Series of war crime tribunals
Stutthof trials
|
The
Stutthof trials
were a series of
war crime
tribunals held in postwar Poland for the prosecution of
Stutthof concentration camp
staff and officials, responsible for the murder of up to 85,000 prisoners during the
occupation of Poland
by
Nazi Germany
in World War II.
[1]
None of the Stutthof commandants were ever tried in Poland.
SS-Sturmbannfuhrer
Max Pauly
was put on trial by a British military court in Germany but not for the crimes committed at Stutthof; only as the commandant of the
Neuengamme concentration camp
in Hamburg. Nevertheless, Pauly was executed in 1946.
[2]
The first Polish war crimes tribunal was convened at
Gda?sk
, Poland, from April 25, 1946 to May 31, 1946. The next three trials took place at the same court in October 8?31, 1947, November 5?10, and in November 19?29 of that year. The fifth trial was held before the court in
Toru?
in 1949. The sixth and the last Stutthof trial in Poland took place in 1953 also in Gda?sk. In total, of the approximately 2,000
SS
men and women who ran the entire camp complex, 72
SS
officers and six female overseers were punished.
[2]
First Stutthof trial
[
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]
During the first trial held at
Gda?sk
from April 25, 1946, to May 31, 1946, the joint Soviet/Polish Special Criminal Court tried and convicted of
crimes against humanity
a group of thirteen ex-officials and overseers of the Stutthof concentration camp in
Sztutowo
and its
Bromberg-Ost
subcamp for women located in the city of
Bydgoszcz
.
[2]
The accused were arraigned before the court and all found guilty. Twelve were sentenced to death, including the commander of the guards
Johann Pauls
, while the remainder were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. The death sentences were carried out on July 4, 1946 at the
Biskupia Gorka
in Gda?sk, by
short-drop hanging
.
The commandant of the Stutthof and
Neuengamme concentration camps
SS-Sturmbannfuhrer
Max Pauly
was sentenced to death in Germany at about the same time.
[2]
Pauly was tried by the British for war crimes with thirteen others in the
Curio Haus
in
Hamburg
which was located in the British
occupied
sector of Germany. The trial lasted from March 18, 1946 to May 13, 1946. He was found guilty and sentenced to death with 11 other defendants. He was executed by
long-drop hanging
by
Albert Pierrepoint
in
Hamelin Prison
on October 8, 1946. The second commandant
SS-Sturmbannfuhrer
Paul-Werner Hoppe
(August 1942 - January 1945) was apprehended in 1953 in West Germany and later sentenced to nine years imprisonment.
Verdicts in the first Stutthof trial
[
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]
- Johann Pauls
,
SS
Oberscharfuhrer
: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
- Jenny-Wanda Barkmann
,
SS
Aufseherin
: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
- Elisabeth Becker
,
SS Aufseherin
: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
- Wanda Klaff
,
SS Aufseherin
: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
- Ewa Paradies
,
SS Aufseherin
Death, executed: July 4, 1946
- Gerda Steinhoff
,
SS Blockleiterin
: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
- Erna Beilhardt
,
SS Aufseherin
: 5 years imprisonment
- Tadeusz Kopczynski,
(Kapo)
: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
- Waclaw Kozlowski,
Kapo
: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
- Jozef Reiter,
Kapo
: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
- Fanciszek Szopinski,
Kapo
: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
- Kazimierz Kowalski,
Kapo
: 3 years imprisonment
- Jan Brajt,
Kapo
: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
- Aleksy Duzdal,
Kapo
: Not guilty
- Jan Preiss,
Kapo
: Not guilty
- Marian Zielkowski,
Kapo
: Died of a heart attack in prison, August 25, 1945
Second Stutthof trial
[
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]
The second trial was held from October 8, 1947, to October 31, 1947, before a Polish Special Criminal Court. Arraigned 24 ex-officials and guards of the Stutthof concentration camp were judged and found guilty. Ten were sentenced to death.
