he was meant to provide his knowledge to the Hygienics Institute for free.
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...
physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
at 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...
in Nazi occupied Poland
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...
from 1943 to 1945. He was the only person 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...
of war crimes at the 1947 Auschwitz trials 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...
. Later on, he returned to Germany and worked as a practising physician in Roßhaupten
Roßhaupten
Roßhaupten is a municipality in the district of Ostallgäu in Bavaria in Germany.- References :...
in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
.
Early career
After graduating from a gymnasiumGymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
, Hans Münch studied medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
at Tübingen
Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen is a public university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of Germany's oldest universities, internationally noted in medicine, natural sciences and the humanities. In the area of German Studies it has been ranked first among...
and Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
Universities and became engaged in the political section of the Reichsstudentenführung (Reich’s leadership of university students). In 1934, he joined the NSDStB.- Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund (National Socialist German Students' League
National Socialist German Students' League
The National Socialist German Students' League was founded in 1926 as a division of the NSDAP with the mission of integrating University-level education and academic life within the framework of the National Socialist worldview...
) and the NSKK - Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrerkorps (National Socialist Motor Corps
National Socialist Motor Corps
The National Socialist Motor Corps , also known as the National Socialist Drivers Corps, was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party that existed from 1931 to 1945. The group was a successor organization to the older National Socialist Automobile Corps, which had existed since the beginning...
). In May 1937, he joined the NSDAP. He received his doctor's degree and married a physician in 1939.
When World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
started, he replaced country doctors in their practices in the Bavarian countryside as they had been inducted into the army; Münch himself had attempted to enlist in the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
, but was rejected as his work as a doctor was considered too important.
Auschwitz
In June 1943, he was recruited as a scientist by the Waffen-SSWaffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
and was sent to the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS in Raisko, about four km from the main camp at Auschwitz. Münch worked alongside the infamous Josef Mengele
Josef Mengele
Josef Rudolf Mengele , also known as the Angel of Death was a German SS officer and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He earned doctorates in anthropology from Munich University and in medicine from Frankfurt University...
, who was the same age and also came from Bavaria. Münch continued the bacteriological
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
research he was known for before the war, as well as making occasional inspections of the camps and the prisoners. In summer 1944, he was promoted to 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...
(second lieutenant).
Along with other doctors, Münch was expected to participate in the "selections" at the ramp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, to decide which of the incoming Jewish women, men, and children could work, which would be experimented on
Nazi human experimentation
Nazi human experimentation was a series of medical experiments on large numbers of prisoners by the Nazi German regime in its concentration camps mainly in the early 1940s, during World War II and the Holocaust. Prisoners were coerced into participating: they did not willingly volunteer and there...
, and which would be put to death in the gas chambers. He found this abhorrent and refused to take part; this was confirmed by witnesses' testimony at his trial. The book on SS physicians of Auschwitz by Robert Jay Lifton
Robert Jay Lifton
Robert Jay Lifton is an American psychiatrist and author, chiefly known for his studies of the psychological causes and effects of war and political violence and for his theory of thought reform...
(1986) mentions Münch as the only physician whose commitment to the Hippocratic oath
Hippocratic Oath
The Hippocratic Oath is an oath historically taken by physicians and other healthcare professionals swearing to practice medicine ethically. It is widely believed to have been written by Hippocrates, often regarded as the father of western medicine, or by one of his students. The oath is written in...
proved stronger than that to the SS.
While Münch did conduct human experiments, these were often elaborate farces intended to protect inmates, as experiment subjects who were no longer useful were usually killed. Allegedly, Münch's last act before the camp was abandoned was to provide inmate Dr Louis Micheels with a revolver
Revolver
A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
to assist his escape.
After the evacuation of Auschwitz in 1945, Münch spent three months at the Dachau concentration camp near Munich.
Trial in Poland
After the war in 1945, Münch was arrested in a US internment camp after being identified as an Auschwitz physician. He was delivered as a prisoner to PolandPoland
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...
in 1946 to stand trial in Kraków.
He was specifically accused of injecting inmates with malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
-infected blood, and with a serum
Drug
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...
that caused rheumatism
Rheumatism
Rheumatism or rheumatic disorder is a non-specific term for medical problems affecting the joints and connective tissue. The study of, and therapeutic interventions in, such disorders is called rheumatology.-Terminology:...
; however, many former prisoners testified in support of Münch in their witness speeches. The court acquitted him on December 22, 1947, "not only because he did not commit any crime of harm against the camp prisoners, but because he had a benevolent attitude toward them and helped them, while he had to carry the responsibility. He did this independently from the nationality, race-and-religious origin and political conviction of the prisoners." The court's acquittal was based, amongst other things, on his strict refusal to participate in the selections. Of the 41 Auschwitz staff tried in Kraków, only Münch was acquitted. He was called the 'Good Man of Auschwitz', who had saved prisoners from death in the gas chambers.
