The Mauthausen-Gusen camp trials were a set of two consecutive trials of the German 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...

 criminals, carried over by the Dachau International Military Tribunal

Dachau International Military Tribunal

The Dachau Trials were held for all war criminals caught in the United States zones in occupied Germany and Austria, as well as for those individuals accused of committing war crimes against American citizens and its military personnel...

. Between March 29 and May 13, 1946, and then from August 6 to August 21, 1947, a total of 69 former Nazi officials were tried. Among them were some of the former guards at the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp

Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp

Mauthausen Concentration Camp grew to become a large group of Nazi concentration camps that was built around the villages of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper Austria, roughly east of the city of Linz.Initially a single camp at Mauthausen, it expanded over time and by the summer of 1940, the...

 system and August Eigruber

August Eigruber

August Eigruber was an Austrian-born Nazi Gauleiter of Oberdonau and Landeshauptmann of Upper Austria, later hanged by the Allies.-Early life and Nazi career:...

, a former Gauleiter

Gauleiter

A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau.-Creation and Early Usage:...

 of Upper Austria

Upper Austria

Upper Austria is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg...

.

First Mauthausen Camp Trial

The first trial of the Mauthausen-Gusen crew took place in the Dachau concentration camp between March 29 and May 13, 1946. Among the accused were 60 former members of the camp's administration and August Eigruber

August Eigruber

August Eigruber was an Austrian-born Nazi Gauleiter of Oberdonau and Landeshauptmann of Upper Austria, later hanged by the Allies.-Early life and Nazi career:...

, a former Gauleiter

Gauleiter

A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau.-Creation and Early Usage:...

 of Upper Austria

Upper Austria

Upper Austria is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg...

. Among the defendants were also Viktor Zoller (former commander of the SS-Totenkopf guard battalion), and doctors Friedrich Entress (an SS member and a medic who practiced medical experiments on hundreds of inmates; killing most of them with injections of phenol

Phenol

Phenol, also known as carbolic acid, phenic acid, is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5OH. It is a white crystalline solid. The molecule consists of a phenyl , bonded to a hydroxyl group. It is produced on a large scale as a precursor to many materials and useful compounds...

), Eduard Krebsbach

Eduard Krebsbach

Eduard Krebsbach was a former German physician and SS doctor in the Nazi concentration camp in Mauthausen from July 1941 to August 1943...

 and Erich Wasicky

Erich Wasicky

Erich Wasicky was a pharmacist at the Mauthausen concentration camp in charge of gassing victims.Wasicky was a physician. He joined the NSDAP and was a member of the SS. Between 1941 and 1944, he worked as a pharmacist at Mauthausen concentration camp. It was his duty to select victims to die in...

 (responsible for running camp's gas chamber

Gas chamber

A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used...

s). The Mauthausen-Gusen commander, Franz Ziereis

Franz Ziereis

Franz Xaver Ziereis was the commandant of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp from 1939 until the camp was captured by the Allied powers in 1945.-Early life :...

, was shot several weeks after the liberation of the Mauthausen-Gusen camps and died in former Camp Gusen I on May 24, 1945.

All of the defendants were accused of a wide variety of war crime

War crime

War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...

s and crimes against humanity

Crime against humanity

Crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings...

. Among them was murder, torture, beating and starving the inmates. After six weeks all the defendants were found guilty. 58 were sentenced to death by hanging (9 were later paroled and their sentences were changed to life imprisonment), whilst three were sentenced to life imprisonment. All the death sentences were carried out on May 27 and May 28 of 1947 in Landsberg Prison

Landsberg Prison

Landsberg Prison is a penal facility located in the town of Landsberg am Lech in the southwest of the German state of Bavaria, about west of Munich and south of Augsburg....

.

Defendants

1. August Eigruber
   August Eigruber
   August Eigruber was an Austrian-born Nazi Gauleiter of Oberdonau and Landeshauptmann of Upper Austria, later hanged by the Allies.-Early life and Nazi career:...
   
    – death by hanging
2. Viktor Zoller – death by hanging
3. dr Friedrich Entress – death by hanging
4. Hans Altfuldisch – death by hanging
5. Josef Riegler – death by hanging
6. Willy Brünning (Gusen) – death by hanging
7. Emil Müller – death by hanging
8. Kurt Keilwtz – death by hanging
9. Franz Kautny – death by hanging
10. Johannes Grimm (DEST-Wienergraben) – death by hanging
11. Adolf Zutter – death by hanging
12. dr Eduard Krebsbach
    Eduard Krebsbach
    Eduard Krebsbach was a former German physician and SS doctor in the Nazi concentration camp in Mauthausen from July 1941 to August 1943...
    
