The Pohl Trial was the fourth of the twelve trials for war crime

War crime

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

s that the United States authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 in Nuremberg

Nuremberg

Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...

 after the end of 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...

. These twelve trials were all held before U.S. military courts, not before the International Military Tribunal, although both courts presided in the same rooms at the Palace of Justice. The twelve U.S. trials are collectively known as the "Subsequent Nuremberg Trials

Subsequent Nuremberg Trials

The Subsequent Nuremberg Trials were a series of twelve U.S...

" or, more formally, as the "Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals" (NMT).

In the Pohl case, Oswald Pohl

Oswald Pohl

Oswald Pohl was a Nazi official and member of the SS , involved in the mass murders of Jews in concentration camps, the so-called Final Solution.-Early years:...

 and 17 other SS officers employed by the SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt (WVHA)

SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt

The SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt was responsible for managing the finances, supply systems and business projects for the Allgemeine-SS...

, the Economics and Administrative Department of the SS, were tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the time of the Nazi

Nazism

Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

 regime. The main charge against them was their active involvement in and administration of the "Final Solution

Final Solution

The Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II, resulting in the most deadly phase of the Holocaust...

". The WVHA was the Nazi government office that ran the concentration and extermination camps. It also handled the procurement for the Waffen SS and, as of 1942, the administration of the SS-Totenkopfverbände

SS-Totenkopfverbände

SS-Totenkopfverbände , meaning "Death's-Head Units", was the SS organization responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps for the Third Reich....

.

The judges in this case, heard before Military Tribunal II, were Robert M. Toms (presiding judge) from Detroit, Michigan

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

, Fitzroy Donald Phillips from North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, Michael A. Musmanno from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

, and John J. Speight from Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

 as an alternate judge. The Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution was Telford Taylor

Telford Taylor

Telford Taylor was an American lawyer best known for his role in the Counsel for the Prosecution at the Nuremberg Trials after World War II, his opposition to Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, and his outspoken criticism of U.S...

; James M. McHaney and Jack W. Robbins

Jack W. Robbins

Jack W. Robbins was a principal prosecutor for the United States in the Pohl Trial, the fourth of the twelve trials for war crimes the U.S. authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany in Nuremberg after the end of World War II. Robbins was the youngest and longest surviving prosecutor for...

 were the principal prosecutors. The indictment

Indictment

An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...

 was presented on January 13, 1947; the trial began on April 8, and sentences were handed down on November 3, 1947. Four persons, including Oswald Pohl

Oswald Pohl

Oswald Pohl was a Nazi official and member of the SS , involved in the mass murders of Jews in concentration camps, the so-called Final Solution.-Early years:...

, were sentenced to death by hanging. Three were acquitted. The others received sentences of imprisonment between 10 years and lifetime.

At the request of the judges, the court reconvened on July 14, 1948 to consider additional material presented by the defense. On August 11, 1948, the tribunal issued its final sentences, confirming most of its earlier sentences, but slightly reducing some of the prison sentences and changing the death sentence of Georg Lörner

Georg Lörner

Georg Nikolaus Lörner was an SS-Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant of the Waffen-SS, and Deputy Chief under Oswald Pohl, of the Wirtschaftsunternehmen im SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt , chief of Amtsgruppe B, of the WVHA, and deputy chief of Amtsgruppe W Georg Nikolaus Lörner (Feb. 18, 1918;...

 into a sentence of life imprisonment.

Indictment

1. Participating in a common plan or conspiracy to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity.
2. War crimes through the administration of concentration camps and extermination camps, and the mass murder
   Mass murder
   Mass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people , typically at the same time or over a relatively short period of time. According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as four or more murders occurring during a particular event with no cooling-off period between the murders...
   
   s and atrocities committed there.
3. Crimes against humanity on the same grounds, including slave labor charges.
4. Membership in a criminal organization, the SS.

The SS had been found a criminal organization previously by the IMT

Nuremberg Trials

The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....

. All defendants were charged on all counts of the indictment, except Hohberg, who was not charged on count 4. Charge 1 (conspiracy) was largely disregarded by the tribunal and no judgments on this count were passed.

Defendants

All convicts were found guilty on charges 2, 3, and 4, except Hohberg (who was not charged on count 4, but found guilty on counts 2 and 3). Three defendants were acquitted on all charges: Vogt, Scheide, and Klein.

