Hamburg Ravensbrück Trials
The Hamburg Ravensbrück Trials were a series of seven trials for war crimes against camp officials from the Ravensbrück concentration camp that the British authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany in Hamburg after the end of World War II. These trials were heard before a military tribunal; the three to five judges at these trials were British officers, assisted by a lawyer. The defendants included concentration camp personnel of all levels: SS officers, camp doctors, male guards, female guards (Aufseherinnen), and a few former prisoner-functionaries who had tortured or mistreated other inmates. In total, 38 defendants were tried in these seven trials. 21 of the defendants were women. Executions relating to these trials were carried out at Hameln Prison by British hangman Albert Pierrepoint.
The trials
All seven trials took place in the Curiohaus in the Hamburg quarter of Rotherbaum.
First Ravensbrück Trial
The first Ravensbrück trial was held from December 5, 1946 until February 3, 1947.
| Defendant | Function | Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Johann Schwarzhuber | Deputy camp leader | Death |
| Gustav Binder | Warden | Death |
| Heinrich Peters | Warden | 15 years imprisonment; released May 18, 1955 |
| Ludwig Ramdohr | Gestapo inspector | Death |
| Martin Hellinger | Medical doctor | 15 years imprisonment; released May 14, 1955 |
| Rolf Rosenthal | Medical doctor | Death |
| Gerhard Schiedlausky | Medical doctor | Death |
| Percy Treite | Medical doctor | Death; committed suicide on April 8, 1947 before the sentence could be carried out |
| Adolf Winkelmann | Medical doctor | Died during the trial on February 1, 1947 |
| Dorothea Binz | Assistant Chief warden (Oberaufseherin) | Death; executed May 2, 1947 |
| Greta Bösel | Labor Department Head (Aufseherin) | Death; executed May 3, 1947 |
| Margarete Mewes | Jail Warden | 10 years imprisonment; released February 26, 1952 |
| Elisabeth Marschall | Nurse | Death; executed May 3, 1947 |
| Carmen Mory | Inmate; Kapo | Death; committed suicide on April 9, 1947 before the sentence could be carried out |
| Vera Salvequart | Inmate; Kapo | Death; executed on June 2, 1947 |
| Eugenia von Skene | Inmate; Kapo | 10 years imprisonment, released December 21, 1951 |
The death sentences (except for Salvequart) were carried out on May 2—3, 1947, in Hameln.
Two more defendants, camp leader Fritz Suhren and "work leader" Hans Pflaum, escaped from prison prior to the trial. They were apprehended under assumed names in 1949 and handed over to French authorities, who were conducting another Ravensbrück trial in Rastatt at the time; both men were sentenced to death in that trial and shot dead by a firing squad on June 12, 1950.
Second Ravensbrück Trial
In the second Ravensbrück trial, which lasted from November 5 to 27, 1947, the only defendant was Friedrich Opitz, a factory leader in the concentration camp. Opitz had escaped from prison along with Fritz Suhren and Hans Pflaum before the first trial began. He received a death sentence, which was carried out on February 26, 1948.
Third Ravensbrück Trial
In the third Ravensbrück trial, the so-called "Uckermark trial" that took place from April 14 to 26, 1948, five female camp officials of the Uckermark extermination camp, were indicted on four charges:
- Mistreatment of Allied women in Uckermark
- Participation in the selection of Allied women for the gas chamber in Uckermark
- Mistreatment of Allied women in the Ravensbrück concentration camp
- Selection of Allied women for the gas chamber in the Ravensbrück concentration camp
Uckermark was about one mile from the Ravensbrück concentration camp. It had been opened in May 1942 as a prison or concentration camp for girls aged 16 to 21 who were considered criminal or just difficult. Girls who reached the upper age limit were transferred to the Ravensbrück women's camp. Camp administration was provided by the Ravensbrück camp. In January 1945, the juveniles camp was closed and the infrastructure was subsequently used as an extermination camp for "sick, no longer efficient, and over 52 years old women".[2]
| Defendant | Function | Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Johanna Braach | Criminal inspector; warden in the juvenile's camp | Acquitted |
| Lotte Toberentz | Camp leader of the juvenile's camp | Acquitted |
| Elfriede Mohneke | Assistant Chief warden of the extermination camp | 10 years of imprisonment; released June 14, 1952 |
| Margarete Rabe | Warden of the extermination camp | Lifetime imprisonment; reduced in 1950 to 21 years; released June 16, 1959 |
| Ruth Neudeck | Chief warden of the extermination camp | Death; executed on July 29, 1948 |
Braach and Toberentz were acquitted because they had worked at Uckermark only while it was still a juveniles camp, and there were no Allied women there at that time; the camp was exclusively for German girls, whose fate or treatment was of no interest to the tribunal.