[2]
Verdicts in the second trial
[
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]
Nine SS men and the
Kapo
Nikolaysen were executed on October 28, 1948:
[3]
- Kurt Dietrich,
SS Unterscharfuhrer
: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
- Karl Eggert,
SS
Rottenfuhrer
: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
- Theodor Meyer,
SS
Hauptsturmfuhrer
: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
- Ewald Foth,
SS
Oberscharfuhrer
: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
- Albert Paulitz,
SS Oberscharfuhrer
: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
- Fritz Peters,
SS Unterscharfuhrer
: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
- Hans Rach,
SS Oberscharfuhrer
: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
- Paul Wellnitz,
SS Rottenfuhrer
: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
- Karl Zurell,
SS Rottenfuhrer
: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
- Erich Thun,
SS Unterscharfuhrer
: Life imprisonment
- Wilhelm Vogler,
SS Hauptsturmfuhrer
: 15 years imprisonment
- Eduard Zerlin,
SS
Unterscharfuhrer
: 12 years imprisonment
- Oskar Gottchau,
SS Unterscharfuhrer
: 10 years imprisonment
- Adolf Grams,
SS Rottenfuhrer
: 10 years imprisonment
- Emil Wenzel,
SS Unterscharfuhrer
: 10 years imprisonment
- Werner Wollnitz,
SS Rottenfuhrer
: 10 years imprisonment
- Johannes Gortz,
SS Unterscharfuhrer
: 8 years imprisonment
- Karl Reger,
SS
Scharfuhrer
: 8 years imprisonment
- Martin Stage,
SS Scharfuhrer
: 8 years imprisonment
- Adalbert Wolter,
SS Unterscharfuhrer
: 8 years imprisonment
- Josef Wennhardt,
SS Scharfuhrer
: 8 years imprisonment
- Hugo Ziehm,
SS Scharfuhrer
: 3 years imprisonment
- Walter Englert,
SS Scharfuhrer
: 3 years imprisonment
- Alfred Nikolaysen,
Kapo
: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
Third Stutthof trial
[
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]
The third trial was held from November 5, 1947, to November 10, 1947, before a Polish Special Criminal Court. Arraigned 20 ex-officials and guards were judged; nineteen were found guilty, and one was acquitted.
[2]
[4]
Verdicts in the third trial
[
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]
- Karl Meinck,
SS Obersturmfuhrer
: 12 years imprisonment
- Gustav Eberle,
SS Hauptscharfuhrer
: 10 years imprisonment
- Erich Jassen,
SS Hauptscharfuhrer
: 10 years imprisonment
- Adolf Klaffke,
SS Oberscharfuhrer
: 10 years imprisonment
- Otto Schneider,
SS Unterscharfuhrer
: 10 years imprisonment
- Otto Welke,
SS Sturmscharfuhrer
: 10 years imprisonment
- Willy Witt,
SS Unterscharfuhrer
: 10 years imprisonment
- Alfred Tissler,
SS Rottenfuhrer
: 5 years imprisonment
- Johann Lichtner,
SS Hauptscharfuhrer
: 5 years imprisonment
- Ernst Thulke,
SS Rottenfuhrer
: 5 years imprisonment
- Heinz Lowen,
SS Scharfuhrer
: 5 years imprisonment
- Erich Stampniok,
SS Unterscharfuhrer
: 5 years imprisonment
- Hans Mohrke,
SS Sturmscharfuhrer
: 4 years imprisonment
- Harry Muller,
SS Unterscharfuhrer
: 4 years imprisonment
- Richard Timm,
SS Hauptscharfuhrer
: 4 years imprisonment
- Nikolaus Dirnberger,
SS Scharfuhrer
: 4 years imprisonment
- Friedrich Tessmer,
SS Scharfuhrer
: 4 years imprisonment
- Johann Sporer,
SS Unterscharfuhrer
: 4 years imprisonment
- Nikolai Klawan,
SS Scharfuhrer
: 3 years imprisonment
- Hans Tolksdorf,
SS Oberscharfuhrer
: Not guilty
Fourth Stutthof trial
[
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]
The fourth trial was also held before a Polish Special Criminal Court, from November 19, 1947, to November 29, 1947. Arraigned 27 ex-officials and guards were judged; 26 were found guilty, and one was acquitted.
