(c) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
On 20 December 1963, the Frankfurt Trial began with 22 Auschwitz personnel tried in Germany in 183 sessions over the course of nearly two years.
The trial focused on mid-to-low-level personnel, ranging from SS officers to kapos [trusted prisoners who supervised others]. Over the course of the proceedings, approximately 360 witnesses were summoned, including some 210 camp survivors. The prosecution was led by Germany’s Attorney General, Fritz Bauer, himself a concentration camp survivor. To raise awareness of the horrors of the Holocaust, the trial was open to the public and received wide media coverage.
In 1958, German courts began its systematic examination into the mass murders committed at Auschwitz following public pressure from survivors and an investigation by the central office for the prosecution of Nazi criminals.
Until then, only smaller-scale investigations had taken place, culminating in proceedings which became known as the First Auschwitz Trial, beginning on 24 November 1947 in Krakow. At these proceedings, 41 senior SS officers were tried with one acquitted, seven receiving 15 years in prison and three receiving life imprisonment. Twenty-four of the defendants were sentenced to death, including Maria Mandel, who controlled the women’s camp along with Arthur Liebehenschel and Rudolf Hoess, both camp commanders. The latter was hanged in front of the gas chamber at Auschwitz.
Perhaps the most notorious individual tried during the Frankfurt Trials was Karl Höcker, the adjutant to Auschwitz Commandment Richard Baer. While Höcker’s leadership role was undisputed, the prosecution accused him of serving on "the ramp”, meaning he participated in the process of selecting which new arrivals would be sent to death. In his testimony, Höcker claimed that he had never witnessed an execution and was not aware of the gas chambers until he arrived at Auschwitz.
While prosecutors did not have substantial proof that Höcker was involved in the selection process, the court found him guilty of aiding and abetting the murder of one thousand people on four different occasions and sentenced him to seven years in prison.
The trial concluded on 10 August 1965. Two of the accused were released due to poor health and three were acquitted. Six received life imprisonment (the maximum sentence) and the remaining received prison terms from three and a half to fourteen years. To date, fewer than fifteen percent of Auschwitz concentration camp personnel have been tried in any country.
