THE HAMBURG RAVENSBRUCK TRIALS (5 DECEMBER 1946 TO 21 JULY 1948)

            On this date, 5 December 1948, The Hamburg Ravensbrück Trials began against the camp officials from the Hamburg Ravensbrück Concentration Camp. I will post the information from Wikipedia.

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.

Female prisoners at Ravensbruck in 1939

The trials

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.

Female prisoners gathered when the Red Cross arrive to Ravensbrück in April 1945. The white paint marks shows they are prisoners.

Photo of Dorothea Binz, left, and three other defendants at the Ravensbrück trial, Hamburg, 1947, (l, to r,) Dorothea Binz, Margarete Mewes, Greta Bösel, and Eugenia von Skene.  Courtesy of Dokumentationsarchiv des Öesterreichischen Widerstandes, Vienna, Austria.. (PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.chgs.umn.edu/museum/exhibitions/ravensbruck/justice.html)

PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/nazigirls.html

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:

1. Mistreatment of Allied women in Uckermark
2. Participation in the selection of Allied women for the gas chamber in Uckermark
3. Mistreatment of Allied women in the Ravensbrück concentration camp
4. 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".

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

PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/nazigirls.html

Thus all 11 were publicly hanged before a large crowd, estimated at several thousand, at 5.00 p.m. on July 4th, 1946 at Biskupia Gorka hill near Danzig. A row of simple gallows had been set up in a large open area, four double ones with a triple gallows in the middle. A fleet of open trucks brought the prisoners to the execution ground, their hands and legs tied with cords. The trucks were backed under the gallows and the condemned made to stand on the tailboards or on the chairs on which they had sat. A simple cord noose was put round their necks and when the preparations were complete, each truck was driven forward leaving them suspended. They were not hooded and given only a short drop, and as can be seen from the photos, some of them struggled for some time after suspension. It is alleged that one man and two women (un-named) struggled and fought with their guards prior to being hanged, although the others seemed to accept their fate calmly. The whole event was recorded by official press photographers, hence the clarity of the pictures. (PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/nazigirls.html)