[2]
[4]
Verdicts in the fourth trial
[
edit
]
- Willi Buth,
SS Hauptscharfuhrer
: Death, executed: January 10, 1949
- Albert Weckmuller,
SS Hauptsturmfuhrer
: 15 years imprisonment
- Rudolf Berg,
SS Scharfuhrer
: 10 years imprisonment
- Fritz Glawe,
SS Unterscharfuhrer
: 10 years imprisonment
- Horst Kopke,
SS Unterscharfuhrer
: 10 years imprisonment
- Emil Lascheit,
SS Sturmscharfuhrer
: 10 years imprisonment
- Kurt Reduhn,
SS Unterscharfuhrer
: 10 years imprisonment
- Josef Stahl,
SS Unterscharfuhrer
: 10 years imprisonment
- Waldemar Henke,
SS Obersturmfuhrer
: 5 years imprisonment
- Gustav Kautz,
SS Unterscharfuhrer
: 5 years imprisonment
- Hermann Link,
SS Scharfuhrer
: 5 years imprisonment
- Erich Mertens,
SS Oberscharfuhrer
: 5 years imprisonment
- Martin Pentz,
SS Scharfuhrer
: 5 years imprisonment
- Johann Pfister,
SS Rottenfuhrer
: 5 years imprisonment
- Johannes Wall,
SS Sturmscharfuhrer
: 5 years imprisonment
- Richard Akolt,
SS Rottenfuhrer
: 3 years imprisonment
- Anton Kniffke,
SS Scharfuhrer
: 3 years imprisonment
- Christof Schwarz,
SS Hauptsturmfuhrer
: 3 years imprisonment
- Gustav Brodowski,
SS Rottenfuhrer
: 7 months' imprisonment
- Walter Ringewald,
SS Oberscharfuhrer
: 7 months' imprisonment
- Richard Wohlfeil,
SS Hauptscharfuhrer
: 7 months' imprisonment
- Johann Wrobel,
SS Oberscharfuhrer
: 7 months' imprisonment
- Ernst Knappert,
SS Rottenfuhrer
: 7 months' imprisonment
- Bernard Eckermann,
SS Oberscharfuhrer
: 7 months' imprisonment
- Leopold Baumgartner,
SS Oberscharfuhrer
: 7 months' imprisonment
- Emil Paul,
SS Unterscharfuhrer
: 7 months' imprisonment
- Franz Spillmann,
Kapo
: Not guilty
Fifth and sixth trials
[
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]
The last two trials in Poland concerning two Stutthof concentration camp officials took place four years apart. In 1949,
SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer
Hans Jacobi, the commandant of Stutthof subcamps forming
Baukommando Weichsel
or
OT Thorn
(
Organisation Todt
Thorn) for women digging anti-tank ditches,
[5]
was tried before the criminal court in
Toru?
and sentenced to three years in prison.
[2]
In 1953 the court in Gda?sk tried SS-man Bielawa (
SS Rottenfuhrer
Paul Bielawa, a prisoner guard from the 3rd company in Stutthof between 1941–45)
[1]
and sentenced him to twelve years.
[2]
SS-Rottenfuhrer Emil Strehlau was sentenced by the court in Torun (Wloclawek) on April 23, 1948, to death for war crimes. He was executed November 8 in Wloclawek.
[6]
[7]
Later trials
[
edit
]
In mid-1950s, a number of
Nazi concentration camp commandants
were sentenced to jail for supervising the murder of Jewish prisoners in gas chambers between 1942–1944, including
Otto Knott
[
pl
]
,
Otto Haupt
[
pl
]
and
Bernard Ludtke
[
pl
]
.
In 2017, the prosecution of two former Stutthof camp guards from
Borken
and
Wuppertal
commenced.
[8]
The Wuppertal accused denied the allegations and declared that he was not present during the killings, and did not notice anything about it.
[9]
In November 2018, Johann Rehbogen from Borken was tried in court for serving at Stutthof camp from June 1942 to September 1944.
[10]
In December 2018, the trial was suspended, since the convict had to be hospitalized for serious heart and kidney problems.
[11]
On February 25, 2019, it was announced that the trial is unlikely to be restarted due to the poor health conditions of the defendant.
[12]
In October 2019, Bruno Dey from Hamburg was accused of contributing to the killings of 5,230 prisoners at Stutthof camp between 1944 and 1945. However, he was tried in a juvenile court due to being about 17 at that time.
[13]
In July 2020, he was convicted of 5,232 counts of accessory to murder by the Hamburg state court, and was also convicted of one count of accessory to attempted murder.
[14]
In 2021,
Irmgard Furchner
a German former concentration camp secretary and stenographer at Stutthof, where she worked for camp commandant
Paul-Werner Hoppe
,
[15]
was charged with 11,412 counts of accessory to murder and 18 additional counts of accessory to attempted murder,
[16]
[17]
[18]
On December 20, 2022 she was found guilty and sentenced to a suspended jail term of two years.
[19]
[20]
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
a
b
Bogdan Chrzanowski,
Andrzej G?siorowski
(Zeszyty Muzeum, 5),
Załoga obozu Stutthof (Staff of Stutthof concentration camp)
Archived
November 12, 2014, at the
Wayback Machine
(PDF file, direct download 9.14 MB) p. 189 (13/40 in PDF). Muzeum Stutthof w Sztutowie. Zaklad Narodowy Imienia Ossolinskich, Wrocław, Warszawa, Krakow 1984. PL ISSN 0137-5377.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
Janina Grabowska (January 22, 2009).
