These former SS men who served in Treblinka were brought to trial in
Düsseldorf in
1964/1965
charged with murdering Jews in the Treblinka death camp.
Name --- Result --- T4
Franz, Kurt --- Life imp. --- Cook
Hirtreiter, Josef --- Life imp. --- T4 office
Küttner, Kurt --- died --- ?
Horn, Otto --- Acquitted --- Male nurse
Matthes, Arthur --- Life imp. --- Photographer
Mentz, Willi --- Life imp. --- Worker
Münzberger, Gustav --- 12 years imp. --- Cook
Lambert, Erwin --- Acquitted --- Builder
Rum, Albert --- 3 years --- Photographer
Stadie, Otto --- 6 years --- ?
Suchomel, Franz --- 7 years imp. --- Photographer
Prior to the above main trial, former SS man
Josef (Sepp) Hirtreiter was
the first to be brought to trial, over war crimes committed in Treblinka death camp.
During interrogations on the
6 July 1945 in
Frankfurt,
Hirtreiter was
asked questions about the euthanasia program at the
Hadamar sanitorium, disclosed information about death camps
near
Trawniki, and former
Hadamar euthanasia men who had served in the Nazi death camps in Poland. He was
released due to lack of evidence, but was arrested and tried in
Frankfurt am Main in
March 1951. At his trial
he was recognised by
Sawek Warszawski, who, left for dead in a burial pit,
survived.
Hirtreiter was found guilty of war crimes and was sentenced to life
imprisonment on
3 March 1951.
Another thirteen years were to elapse before the second of the Treblinka trials were held.
This trial was held in
Düsseldorf between 12 October 1964 and
24 August 1965.
This trial was known as The First Treblinka Trial, and among the SS men indicted was the
last commander of Treblinka,
Kurt Hubert Franz.
When
Franz was arrested, a police search of his apartment discovered
a photograph album, showing a number of photographs from his Treblinka and euthanasia days called
"
Schöne Zeiten" (Pleasant Times).
The Second Treblinka Trial was held to try
Franz Stangl, the former
death camp commander, who had been arrested in Brazil on
28 February 1967,
and extradited to West Germany.
The trial commenced on
13 May 1970 in
Düsseldorf and on
22 July 1970 he was sentenced
to life imprisonment for the co-responsibility in the murder of 900,000 people during his tenure
as commander of Treblinka.
Stangl died of a heart attack in prison on
28 June 1971, whilst
awaiting the result of his appeal against sentence.
Of the former Ukrainian guards who had served at Treblinka,
Fedor Fedorenko
was deported to the Soviet Union from the USA where he had emigrated to, in
December 1984. He was sentenced
to death after a ten day public trial in
June 1986. His execution by firing
squad was announced in
July 1986.
On
16 February 1987 John (Ivan) Demjanjuk
was tried in
Jerusalem accused
of being "Ivan the Terrible" of Treblinka, after being deported from
Cleveland in the USA. He was found guilty
on
18 April 1988, and was sentenced to death on
25 April 1988.
Following a successful appeal, he was released, as it was never proved that
Demjanjuk was indeed Ivan from Treblinka and the court in Israel decided
to release him. However, it was duly noted that there was conclusive proof that
Demjanjuk had been a guard in
Sobibor.
Sources:
Robin O'Neil.
Belzec - The Forgotten Camp
Thomas Blatt.
Sobibor - The Forgotten Revolt
Tom Teicholz.
Ivan the Terrible
G. Reitlinger.
The Final Solution
Gitta Sereny.
Into that Darkness
© ARC 2005
