Dachau International Military Tribunal
Encyclopedia
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. The trials, which were held within the walls of the former Dachau concentration camp, were conducted entirely by American Military personnel whose legal authority had been conferred by the Judge Advocate General's Department within the U.S. Third Army.
The Dachau Military Tribunal's chief prosecutor was 32 year-old William Denson, a US Army
lawyer. The chief defence counsel was Lieutenant Colonel
Douglas T. Bates Jr., an artillery officer and lawyer from Centerville
, Tennessee
.
in Nuremberg
that prosecuted the major Nazi war criminals under the jurisdiction of the four Allied Occupying Powers, the Dachau tribunals were held exclusively by the United States Military between November 1945 and August 1948. In proceedings similar to the 12 post-1946 Nuremberg trials
that were also conducted solely by the United States.
All the hearings were held within Dachau because it was, at the time, the best known of the Nazi concentration camps and it would act as a backdrop for the trials by underlining the moral corruptness of the Nazi regime.
During almost three years, the American Military Tribunals tried 1,672 German alleged war criminals in 489 separate proceedings. In total 1,416 former members of the Nazi regime were convicted, of these, 297 received death sentences and 279 were sentenced to life in prison. All convicted prisoners were sent to War Criminals Prison #1
at Landsberg am Lech
to serve their sentences or to be hanged.
Two of the most highly publicised trials concerned the activities of German forces during the Battle of the Bulge
in late 1944. In the Malmedy massacre trial
, 73 members of the Waffen-SS
were found guilty of summarily executing 84 American prisoners of war during the attack. In another trial, former German commando Otto Skorzeny
and 9 officers from the Panzer Brigade 150
, were found not guilty of breaching the rules of war
contrary to the The Hague conventions for wearing American military uniforms in a false flag
operation (See Operation Greif
).:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
zones in occupied Germany and Austria, as well as for those individuals accused of committing war crimes against American citizens and its military personnel. The trials, which were held within the walls of the former Dachau concentration camp, were conducted entirely by American Military personnel whose legal authority had been conferred by the Judge Advocate General's Department within the U.S. Third Army.
The Dachau Military Tribunal's chief prosecutor was 32 year-old William Denson, a US Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
lawyer. The chief defence counsel was Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
Douglas T. Bates Jr., an artillery officer and lawyer from Centerville
Centerville, Tennessee
Centerville is a town in Hickman County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 3,793 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Hickman County. It is probably best known for being the hometown of country comedian Minnie Pearl...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
.
Proceedings
Unlike the International Military TrialsNuremberg 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....
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...
that prosecuted the major Nazi war criminals under the jurisdiction of the four Allied Occupying Powers, the Dachau tribunals were held exclusively by the United States Military between November 1945 and August 1948. In proceedings similar to the 12 post-1946 Nuremberg trials
Subsequent Nuremberg Trials
The Subsequent Nuremberg Trials were a series of twelve U.S...
that were also conducted solely by the United States.
All the hearings were held within Dachau because it was, at the time, the best known of the Nazi concentration camps and it would act as a backdrop for the trials by underlining the moral corruptness of the Nazi regime.
During almost three years, the American Military Tribunals tried 1,672 German alleged war criminals in 489 separate proceedings. In total 1,416 former members of the Nazi regime were convicted, of these, 297 received death sentences and 279 were sentenced to life in prison. All convicted prisoners were sent to War Criminals Prison #1
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....
at Landsberg am Lech
Landsberg am Lech
Landsberg am Lech is a town in southwest Bavaria, Germany, about 65 kilometers west of Munich and 35 kilometers south of Augsburg. It is the capital of the district of Landsberg am Lech....
to serve their sentences or to be hanged.
Two of the most highly publicised trials concerned the activities of German forces during the Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...
in late 1944. In the Malmedy massacre trial
Malmedy massacre trial
The Malmedy massacre trial was held in May–July 1946 in the Dachau concentration camp to try the German Waffen-SS soldiers accused of the Malmedy massacre of December 17, 1944. The highest-ranking defendant was the former SS general, Sepp Dietrich...
, 73 members of the Waffen-SS
Waffen-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...
were found guilty of summarily executing 84 American prisoners of war during the attack. In another trial, former German commando Otto Skorzeny
Otto Skorzeny
Otto Skorzeny was an SS-Obersturmbannführer in the German Waffen-SS during World War II. After fighting on the Eastern Front, he was chosen as the field commander to carry out the rescue mission that freed the deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from captivity...
and 9 officers from the Panzer Brigade 150
Panzer Brigade 150
Panzer Brigade 150 or SS Panzer Brigade 150 was a formation of the German Army during World War II that was formed to take part in the Ardennes offensive, it was unusual in that it was formed from all parts of the German Armed Forces, the 2.500 men in the brigade were formed from; 1.000 from the...
, were found not guilty of breaching the rules of war
Perfidy
In the context of war, perfidy is a form of deception, in which one side promises to act in good faith with the intention of breaking that promise once the enemy has exposed himself .The practice is specifically prohibited under the 1977 Protocol I Additional to the...
contrary to the The Hague conventions for wearing American military uniforms in a false flag
False flag
False flag operations are covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is flying the flag of a country other than one's own...
operation (See Operation Greif
Operation Greif
Operation Greif was a special false flag operation commanded by Waffen-SS commando Otto Skorzeny during the Battle of the Bulge. The operation was the brainchild of Adolf Hitler, and its purpose was to capture one or more of the bridges over the Meuse river before they could be destroyed...