Name	Function	Sentence of Nov 3, 1947	Sentence of Aug 11, 1948	1951 Amnesty
Oswald Pohl Oswald Pohl Oswald Pohl was a Nazi official and member of the SS , involved in the mass murders of Jews in concentration camps, the so-called Final Solution.-Early years:...	head of the WVHA SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt The SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt was responsible for managing the finances, supply systems and business projects for the Allgemeine-SS... , Lt. General of the Waffen SS	death by hanging	confirmed	executed June 7, 1951
August Frank August Frank August Frank was an official of the Main Economic Administration Office of the Nazi SS generally known by its initials WVHA. WVHA was, among other things, responsible for the administration of the Nazi concentration camps...	deputy chief of the WVHA, Lt. General of the Waffen SS	life imprisonment	confirmed	commuted to 15 years
Georg Lörner Georg Lörner Georg Nikolaus Lörner was an SS-Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant of the Waffen-SS, and Deputy Chief under Oswald Pohl, of the Wirtschaftsunternehmen im SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt , chief of Amtsgruppe B, of the WVHA, and deputy chief of Amtsgruppe W Georg Nikolaus Lörner (Feb. 18, 1918;...	deputy chief of the WVHA, Maj. General of the Waffen SS	death by hanging	changed to lifetime imprisonment	commuted to 15 years
Heinz Karl Fanslau	deputy chief of the WVHA, Brigadier General of the Waffen SS	25 years	reduced to 20 years	commuted to 15 years
Hans Lörner	SS Oberführer Oberführer Oberführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party dating back to 1921. Translated as “Senior Leader”, an Oberführer was typically a Nazi Party member in charge of a group of paramilitary units in a particular geographical region...	10 years	confirmed	released
Josef Vogt	SS Standartenführer Standartenführer Standartenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in the so-called Nazi combat-organisations: SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK...	acquitted
Erwin Tschentscher	SS Standartenführer	10 years	confirmed	released
Rudolf Scheide	SS Standartenführer	acquitted
Max Kiefer	SS Obersturmbannführer Obersturmbannführer Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...	life imprisonment	reduced to 20 years	released
Franz Eirenschmalz	SS Standartenführer	death by hanging	confirmed	commuted to 9 years
Karl Sommer	SS Sturmbannführer Sturmbannführer Sturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...	death by hanging	confirmed	commuted to lifetime imprisonment in 1949; commuted to 20 years in 1951
Hermann Pook	Obersturmbannführer of the Waffen SS, chief dentist of the WVHA	10 years	confirmed	released
Hans Heinrich Baier	SS Oberführer	10 years	confirmed	released
Hans Hohberg	executive officer	10 years, incl. time already served	confirmed	released
Leo Volk	SS Hauptsturmführer Hauptsturmführer Hauptsturmführer was a Nazi rank of the SS which was used between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank of Hauptsturmführer was a mid-grade company level officer and was the equivalent of a Captain in the German Army and also the equivalent of captain in foreign armies... , personal advisor of Pohl, head of legal department of the WVHA	10 years	confirmed	commuted to 8 years
Karl Mummenthey	SS Obersturmbannführer	life imprisonment	confirmed	commuted to 20 years
Hans Bobermin	SS Obersturmbannführer	20 years	reduced to 15 years	released
Horst Klein	SS Obersturmbannführer	acquitted

Hohberg's sentence of 10 years included time already served—he was imprisoned on October 22, 1945—because he was not a member of the SS. The defense counsel for Karl Sommer filed a petition to modify the sentence to General Lucius D. Clay

Lucius D. Clay

General Lucius Dubignon Clay was an American officer and military governor of the United States Army known for his administration of Germany immediately after World War II. Clay was deputy to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1945; deputy military governor, Germany 1946; commander in chief, U.S....

, the Commander-in-Chief for the U.S. occupation zone. In response to this appeal, Clay http://www.mazal.org/archive/nmt/05/NMT05-T1255.htm ordered Sommer's death sentence to be commuted into a lifetime imprisonment on May 11, 1949. Pohl kept claiming his innocence, stating that he had been only a lower functionary. He was hanged on June 7, 1951, in the prison at Landsberg

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....

.

The head of Amt D: Konzentrationslagerwesen of the WVHA (the department of concentration camps), Richard Glücks

Richard Glücks

Richard Glücks was a high-ranking Nazi official. He attained the rank of a SS-Gruppenführer and a Generalleutnant of the Waffen-SS and from 1939 until the end of World War II was the head of Amt D: Konzentrationslagerwesen of the WVHA; the highest-ranking Concentration Camps Inspector in Nazi...

, who had been the direct superior of all commanders of concentration camps and as such directly responsible for all the atrocities committed there, was not tried. On May 10, 1945, two days after the unconditional surrender of Germany, he had committed suicide in the navy hospital of Flensburg

Flensburg

Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...

.