TheStutthof trials were a series ofwar crime tribunals held in postwar Poland for the prosecution ofStutthof concentration camp staff and officials, responsible for the murder of up to 85,000 prisoners during theoccupation of Poland byNazi Germany in World War II.[1] None of the Stutthof commandants were ever tried in Poland.SS-SturmbannführerMax Pauly was put on trial by a British military court in Germany but not for the crimes committed at Stutthof; only as the commandant of theNeuengamme concentration camp in Hamburg. Nevertheless, Pauly was executed in 1946.[2]
The first Polish war crimes tribunal was convened atGdańsk, Poland, from 25 April to 31 May 1946. The next three trials took place at the same court in 8–31 October, 5–10 November, and 19–29 November 1947. The fifth trial was held before the court inToruń in 1949. The sixth and the last Stutthof trial in Poland took place in 1953, also in Gdańsk. In total, of the approximately 2,000SS men and women who ran the entire camp complex, 72SS officers and six female overseers were punished.[2]
During the first trial held atGdańsk from 25 April to 31 May 1946, the joint Soviet/Polish Special Criminal Court tried and convicted ofcrimes against humanity a group of thirteen ex-officials and overseers of the Stutthof concentration camp inSztutowo and itsBromberg-Ost subcamp for women located in the city ofBydgoszcz.[2] The accused were arraigned before the court and all found guilty. Twelve were sentenced to death, including the commander of the guardsJohann Pauls, while the remainder were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. The death sentences were carried out on 4 July 1946 at theBiskupia Górka in Gdańsk, byshort-drop hanging.
The commandant of the Stutthof andNeuengamme concentration campsSS-SturmbannführerMax Pauly was sentenced to death in Germany at about the same time.[2] Pauly was tried by the British for war crimes with thirteen others in theCurio Haus inHamburg which was located in the Britishoccupied sector of Germany. The trial lasted from 18 March to 13 May 1946. He was found guilty and sentenced to death with 11 other defendants. He was executed bylong-drop hanging byAlbert Pierrepoint inHamelin Prison on 8 October 1946. The second commandantSS-SturmbannführerPaul-Werner Hoppe (August 1942 – January 1945) was apprehended in 1953 in West Germany and later sentenced to nine years imprisonment.
The execution of guards of the Stutthof concentration camp onBiskupia Górka Hill nearGdańsk on 4 July 1946. In the foreground were the female guards sentenced to hang:Barkmann,Paradies,Becker,Klaff,Steinhoff (left to right)The execution of Steinhoff,Pauls and threekapos 4 July 1946
The second trial was held from 8 October to 31 October 1947, before a Polish Special Criminal Court. Arraigned 24 ex-officials and guards of the Stutthof concentration camp were judged and found guilty. Ten were sentenced to death.[2]
The third trial was held from 5 November to 10 November 1947 before a Polish Special Criminal Court. Arraigned 20 ex-officials and guards were judged; nineteen were found guilty, and one was acquitted.[2][4]
The fourth trial was also held before a Polish Special Criminal Court, from 19 November to 29 November 1947. Arraigned 27 ex-officials and guards were judged; 26 were found guilty, and one was acquitted.[2][4]
The last two trials in Poland concerning two Stutthof concentration camp officials took place four years apart. In 1949,SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Jacobi, the commandant of Stutthof subcamps formingBaukommando Weichsel orOT Thorn (Organisation Todt Thorn) for women digging anti-tank ditches,[5] was tried before the criminal court inToruń and sentenced to three years in prison.[2]
In 1953 the court in Gdańsk tried SS-man Bielawa (SS Rottenführer Paul Bielawa, a prisoner guard from the 3rd company in Stutthof between 1941–45)[1] and sentenced him to twelve years.[2] SS-Rottenführer Emil Strehlau was sentenced by the court in Torun (Wloclawek) on 23 April 1948 to death for war crimes. He was executed 8 November in Wloclawek.[6][7]
In 2017, the prosecution of two former Stutthof camp guards fromBorken andWuppertal commenced.[8] The Wuppertal accused denied the allegations and declared that he was not present during the killings, and did not notice anything about it.[9]
In November 2018, Johann Rehbogen from Borken was tried in court for serving at Stutthof camp from June 1942 to September 1944.[10] In December 2018, the trial was suspended, since the convict had to be hospitalized for serious heart and kidney problems.[11] On 25 February 2019, it was announced that the trial is unlikely to be restarted due to the poor health conditions of the defendant.[12]
In October 2019, Bruno Dey from Hamburg was accused of contributing to the killings of 5,230 prisoners at Stutthof camp between 1944 and 1945. However, he was tried in a juvenile court due to being about 17 at that time.[13] In July 2020, he was convicted of 5,232 counts of accessory to murder by the Hamburg state court, and was also convicted of one count of accessory to attempted murder.[14]
In 2021,Irmgard Furchner, a German former concentration camp secretary and stenographer at Stutthof who worked for camp commandantPaul-Werner Hoppe,[15] was charged with 11,412 counts of accessory to murder and 18 additional counts of accessory to attempted murder,[16][17][18] On 20 December 2022, she was found guilty and sentenced to a suspended jail term of two years.[19][20] On 20 August 2024, the GermanFederal Court of Justice would reject Furchner's appeal and uphold her conviction.[21][22]
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