Auschwitz trial
The Auschwitz trial began on November 24, 1947, in Kraków, when Polish authorities tried forty former staff of the Auschwitz concentration camps. The trials ended on December 22, 1947.
The best-known defendants were Arthur Liebehenschel, former commandant; Maria Mandel, head of the Auschwitz women's camps; and SS-doctor Johann Kremer. Thirty-eight other SS officers — thirty-four men and four women — who had served as guards or doctors in the camps were also tried.
Verdict of the Supreme National Tribunal in the first Auschwitz trial
| # | Defendant | Rank | Function | Sentence |
| 1 | Arthur Liebehenschel | camp commandant | death by hanging | |
| 2 | Hans Aumeier | SS-Sturmbannführer | Schutzhaftlagerführer | death by hanging |
| 3 | Maximilian Grabner | SS-Untersturmführer | camp Gestapo chief | death by hanging |
| 4 | Karl Möckel | SS-Obersturmbannführer | manager of camp administration | death by hanging |
| 5 | Maria Mandl | SS-Oberaufseherin | Birkenau female camp commandant | death by hanging |
| 6 | Franz Xaver Kraus | SS-Sturmbannführer | information officer | death by hanging |
| 7 | Ludwig Plagge | SS-Oberscharführer | Rapportführer | death by hanging |
| 8 | Fritz Buntrock | SS-Unterscharführer | Rapportführer | death by hanging |
| 9 | SS-Hauptscharführer | subcamp commandant | death by hanging | |
| 10 | Otto Lätsch | SS-Unterscharführer | subcamp vice commandant | death by hanging |
| 11 | Heinrich Josten | SS-Obersturmführer | commander of the camp guard | death by hanging |
| 12 | Josef Kollmer | SS-Obersturmführer | commander of the camp guard | death by hanging |
| 13 | Erich Muhsfeldt | SS-Oberscharführer | Birkenau crematoria manager | death by hanging |
| 14 | Hermann Kirschner | SS-Unterscharführer | camp administration | death by hanging |
| 15 | Hans Schumacher | SS-Unterscharführer | manager of camp food supplies | death by hanging |
| 16 | August Bogusch | SS-Scharführer | camp administration | death by hanging |
| 17 | Therese Brandl | SS-Aufseherin | SS-Erstaufseherin | death by hanging |
| 18 | Paul Szczurek | SS-Unterscharführer | Blockführer | death by hanging |
| 19 | Paul Götze | SS-Rottenführer | Blockführer | death by hanging |
| 20 | Herbert Paul Ludwig | SS-Oberscharführer | Blockführer | death by hanging |
| 21 | Kurt Hugo Müller | SS-Unterscharführer | Blockführer | death by hanging |
| 22 | Johann Kremer | SS-Obersturmführer | camp doctor | death by hanging |
| 23 | Arthur Breitwieser | SS-Unterscharführer | camp administration | |
| 24 | Detlef Nebbe | SS-Sturmscharführer | sergeant of the guard company | life imprisonment |
| 25 | Karl Seufert | SS-Hauptscharführer | manager of prisoner block | life imprisonment |
| 26 | Hans Koch | SS-Unterscharführer | camp disinfection | life imprisonment |
| 27 | Luise Danz | SS-Aufseherin | female guard | life imprisonment |
| 28 | Adolf Medefind | SS-Unterscharführer | guard | life imprisonment |
| 29 | Anton Lechner | SS-Rottenführer | guard | life imprisonment |
| 30 | Franz Romeikat | SS-Unterscharführer | camp administration | 15 years imprisonment |
| 31 | Hans Hoffmann | SS-Rottenführer | camp Gestapo unit | 15 years imprisonment |
| 32 | Hildegard Lächert | SS-Aufseherin | female guard | 15 years imprisonment |
| 33 | Alice Orlowski | SS-Aufseherin | female guard | 15 years imprisonment |
| 34 | Johannes Weber | SS-Sturmmann | camp kitchen | 15 years imprisonment |
| 35 | Alexander Bülow | SS-Sturmmann | guard | 15 years imprisonment |
| 36 | Eduard Lorenz | SS-Unterscharführer | guard | 15 years imprisonment |
| 37 | Richard Schröder | SS-Unterscharführer | camp accounting | 10 years imprisonment |
| 38 | Erich Dinges | SS-Sturmmann | driver | 5 years imprisonment |
| 39 | Karl Jeschke | SS-Oberscharführer | guard | 3 years imprisonment |
| 40 | Hans Münch | SS-Untersturmführer | doctor in SS Hygiene Institute | acquitted |
immediately before being hanged
Rudolf Höss, sentenced in another trial, was executed on April 16, 1947 in front of the crematorium at Auschwitz I. The trial of camp commandant Höss which took place at the Supreme National Tribunal in Warsaw throughout March 1947 was the actual first ever Auschwitz trial, followed by the trials in Kraków several months later.
Summary
The Supreme National Tribunal presiding in Kraków issued 23 death sentences, and 17 imprisonments ranging from life sentences to 3 years. All executions were carried out on January 28, 1948 at the Kraków Montelupich Prison, "one of the most terrible Nazi prisons in occupied Poland" used by Gestapo throughout World War II. Maria Mandel and Therese Brandl were the first to be executed. One person was acquitted; Sergeant Major Hans Münch, who refused to participate in the selection process and made futile, though confirmed requests for more food to the inmates.Liebehenschel, Mandel and Kremer were condemned to death, as were Hans Aumeier, August Bogusch, Therese Brandl, Arthur Breitwiser, Fritz Buntrock, Wilhelm Gehring, Paul Götze, Maximilian Grabner, Heinrich Josten, Hermann Kirschner, Josef Kollmer, Franz Kraus, Herbert Ludwig, Karl Möckel, Kurt Mueller, Eric Muhsfeldt, Ludwig Plagge, Hans Schumacher and Paul Szczurek. Luise Danz, Hans Koch, Anton Lechner, Adolf Medefind, Detlef Nebbe, and Karl Seufert received life sentences. Alexander Bülow, Hans Hoffmann, Hildegard Lächert, Eduard Lorenz, Alice Orlowski, Franz Romeikat, and Johannes Weber were sentenced to 15 years. Richard Schroeder received 10 years, Erich Dinges five years, and Karl Jeschke three years. Hans Münch was acquitted.