Later life
He took over a country doctor's practice in Roßhaupten in OstallgäuOstallgäu
Ostallgäu is a district in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Oberallgäu, Unterallgäu, Augsburg, Landsberg, Weilheim-Schongau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and by the Austrian state of Tyrol...
, Bavaria.
In 1964, Münch testified in the first Auschwitz Trial
Frankfurt Auschwitz trials
The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials, known in German as der Auschwitz-Prozess or der zweite Auschwitz-Prozess, was a series of trials running from December 20, 1963 to August 10, 1965, charging 22 defendants under German penal law for their roles in the Holocaust as mid- to lower-level officials in the...
in Frankfurt on Main and in the following trials, he was called on for his expert opinion.
In the Federal Republic of Germany, Münch took part in discussion meetings and commemoration ceremonies. He was appreciated for having saved many Auschwitz prisoners at the risk of his own life. In 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, he made a journey back to the concentration camp. Münch was invited by Eva Mozes Kor
Eva Mozes Kor
Eva Mozes Kor is a survivor of the Holocaust who, with her twin sister Miriam, was subjected to human experimentation under Josef Mengele at Auschwitz. Both of her parents and two older sisters were killed at the camp; only she and Miriam survived...
, a survivor of Josef Mengele's experiments on twins. Münch and Kor signed public declarations regarding what had happened there and declaring that such a thing should never be allowed to happen again.
Münch has also commented on Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
. In an interview made by German filmmaker Bernhard Frankfurter, Frankfurter asks about the negationist claim that Auschwitz was a hoax, to which Münch wearily responds:
During his final years, Münch lived in the Allgäu
Allgäu
The Allgäu is a southern German region in Swabia. It covers the south of Bavarian Swabia and southeastern Baden-Württemberg. The region stretches from the prealpine lands up to the Alps...
region, by Forggen Lake, with a view on the Neuschwanstein Castle. He died at 90 in 2001.
Criminal proceedings (1998)
In 1998, journalist Bruno Schirra published an interview with Münch, conducted a year earlier, in Der SpiegelDer Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
. Schirra and Münch had watched the film Schindler's List
Schindler's List
Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
, and the interview was conducted directly after the viewing.
Yes, sure I'm a perpetrator. I have saved a lot of people by killing some other people. [...] I was assessed as humane but not sentenced as a war criminal. I could make experiments with human beings, otherwise only possible with rabbits. This was very important scientific work. [...] There were ideal working conditions, excellent laboratory equipment, and an elite of academics of worldwide reputation. [...] The malaria experiments were quite harmless. I made a test: Is this man immune or not? [...] In the Hygiene-Institute I was king. [...] Perhaps they wouldn't be sent to the gas chambers, but they would have died miserably due to epidemics.
—Dr. Hans Münch, Der Spiegel, 40/1998, Page 90ff
A few days later, Dirk Münch, Münch's son, publicly expressed his lack of comprehension of this interview. He explained that his father had been suffering from poor concentration for two years. He criticised the fact that Schindler's List had been watched directly before the interview, saying that this would had been very exhausting due to the film's three hour length and his father's advanced age. Dirk Münch stated that, after the film, his father had even confused the female house cat Minka with the male cat Peter.
The Bavarian Justice Ministry initiated proceedings of criminal prosecution as a reaction to the interview. The Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen zur Aufklärung nationalsozialistischer Verbrechen (the central authority of the judicial administrations of the German Länder for the clarification of National Socialist crimes) opened preliminary proceedings. The Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...
demanded the Bavarian government immediately arrest Dr. Münch. The authorities looked through Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
-files from the secret police of East Germany (GDR) and demanded Der Spiegel hand over the tape recordings of the Münch interview in order to determine to what extent the public prosecutor should act. The assumptions of possible participations in National Socialist crimes were based on three indications:
- participation in the duty at the selection ramp, participation in selections directly within the concentration camp participation in experiments with human material leading to the death of the test persons.
The criminal proceedings against Dr. Münch were dropped in January 2000 due to "progressed dementia
Dementia
Dementia is a serious loss of cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person, beyond what might be expected from normal aging...
". One year later, Dr. Münch died.