"Odpowiedzialno?? za zbrodnie popełnione w Stutthofie. Procesy"
[Responsibility for the Atrocities Committed at Stutthof. The trials.]. KL Stutthof, Monografia. Archived from the original on January 22, 2009
. Retrieved
November 12,
2014
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link
)
- ^
"KARA ?MIERCI W GDA?SKU 1945?1987 ? Encyklopedia Gda?ska"
.
www.gedanopedia.pl
. Archived from
the original
on May 11, 2021
. Retrieved
October 1,
2021
.
- ^
a
b
Nunca Mas (2007),
Campo de Concentracion Stutthof, Polonia (Concentration Camp Stutthof, Poland).
Archived
November 13, 2014, at the
Wayback Machine
History of the Camp. Subcamps. Trials. Women of the SS. Additional documents.
(in Spanish)
- ^
Marian Rochni?ski, Jan Ruci?ski,
Tragiczny los ?ydowskich wi??niarek z Baukomando Weichsel
(The Tragic Fate of Women Prisoners of Baukomando Weichsel) Tygodnik Katolicki "Niedziela" 47/2007.
- ^
IPN Warsawa
- ^
Lista osob Straconych w wiezieniach Polskich w latach 1944 ? 1956 , IPN, 1990
- ^
"KZ-Wachmann muss mit Anklage rechnen"
.
Westfalische Nachrichten
(in German). October 16, 2017.
Archived
from the original on February 7, 2019
. Retrieved
March 10,
2019
.
- ^
"Ermittlungen gegen fruheren KZ-Wachmann aus Wuppertal"
.
WDR
(in German). January 22, 2017. Archived from
the original
on October 17, 2017.
- ^
"Holocaust trial: Germany tries former SS guard at Stutthof camp"
.
BBC News
. November 6, 2018.
Archived
from the original on November 6, 2018
. Retrieved
March 10,
2019
.
- ^
"German court suspends trial of ex-SS death camp guard"
.
The Local.de
. December 13, 2018.
Archived
from the original on December 14, 2018
. Retrieved
March 10,
2019
.
- ^
"Prozess gegen fruheren SS-Wachmann steht vor dem Aus"
.
Spiegel
(in German). February 25, 2019.
Archived
from the original on February 28, 2019
. Retrieved
March 10,
2019
.
- ^
"Holocaust trial: Former Stutthof guard on trial in Germany"
.
BBC News
. October 17, 2019.
Archived
from the original on December 5, 2019
. Retrieved
October 17,
2019
.
- ^
Rising, David.
"Former Concentration Camp Guard Convicted in Germany"
.
Time
. Archived from
the original
on July 24, 2020
. Retrieved
July 23,
2020
.
- ^
"Nazi Stutthof camp secretary flees as German trial starts"
. BBC. September 30, 2021.
Archived
from the original on November 10, 2021
. Retrieved
June 28,
2022
.
- ^
Connolly, Kate (October 19, 2021).
"Former Nazi camp secretary goes on trial over murders of 11,000 people"
.
the Guardian
.
Archived
from the original on November 4, 2021
. Retrieved
November 7,
2021
.
- ^
"Nazi Stutthof camp secretary flees as German trial starts"
.
BBC News
. September 30, 2021.
Archived
from the original on November 10, 2021
. Retrieved
November 7,
2021
.
- ^
Juttner, Julia (September 30, 2021).
"Itzehoe: Ehemalige KZ-Sekretarin vor Prozessbeginn geflohen"
.
Der Spiegel
(in German).
ISSN
2195-1349
.
Archived
from the original on October 27, 2021
. Retrieved
November 7,
2021
.
- ^
"Imrgard Furchner: Nazi typist guilty of complicity in 10,505 murders"
.
BBC News
. December 20, 2022.
Archived
from the original on December 20, 2022
. Retrieved
December 20,
2022
.
- ^
"97-year-old former Nazi secretary sentenced for involvement in more than 10,000 murders"
. CNN. December 20, 2022.
Archived
from the original on December 20, 2022
. Retrieved
December 20,
2022
.
- Several authors,
Monografia KL Stutthof (KL Stutthof monograph)
(Internet Archive). Organization, Prisoners, Subcamps, Extermination, Responsibility.
Contributing writers:
Bogdan Chrzanowski, Konrad Ciechanowski, Danuta Drywa, Ewa Ferenc,
Andrzej G?siorowski
, Mirosław Gli?ski, Janina Grabowska, El?bieta Grot, Marek Orski, and Krzysztof Steyer.
(in Polish)
External links
[
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]