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. None of the Stutthof commandants were ever tried in Poland. SS-Sturmbannführer 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.

The first Polish war crimes tribunal was convened at Gdańsk, 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 Toruń in 1949. The sixth and the last Stutthof trial in Poland took place in 1953 also in Gdańsk. 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.

First Stutthof trial
During the first trial held at Gdańsk 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. 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 Górka in Gdańsk, by short-drop hanging.

The commandant of the Stutthof and Neuengamme concentration camps SS-Sturmbannführer Max Pauly was sentenced to death in Germany at about the same time. 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-Sturmbannführer 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

 * 1) Johann Pauls, SS Oberscharführer: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
 * 2) Jenny-Wanda Barkmann, SS Aufseherin: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
 * 3) Elisabeth Becker, SS Aufseherin: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
 * 4) Wanda Klaff, SS Aufseherin: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
 * 5) Ewa Paradies, SS Aufseherin Death, executed: July 4, 1946
 * 6) Gerda Steinhoff, SS Blockleiterin: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
 * 7) Erna Beilhardt, SS Aufseherin: 5 years imprisonment
 * 8) Tadeusz Kopczynski, (Kapo): Death, executed: July 4, 1946
 * 9) Waclaw Kozlowski, Kapo: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
 * 10) Jozef Reiter, Kapo: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
 * 11) Fanciszek Szopinski, Kapo: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
 * 12) Kazimierz Kowalski, Kapo: 3 years imprisonment
 * 13) Jan Brajt, Kapo: Death, executed: July 4, 1946
 * 14) Aleksy Duzdal, Kapo: Not guilty
 * 15) Jan Preiss, Kapo: Not guilty
 * 16) Marian Zielkowski, Kapo: Died of a heart attack in prison, August 25, 1945

Second Stutthof trial
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.

Verdicts in the second trial


Nine SS men and the Kapo Nikolaysen were executed on October 28, 1948:
 * 1) Kurt Dietrich, SS Unterscharführer: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
 * 2) Karl Eggert, SS Rottenführer: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
 * 3) Theodor Meyer, SS Hauptsturmführer: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
 * 4) Ewald Foth, SS Oberscharführer: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
 * 5) Albert Paulitz, SS Oberscharführer: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
 * 6) Fritz Peters, SS Unterscharführer: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
 * 7) Hans Rach, SS Oberscharführer: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
 * 8) Paul Wellnitz, SS Rottenführer: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
 * 9) Karl Zurell, SS Rottenführer: Death, executed: October 28, 1948
 * 10) Erich Thun, SS Unterscharführer: Life imprisonment
 * 11) Wilhelm Vogler, SS Hauptsturmführer: 15 years imprisonment
 * 12) Eduard Zerlin, SS Unterscharführer: 12 years imprisonment
 * 13) Oskar Gottchau, SS Unterscharführer: 10 years imprisonment
 * 14) Adolf Grams, SS Rottenführer: 10 years imprisonment
 * 15) Emil Wenzel, SS Unterscharführer: 10 years imprisonment
 * 16) Werner Wöllnitz, SS Rottenführer: 10 years imprisonment
 * 17) Johannes Görtz, SS Unterscharführer: 8 years imprisonment
 * 18) Karl Reger, SS Scharführer: 8 years imprisonment
 * 19) Martin Stage, SS Scharführer: 8 years imprisonment
 * 20) Adalbert Wolter, SS Unterscharführer: 8 years imprisonment
 * 21) Josef Wennhardt, SS Scharführer: 8 years imprisonment
 * 22) Hugo Ziehm, SS Scharführer: 3 years imprisonment
 * 23) Walter Englert, SS Scharführer: 3 years imprisonment
 * 24) Alfred Nikolaysen, Kapo: Death, executed: October 28, 1948

Third Stutthof trial
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.

Verdicts in the third trial

 * 1) Karl Meinck, SS Obersturmführer: 12 years imprisonment
 * 2) Gustav Eberle, SS Hauptscharführer: 10 years imprisonment
 * 3) Erich Jassen, SS Hauptscharführer: 10 years imprisonment
 * 4) Adolf Klaffke, SS Oberscharführer: 10 years imprisonment
 * 5) Otto Schneider, SS Unterscharführer: 10 years imprisonment
 * 6) Otto Welke, SS Sturmscharführer: 10 years imprisonment
 * 7) Willy Witt, SS Unterscharführer: 10 years imprisonment
 * 8) Alfred Tissler, SS Rottenführer: 5 years imprisonment
 * 9) Johann Lichtner, SS Hauptscharführer: 5 years imprisonment
 * 10) Ernst Thulke, SS Rottenführer: 5 years imprisonment
 * 11) Heinz Löwen, SS Scharführer: 5 years imprisonment
 * 12) Erich Stampniok, SS Unterscharführer: 5 years imprisonment
 * 13) Hans Möhrke, SS Sturmscharführer: 4 years imprisonment
 * 14) Harry Müller, SS Unterscharführer: 4 years imprisonment
 * 15) Richard Timm, SS Hauptscharführer: 4 years imprisonment
 * 16) Nikolaus Dirnberger, SS Scharführer: 4 years imprisonment
 * 17) Friedrich Tessmer, SS Scharführer: 4 years imprisonment
 * 18) Johann Sporer, SS Unterscharführer: 4 years imprisonment
 * 19) Nikolai Klawan, SS Scharführer: 3 years imprisonment
 * 20) Hans Tolksdorf, SS Oberscharführer: Not guilty