Documentary film participation (1999)
Dr Münch appeared in the documentary film Die letzten Tage, which was released in 1999 in the U.S. as The Last DaysThe Last Days
The Last Days is a documentary, directed by James Moll and produced by June Beallor and Kenneth Lipper in 1998. Steven Spielberg was one of the executive producers, in his role as founder of the Shoah Foundation. The film tells the the stories of five Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust...
and in Germany in March 2000. As a contemporary witness, he met and talked with camp survivor Renée Firestone, whose sister had died in Auschwitz during experiments with humans. A film review pointed out that the American version of the film made no clear indication that Dr. Münch suffered from Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
at this time. Only the credits of the film provided this information and then only in French.
Proceedings and conviction in France (2000–2001)
In 1998, Münch had made derogative statements about Roma and SintiSinti
Sinti or Sinta or Sinte is the name of a Romani or Gypsy population in Europe. Traditionally nomadic, today only a small percentage of the group remains unsettled...
in the French radio France-Inter, where he said that the gas chambers would have been the only solution for them. Münch was accused of "incitement of racial hatred". He did not take part in the court hearing. A medical expert opinion had certified him "psychologically disturbed". The acquittal was based on this expert opinion. The Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters. It is also the largest French news agency. Currently, its CEO is Emmanuel Hoog and its news director Philippe Massonnet...
(AFP) reported on May 7, 2001, that the Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
appeal court had annulled the acquittal from June 2000.
In May 2001, Münch was convicted in Paris for "incitement of racial hatred" and "belittlement of crimes against humanity". The prosecutor
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
demanded not the imprisonment of Münch but his release on licence. Münch was found guilty, but due to his old age and his mental health, the Paris appeal court decided that the 89-year old Münch should not serve out the sentence. As in the previous proceedings, Münch did not attend the court hearings.
In September 2001, the French Radio rebroadcast the 1998 interview with Münch. Lawyers Without Borders
Lawyers Without Borders
Lawyers Without Borders is an international non-profit organization founded in 2000, which operates worldwide from its central headquarters located in Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A. It has only one affiliate: Lawyers Without Borders UK founded in 2003, headquartered in London, which acquired UK...
, the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism
International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism
The International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism – or Ligue Internationale Contre le Racisme et l'Antisémitisme in French— was established in 1926, and is opposed to intolerance, xenophobia and exclusion....
and the Union of Jewish Students in France
Union des étudiants juifs de France
The Union des étudiants juifs de France is a French organization whose aim is to assist French Jewish students....
lodged complaints. In 2002, all of the accused responsible staff members of the public-law broadcasting institution Radio France
Radio France
Radio France is a French public service radio broadcaster.-Mission:Radio France's two principal missions are:* To create and expand the programming on all of their stations; and...
were acquitted of the accusation of assistance in incitement to race hatred. The reasoning of the court decision reads that all radio listeners would have understand that Münch's statements about Sinti and Roma and about NS-extermination camps were taken from the Nazi-propaganda.
Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future"
The Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future"Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future"
The Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future" , is a German Federal organisation with the purpose of making financial compensation available "to former forced laborers and to those affected by other injustices from the National Socialist period"...
(Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft) has Dr. Hans Münch in its listings as a participant in malaria experiments on Auschwitz inmates; however, he is not listed for the malaria experiments in the Dachau concentration camp, which had taken place until April 5, 1945 under the direction of physician Claus Schilling
Claus Schilling
Claus Karl Schilling , also recorded as Klaus Schilling, was a German tropical medicine specialist, particularly remembered for his infamous participation in the Nazi human experiments at the Dachau concentration camp during World War II.Though never a member of the Nazi Party and a recognized...
.
Fritz Bauer-Institute
In 2002 and 2003, the Fritz BauerFritz Bauer
Fritz Bauer was a German judge and prosecutor.-Life:Bauer was born in Stuttgart, Kingdom of Württemberg, German Empire to Jewish parents. He attended Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium and studied business and law at the Universities of Heidelberg, Munich and Tübingen. After receiving his Doctorate of...
-Institute in Frankfurt on Main focused on the analysis of the first Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial
Frankfurt Auschwitz trials
The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials, known in German as der Auschwitz-Prozess or der zweite Auschwitz-Prozess, was a series of trials running from December 20, 1963 to August 10, 1965, charging 22 defendants under German penal law for their roles in the Holocaust as mid- to lower-level officials in the...
and its effects on the socio-political-judicial-historical levels in the Federal Republic of Germany. There was an explicit invitation to participate in the series of public meetings and discussion events on perpetrators' and victims' biographies in the Nazi regime. On November 4, 2002, Prof. Dr. Helgard gave the lecture "SS-Ärzte in Auschwitz und im Ersten Frankfurter Auschwitz-Prozess" (SS-physicians in Auschwitz and in the first Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial).