).:
Camp trials
- The Dachau Camp Trials: 40 officials were tried; 36 of the defendants were sentenced to death on 13 December 1945. Of these, 23 were hanged on the 28 May and 29 May 1946, including the former commandant Martin Gottfried Weiss and the camp doctor Claus SchillingClaus SchillingClaus 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...
. Smaller groups of Dachau camp officials and guards were included in several subsequent trials by the U.S. court. On 21 November 1946 it was announced that, up to that date, 116 defendants of this category had been convicted and sentenced to terms of imprisonment. - The MauthausenMauthausen-Gusen camp trialsThe Mauthausen-Gusen camp trials were a set of two consecutive trials of the German World War II criminals, carried over by the Dachau International Military Tribunal. 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...
Camp Trials: 61 officials of this camp were tried by a U.S. military court at Dachau in March/April, 1946; 58 defendants were sentenced to death on 11 May 1946. Those executed included the commandant of the SS-Totenkopfverbände. - The FlossenbürgFlossenbürg concentration campKonzentrationslager Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the Schutzstaffel Economic-Administrative Main Office at Flossenbürg, in the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria, Germany, near the border with Czechoslovakia. Until its liberation in April 1945, more than 96,000 prisoners...
Camp Trial: 52 officials and guards of this camp were tried between 12 June 1946 and 19 January 1947. Of the defendants, 15 sentenced to death and 25 to terms of imprisonment. - The BuchenwaldBuchenwald concentration campBuchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
Camp Trial: Between April and August, 1947, 31 defendants were found guilty. Of these 22 were sentenced to death; 9 to imprisonment. - The MühldorfMühldorf subcampIn mid-1944, the Schutzstaffel established at Mühldorf in Bavaria the Mühldorf camp complex, a satellite system of the Dachau concentration camp to provide labor for an underground installation for the production of the Messerschmitt 262 , a jet fighter designed to challenge Allied air superiority...
Camp Trial, five officials were sentenced to death by a U.S. war crimes court at Dachau on 13 May 1947 and seven to imprisonment. - The "Dora"-Nordhausen Trial: On 7 August 1947 it convicted 15 former SS guards and KaposKapo (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"...
(one was executed). The trial also addressed the question of liability of MittelwerkMittelwerkCentral Works was a World War II factory that used Mittelbau-Dora forced labor in 2 main tunnels in the Kohnstein. The underground facility produced V-2 rockets, V-1 flying bombs, and other Nazi weapons.-Mittelwerk GmbH:...
V-2 rocketV-2 rocketThe V-2 rocket , technical name Aggregat-4 , was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known...
scientists.
Notable death sentences
- Viktor Zoller: Former commander of guards at Mauthausen concentration camp. Tried and Sentenced to death in April, 1946; hanged 21 May 1947.
- August EigruberAugust EigruberAugust Eigruber was an Austrian-born Nazi Gauleiter of Oberdonau and Landeshauptmann of Upper Austria, later hanged by the Allies.-Early life and Nazi career:...
: Ex SS-ObergruppenführerObergruppenführerObergruppenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA and until 1942 it was the highest SS rank inferior only to Reichsführer-SS...
, GauleiterGauleiterA 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 Oberdonau (Upper DanubeDanubeThe Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
) and LandeshauptmannLandeshauptmannLandeshauptmann is a former German gubernatorial title equivalent to that of a governor of a province or a state....
of Upper AustriaUpper AustriaUpper 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...
for his responsibility for crimes at Mauthausen concentration camp. He was hanged at Landsberg Prison on 28 May 1947. - Eduard KrebsbachEduard KrebsbachEduard Krebsbach was a former German physician and SS doctor in the Nazi concentration camp in Mauthausen from July 1941 to August 1943...
: Ex SS-SturmbannführerSturmbannführerSturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...
and chief physician of Mauthausen camp. Tried and sentenced to death, executed 28 May 1947 for murders by lethal injection and gassing. - Josef Kisch: Ex SS-GruppenführerGruppenführerGruppenführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party, first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA.-SS rank:...
and former official of Mauthausen camp. Tried and sentenced to death 15 September 1947 for murders of Allied POWs. - Hans Moeser: Former commandant of Nordhausen concentration campMittelbau-DoraMittelbau-Dora was a Nazi Germany labour camp that provided workers for the Mittelwerk V-2 rocket factory in the Kohnstein, situated near Nordhausen, Germany....
. Sentenced to death on 30 December 1947. Following appeals, he was hanged on 26 November 1948. - Jürgen StroopJürgen StroopJürgen Stroop, , was a high-ranking Nazi Party and Gestapo official during World War II. In 1952, he was extradited to Poland, convicted of war crimes, and hanged.-Early life:Jürgen Stroop was born in Detmold, in the Principality of Lippe, German Empire, the son of a police officer...
: he was sentenced to death by the Dachau International Military Tribunal for the summary executions of the Allied airmen in Germany, then extradited to Poland, found guilty of war crimes, and executed in Warsaw by the Polish authorities in 1952. - Kurt Mathesius: Former commandant of NordhausenMittelbau-DoraMittelbau-Dora was a Nazi Germany labour camp that provided workers for the Mittelwerk V-2 rocket factory in the Kohnstein, situated near Nordhausen, Germany....
. Hanged himself while awaiting trial in May, 1947. - Erich WasickyErich WasickyErich 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...
- Julius LudolfJulius LudolfJulius 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:...