Fourth Stutthof trial
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.

Verdicts in the fourth trial

 * 1) Willi Buth, SS Hauptscharführer: Death, executed: January 10, 1949
 * 2) Albert Weckmüller, SS Hauptsturmführer: 15 years imprisonment
 * 3) Rudolf Berg, SS Scharführer: 10 years imprisonment
 * 4) Fritz Glawe, SS Unterscharführer: 10 years imprisonment
 * 5) Horst Köpke, SS Unterscharführer: 10 years imprisonment
 * 6) Emil Lascheit, SS Sturmscharführer: 10 years imprisonment
 * 7) Kurt Reduhn, SS Unterscharführer: 10 years imprisonment
 * 8) Josef Stahl, SS Unterscharführer: 10 years imprisonment
 * 9) Waldemar Henke, SS Obersturmführer: 5 years imprisonment
 * 10) Gustav Kautz, SS Unterscharführer: 5 years imprisonment
 * 11) Hermann Link, SS Scharführer: 5 years imprisonment
 * 12) Erich Mertens, SS Oberscharführer: 5 years imprisonment
 * 13) Martin Pentz, SS Scharführer: 5 years imprisonment
 * 14) Johann Pfister, SS Rottenführer: 5 years imprisonment
 * 15) Johannes Wall, SS Sturmscharführer: 5 years imprisonment
 * 16) Richard Akolt, SS Rottenführer: 3 years imprisonment
 * 17) Anton Kniffke, SS Scharführer: 3 years imprisonment
 * 18) Christof Schwarz, SS Hauptsturmführer: 3 years imprisonment
 * 19) Gustav Brodowski, SS Rottenführer: 7 months' imprisonment
 * 20) Walter Ringewald, SS Oberscharfuhrer: 7 months' imprisonment
 * 21) Richard Wohlfeil, SS Hauptscharführer: 7 months' imprisonment
 * 22) Johann Wrobel, SS Oberscharführer: 7 months' imprisonment
 * 23) Ernst Knappert, SS Rottenführer: 7 months' imprisonment
 * 24) Bernard Eckermann, SS Oberscharführer: 7 months' imprisonment
 * 25) Leopold Baumgartner, SS Oberscharführer: 7 months' imprisonment
 * 26) Emil Paul, SS Unterscharführer: 7 months' imprisonment
 * 27) Franz Spillmann, Kapo: Not guilty

Fifth and sixth trials
The last two trials in Poland concerning two Stutthof concentration camp officials took place four years apart. In 1949, SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Jacobi, the commandant of Stutthof subcamps forming Baukommando Weichsel or OT Thorn (Organisation Todt Thorn) for women digging anti-tank ditches, was tried before the criminal court in Toruń and sentenced to three years in prison.

In 1953 the court in Gdańsk tried SS-man Bielawa (SS Rottenführer Paul Bielawa, a prisoner guard from the 3rd company in Stutthof between 1941–45) and sentenced him to twelve years. SS-Rottenführer 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.

Later trials
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, Otto Haupt (soldier) and Bernard Lüdtke.

In 2017, the prosecution of two former Stutthof camp guards from Borken and Wuppertal commenced. The Wuppertal accused denied the allegations and declared that he was not present during the killings, and did not notice anything about it.

In November 2018, Johann Rehbogen from Borken was tried in court for serving at Stutthof camp from June 1942 to September 1944. In December 2018, the trial was suspended, since the convict had to be hospitalized for serious heart and kidney problems. On February 25, 2019, it was announced that the trial is unlikely to be restarted due to the poor health conditions of the defendant.

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. 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.

In 2021, Irmgard Furchner a German former concentration camp secretary and stenographer at Stutthof, where she worked for camp commandant Paul-Werner Hoppe, was charged with 11,412 counts of accessory to murder and 18 additional counts of accessory to attempted murder, On December 20, 2022 she was found guilty and sentenced to a suspended jail term of two years.