Hamburg Ravensbrück trials



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 on the gallows at Hameln Prison by British hangman Albert Pierrepoint.

The trials
All seven trials took place in the Curiohaus in the Hamburg quarter of Rotherbaum.

First Ravensbrück Trial
The first Ravensbrück trial was held from December 5, 1946 until February 3, 1947.

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.

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: 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". 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.
 * 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

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. 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.

Sixth Ravensbrück Trial
This trial lasted from July 1 to 26, 1948. Both defendants were accused of having mistreated Allied inmates.

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.

Literature

 * Taake, C.: Angeklagt: SS-Frauen vor Gericht; Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Univ. Oldenburg, 1998. In German.
 * G. Álvarez, Mónica. "Guardianas Nazis. El lado femenino del mal" (Spanish). Madrid: Grupo Edaf, 2012. ISBN 978-84-414-3240-6