In the concentration camp of Auschwitz, the SS-physicians became the technicians of mass murder. The self-presentation of the SS-physicians will be examined focused on the case of the camp physician Dr. Eduard Wirths, who wrote a justification note after 1945 and who committed suicide in British arrest as well as focused on the case of Dr. Münch, against whom criminal proceedings were initiated by the public prosecutor of Frankfurt due to participation in NS-crimes after an interview with Bruno Shirra published in Der SpiegelDer SpiegelDer Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
in 1998. Münch, who was acquitted as the only one from 40 members of the Auschwitz SS-staff by the highest Polish court in Kraków, became the important 'neutral' witness of the reality in Auschwitz during the first Auschwitz Trial in Frankfurt on Main and gained the status of an expert in later trials. The justifications document of Eduard WirthsEduard WirthsEduard Wirths was the Chief SS doctor at the Auschwitz concentration camp from September 1942 to January 1945...
had been contributed during the proceedings, too. The special focus of the examinations was, which ideas of humane behaviour and of fairness had been developed in the statements of the SS-physicians on the one hand, and in the judgement reasonings of the first Auschwitz Trial in Frankfurt on Main on the other hand."
Study: Examination of the previous trials
Within the context of Holocaust research, Helgard Kramer reports about details in a study from 2005: Dr. Hans Münch was heard in the first Frankfurt Auschwitz TrialFrankfurt Auschwitz trials
The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials, known in German as der Auschwitz-Prozess or der zweite Auschwitz-Prozess, was a series of trials running from December 20, 1963 to August 10, 1965, charging 22 defendants under German penal law for their roles in the Holocaust as mid- to lower-level officials in the...
and even called as an expert on 2 and 5 March 1964. Until the year 2000, the public prosecutor of Frankfurt-on-Main had only knowledge about the judgement of the Kraków proceedings but not about the protocols and the witness hearings. Dr. Münch had stated that he had been forced into the Waffen-SS and that he had come to Birkenau at the end of 1944. During the discussion of the second hearing he corrected himself, stating that he had already arrived in 1943.
The documents of the witness hearing provided the answer of Dr. Münch to the precise questions of the prosecutor during the main hearing of 1947:
The camp doctor demanded me to participate in the selections and officially I could not refuse it, because this would have meant insubordination. But I had found a way to avoid these things as a physician.
Dr. Münch was questioned about the medical experiments he had effected in Block 10. The questioning was stopped, when he demanded an expert colleague as interrogator. Professor Jan Sehn
Jan Sehn
Jan Sehn , was a Polish lawyer, 1945-47 investigation judge, and professor at Jagiellonian University since 1961. He was member of the Commission for the Investigation of Nazi War Crimes, and Chairman of the Kraków District Commission until 1953. In 1945-46 he led the investigations on the site of...
had prepared the Kraków Trial of 1947 as examining magistrate. He ordered Dr. Münch with the medical treatment of another inmate. He also sent the whole stock of files of the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen-SS in Raisko into his cell for "arranging". Then the files were kept by the Kraków journalist Mieczysław Kieta, who later on engaged himself with the most efforts for the exculpation of Dr. Münch. Kieta worked within the command range of the SS-Hygienics Institute as a laboratory assistant under the supervision of Münch. Several concentration camp inmates have certified the fairness of Dr. Münch. Three of them are often quoted. The Hungarian medical science professor Geza Mansfeld was regarded as the most important among them. He praised Dr. Münch, as he had prevented his selection for the gas chambers and who had given him drugs because Prof. Mansfeld suffered from a stomach ulcer. In return Dr. Münch obtained a training in Serology
Serology
Serology is the scientific study of blood serum and other bodily fluids. In practice, the term usually refers to the diagnostic identification of antibodies in the serum...
, Bacteriology
Bacteriology
Bacteriology is the study of bacteria. This subdivision of microbiology involves the identification, classification, and characterization of bacterial species...
and Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
. Mansfeld was one of the international famous "capacities" in these fields and he was meant to provide his knowledge to the Hygienics Institute for free.
See also
- The HolocaustThe HolocaustThe Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
- Nazi human experimentationNazi human experimentationNazi human experimentation was a series of medical experiments on large numbers of prisoners by the Nazi German regime in its concentration camps mainly in the early 1940s, during World War II and the Holocaust. Prisoners were coerced into participating: they did not willingly volunteer and there...
- Josef MengeleJosef MengeleJosef Rudolf Mengele , also known as the Angel of Death was a German SS officer and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He earned doctorates in anthropology from Munich University and in medicine from Frankfurt University...
- Eduard WirthsEduard WirthsEduard Wirths was the Chief SS doctor at the Auschwitz concentration camp from September 1942 to January 1945...