Fourth Ravensbrück Trial
The fourth trial was held from May to June 8, 1948. The accused were all members of the medical staff of the camp at Ravensbrück, including one inmate who had worked as a nurse. The charges again centered on mistreatment, torture, and sending to gas chambers of women of Allied nationality.
| Defendant | Function | Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Benno Orendi | Medical doctor | Death; executed September 17, 1948 |
| Walter Sonntag | Medical doctor | Death; executed September 17, 1948 |
| Martha Haake | Nurse | 10 years imprisonment; released on January 1, 1951 due to medical reasons |
| Liesbeth Krzok | Nurse | 4 years imprisonment; released February 3, 1951 |
| Gerda Ganzer | Inmate; Nurse | Death |
Ganzer had already stood trial for her activities in Ravensbrück in 1946 before a Russian military tribunal and had been acquitted. In Hamburg, she was found guilty, but her death sentence was commuted into lifetime imprisonment on July 3, 1948, which in turn was reduced to 21 years imprisonment in 1950 and then to 12 years in 1954. She was finally released on June 6, 1961.
Fifth Ravensbrück Trial
In the fifth trial, three SS members were accused of having killed Allied inmates. The trial lasted from June 16 to 29, 1948. The judgments were handed down on July 15, 1948.
| Defendant | Function | Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Arthur Conrad | SS warden | Death; executed September 17, 1948 |
| Heinrich Schäfer | SS warden | 2 years imprisonment; released October 28, 1949 |
| Walter Schenk | SS warden | 20 years imprisonment; released August 3, 1954 |
Sixth Ravensbrück Trial
This trial lasted from July 1 to 26, 1948. Both defendants were accused of having mistreated Allied inmates.
| Defendant | Function | Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Kurt Lauer | SS warden | 15 years imprisonment; released May 7, 1955 |
| Kurt Rauxloh | SS warden | 10 years imprisonment; released September 26, 1954 due to medical reasons |
Seventh Ravensbrück Trial
Finally, six Aufseherinnen (female camp wardens) were tried from July 2 to 21, 1948. The charges were mistreatment of inmates of Allied nationality and participation in the selection of inmates for the gas chamber.
| Defendant | Function | Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Luise Brunner | Chief warden (Oberaufseherin) | 3 years imprisonment |
| Anna Friederike Mathilde Klein | Chief warden | Acquitted due to lack of evidence |
| Emma Zimmer | Assistant chief warden | Death; executed September 20, 1948 |
| Christine Holthöwer | Chief Warden of Siemens | Acquitted due to lack of evidence |
| Ida Schreiter | Labor Department Warden | Death; executed September 20, 1948 |
| Ilse Vettermann | Warden | 12 years imprisonment |
References
- ↑ Margarete Buber-Neumann wrote in her book Under Two Dictators. Prisoner of Stalin and Hitler: "SS had no fabric for the production of new prison clothing. Instead they drove truckloads of coats, dresses, underwear and shoes that had once belonged to those gassed in the east, to Ravensbrück. / ... / The clothes of the murded people were sorted, and at first crosses were cut out, and fabric of another color sewn underneath. The prisoners walked around like sheeps marked for slaughter. The crosses would impede escape. Later they spared themselves this cumbersome procedure and painted with oil paint broad, white crosses on the coats." (translated from the Swedish edition: Margarete Buber-Neumann Fånge hos Hitler och Stalin, Stockholm, Natur & kultur, 1948. Page 176)
- ↑ ((Ebbinghaus 1987), p. 287)
- (Ebbinghaus 1987): Ebbinghaus, A.: Opfer und Täterinnen. Frauenbiographien des Nationalsozialismus. Nördlingen 1987. Reprinted 1996: ISBN 3-596-13094-8. In German.
- Schäfer, S.: Zum Selbstverständnis von Frauen im Konzentrationslager: das Lager Ravensbrück. PhD thesis 2002, TU Berlin. (PDF file, 741 kB). In German.
Literature
- Taake, C.: Angeklagt: SS-Frauen vor Gericht; Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Univ. Oldenburg, 1998. In German.
- G. Álvarez, Mónica. "Guardianas Nazis. El lado femenino del mal" (Spanish). Madrid: Grupo Edaf, 2012. ISBN 978-84-414-3240-6