The Dentist of Auschwitz
Appendix B SS-Unterscharführer Karol Baga: Baga was the
Sanitätsdientsgefreiter at Auschwitz I and at Fürstengrube
between May 1944 and January 1945. In light of his willingness to
cooperate with the Polish investigation authorities, he served
only a brief sentence in the Kraków penitentiary.
SS-Unterscharführer Gunther Hinze: His name was found in the
Fürstengrube dentist reports as Sanitätsdienstgefreiter and in
the records of the SS-Hygiene Institute. [Log 8, S. Kr 409, BL 87
u. 207, Microfilm 323]
SS-man Koch: A Fürstengrube kitchen chef, Koch was tried in
absentia and, since no particular charges were filed, his trial
was dismissed.
SS-Hauptsführer Otto Moll: Arrested in 1945, Moll was tried by
the Kraków High Tribunal and found guilty of terrible crimes. He
was sentenced to death and hanged the same year.
SS-man Ohlschlager: He was a guard at Auschwitz I and at
Fürstengrube. He was tried in absentia but since no specific
criminal acts could be established the trial dismissed. [APMO.
Sign. Mat. 616a, Bd, 48, S. 71]
SS-Unterscharführer Pfeiffer: As Rapportführer at
Fürstengrube, Pfeiffer's signature was found on camp records. But
since accusations were not available, his trial was dismissed.
[GmbH, Nr. 72829, B1.230]
SS-man Unterscharführer Erich Adolf Voigt: According to
dental station reports, Voigt was a Sanitätsdienstgard at
Fürstengrube beginning in May 1943 and at Dora-Mittelbau in 1945.
No specific accusation could be established. His trial was
dismissed. [SS trial, Sign.Mat./589]
Many crimes at the hands of the SS men at Fürstengrube were not
documented, largely because few Jewish survivors had returned to
Poland after the war.
For additional records of the Fürstengrube SS team, see
Tadeusz Iwaszko, Hefte von Auschwitz (Auschwitz: Verlag
Staatliches Auschwitz-Museum, 1978).
Adolph Eichmann: After the war Eichmann escaped to South
America and eventually settled in Buenos Aires. in May 1960 he
was captured by israeli agents. In a Jerusalem court he was tried
and found guilty of crimes against humanity. Sentenced to death,
he was hanged on May 31, 1962. [Encyclopedia Americana, 1990,
vol. 9]
Dr. Josef Mengele: A long-awaited U.S. government report on
the case of Nazi war criminal Mengele confirms that the "Angel of
Death" of Auschwitz, wanted for the murder of 400,000 innocent
victims, was in fact detained by American authorities as early as
1945 in two P.O.W. camps, but was released because his true
identity was unknown. Mengele fled to South America in 1949 and
found asylum in numerous countries there, including Paraguay,
Uruguay, Brazil, and Argentina. On February 7, 1979, he was found
dead on a beach near Sao Paulo. [Gerald Posner and John Ware,
Mengele: The Complete Story (New York: McGraw Hill, 1986).]
Walter Rauff: Rauff organized the development and production
of the mobile gas vans estimated to have killed 97,000 Jews and
Russians. He died of lung cancer in Santiago, Chile, in May 1983
after the failure of several attempts to secure his extradition.
[Posner and Ware, Mengele.]
Hauptscharführer Max Hans Peter Schmidt: The case of
Kommandant Schmidt is vastly more complicated than those of other
Fürstengrube officials. From testimony given to the investigating
attorneys from Germany, the United States, and Israel, the
following facts emerged: that Schmidt (1) shot exhausted inmates;
(2) killed an inmate returning from the work Kommando "Humbold-Deutz";
(3) shot a Jewish attorney from Czechoslovakia; (4) shot
20 inmates pulling a wagon loaded with rations because they were
unable to continue; (5) shot inmates unable to keep up; (6)
ordered the shooting of inmates he had found hidden in a barn;
and (7) witnessed the shooting of inmates on marches, including
the march to Dora-Mittelbau.
The defendant did not take the stand. However, his attorney
entered a plea of not guilty, stating that Kommandant Schmidt was
not responsible for deaths or shootings and had no knowledge of
such.
On April 19, 1979, Landesgericht Kiel of Schleswig-Holstein
stated in its verdict as follows:
There was no confirmation that the accused had participated
in or had any knowledge of these incidents. It is quite possible
that he was not present during this part of the march. It must
also be considered that the witnesses' testimonies can be
considered only partially because of their weakened condition and
diminished ability to remember what they saw during that time.
Furthermore, after thirty years, it is possible that they may be
fantasizing. Therefore, no definite conclusion can be reached
that those shooting actually took place, who did the shooting,
and if the accused took part in such.
Based upon this, there is not sufficient evidence that the
accused had participated in or had any knowledge of these
incidents. Nor can the accused, Schmidt, be responsible for the
shooting of inmates marching from Turmalien to Magdeburg in April
1945. Nor can he be held responsible for killing inmates hiding
in the barn, or the killing of Eichler, Boot (or Booth) and the
Russian inmate, name unknown.
Also, the time of such trials has expired. Only for murder,
manslaughter, or accessory to murder could the defendant be
brought to justice.
Therefore, Landgericht Kiel dismisses the trial. April 19,
1979.
[vgl. BGH St 22, 275. Mandated by Bartels Court
Representative. Certified (signature illegible). Official seal of
the Justiceminister des Landes Schleswig-Holstein. This quotation
translated by Benjamin Jacobs]
Three survivors not present at the trial, including this
author, testified to having seen Schmidt kill inmates. None of
this testimony surfaced at the trial. Perhaps the verdict was
predictable. The exoneration of Schmidt for all of these crimes
was incomprehensible and outrages.
The Boston office of the German General Consul has urged the
German Justice Department to reopen the trial. So far the
department has remained silent. It is well known that the German
Justice Department is still riddled with many former Nazis. It
will take generations for Germany to free itself of its past.
[
Appendix A |
Table of Contents |
Appendix C ]
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