A group of six members of Majdanek personnel – who had not managed to escape – were arraigned before the Soviet-Polish Special Criminal Court immediately following the camp's liberation of July 23, 1944. After the trial, and deliberations which lasted from November 27, 1944 to December 2, 1944 all accused were found guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, and sentenced to death by hanging. They included SS-Obersturmführer Anton Thernes, SS-Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Gerstenmeier, SS-Oberscharführer Hermann Vögel, Kapo Edmund Pohlmann, SS-RottenführerTheodor Schöllen and Kapo Heinrich Stalp, all of whom were executed by hanging on December 3, 1944 except for Pohlmann, who had committed suicide the night before.
Please go to this previous blog post to learn about the Deputy Camp Commandant, Anton Thernes.
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The first judicial trial of the Nazi officials at the Majdanek extermination camp took place from November 27, 1944, to December 2, 1944 in Lublin, Poland. In this photograph, Anton Thernes, standing on the left at his trial. |