Abstract

This clip reports on the verdicts being handed down in the first Auschwitz trial, which took place before Poland’s Supreme National Tribunal in Krakow from November to December 1947. The footage shows several of the forty defendants, all former guards, administrators, and medical staff at the camp complex. The clip is taken from the German language newsreel Welt im Film, which was produced by the American and British military governments.

The Verdicts in the Krakow Auschwitz Trial (1948)

Source

/In Krakow, the trial before a Polish court of those mainly responsible for the Auschwitz concentration camp has ended. The defendants are German camp guards or members of the German administrative staff. They were accused of unprecedented atrocities against the camp inmates, especially female prisoners.
/In total, almost 300,000 people of various nationalities perished in the Auschwitz concentration camp. The court sentenced 23 defendants to death, six to life imprisonment, ten to longer prison sentences and one was acquitted. The Auschwitz concentration camp remains as it stands today as a shameful memorial in lasting memory of its 300,000 victims.

Source: Welt im Film 137/1948. January 8, 1948. Bundesarchiv Filmarchiv

Recommended Citation

The Verdicts in the Krakow Auschwitz Trial (1948), published in: German History in Documents and Images, <https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/occupation-and-the-emergence-of-two-states-1945-1961/ghdi:video-5051> [April 22, 2024].