     – death by hanging
13. Heinrich Häger – death by hanging
14. Hans Spatzenneger – death by hanging
15. Otto Striegel – death by hanging
16. Werner Grahn – death by hanging
17. dr Willy Jobst – death by hanging
18. Georg Gössl – death by hanging
19. Hans Diehl – death by hanging
20. Paul Kaiser (Gusen) – death by hanging
21. dr Waldemar Wolter – death by hanging
22. Gustav Kreindl – death by hanging
23. Willy Eckert – death by hanging
24. Hermann Pribyll – death by hanging
25. Josef Leeb – death by hanging
26. dr Wilhelm Henkel – death by hanging
27. kapo
    Kapo (concentration camp)
    A kapo was a prisoner who worked inside German Nazi concentration camps during World War II in any of certain lower administrative positions. The official Nazi word was Funktionshäftling, or "prisoner functionary", but the Nazis commonly referred to them as kapos.- Etymology :The origin of "kapo"...
    
     Willy Frey – death by hanging
28. Leopold Trauner (DEST-Gusen) – death by hanging
29. Wilhelm Müller – death by hanging
30. Heinrich Eisenhöfer – death by hanging
31. Andreas Trumm – death by hanging
32. Rudolf Mynzak – death by hanging
33. Erich Meissner – death by hanging
34. kapo
    Kapo (concentration camp)
    A kapo was a prisoner who worked inside German Nazi concentration camps during World War II in any of certain lower administrative positions. The official Nazi word was Funktionshäftling, or "prisoner functionary", but the Nazis commonly referred to them as kapos.- Etymology :The origin of "kapo"...
    
     Rudolf Fiegl (Gusen) – death by hanging
35. Josef Niedermayer – death by hanging
36. Julius Ludolf
    Julius Ludolf
    Julius Ludolf was an SS-Obersturmführer, a member of the Waffen-SS and commander of various satellite camps of Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Upper Austria.-Concentration camp career:...
    
     – death by hanging
37. Hans Hegenscheidt – death by hanging
38. Franz Huber – death by hanging
39. dr Erich Wasicky
    Erich Wasicky
    Erich Wasicky was a pharmacist at the Mauthausen concentration camp in charge of gassing victims.Wasicky was a physician. He joined the NSDAP and was a member of the SS. Between 1941 and 1944, he worked as a pharmacist at Mauthausen concentration camp. It was his duty to select victims to die in...
    
     – death by hanging
40. Theophil Priebel – death by hanging
41. Kaspar Klimowitsch (Gusen II) – death by hanging
42. Heinrich Fitschok (Gusen II) – death by hanging
43. Anton Kaufmann (DEST-Gusen) – death by hanging
44. Stefan Barczey – death by hanging
45. Karl Struller – death by hanging
46. August Blei – death by hanging
47. Otto Drabeck – death by hanging
48. Vincenz Nohel – death by hanging
49. Thomas Sigmund (Gusen) – death by hanging
50. Heinrich Giese (Gusen) – death by hanging (changed to life imprisonment)
51. Walter Höhler – death by hanging (changed to life imprisonment)
52. Adolf Rutka (Gusen) – death by hanging (changed to life imprisonment)
53. Ludwig Dörr (Gusen II) – death by hanging (changed to life imprisonment)
54. Viktor Korger (Gusen II) – death by hanging (changed to life imprisonment)
55. Karl Billman (Gusen II) – death by hanging (changed to life imprisonment)
56. Herbert Grzybowski (Gusen) – death by hanging (changed to life imprisonment)
57. Wilhelm Mack (Gusen) – death by hanging (changed to life imprisonment)
58. Ferdinand Lappert (Gusen) – death by hanging (changed to life imprisonment)
59. Michael Cserny – life imprisonment
60. Paul Gützlaff (Gusen) – life imprisonment
61. Josef Mayer – life imprisonment

Second Mauthausen Camp Trial

The second Mauthausen Camp Trial started on August 6, 1947. Altogether 8 former members of the camp's administration were accused of the same set of crimes as in the former trial. On August 21 the verdict was reached. Four Nazis were sentenced to death by hanging, one for life imprisonment, two for short-term sentences and one was acquitted of all the charges. The death sentences were carried out on August 10, 1948.

Defendants

1. Franz Kofler – death by hanging
2. Gustav Petrat – death by hanging
3. Michael Heller – death by hanging
4. kapo
   Kapo (concentration camp)
   A kapo was a prisoner who worked inside German Nazi concentration camps during World War II in any of certain lower administrative positions. The official Nazi word was Funktionshäftling, or "prisoner functionary", but the Nazis commonly referred to them as kapos.- Etymology :The origin of "kapo"...
   
    Quirin Flaucher – death by hanging
5. Emil Thielmann – life imprisonment
6. Hermann Franz Bütgen – 3 years in prison
7. Arno Albert Reuter – 2 years in prison
8. Stefan Lennart – acquitted