War Crime Trials Poland

[ansata1976]

What was the rank of

Otto Ronthaler (02.04.1903 in Lodz) sentenced to death 29.03.1947 in Lodz (reduced to life imprisonment 10.11.1947, released 19.08.1956 from Wronki prison), member Waffen-SS in Lodz 1939 - 1944

Gustav Tesse (25.07.1906 in Lenie Male) sentenced to death 07.10.1946 in Torun (executed 15.11.1946 in Wloclawek), member Waffen-SS in Lenie Male

Ferdinand Giede (29.11.1906 in Zwolen) sentenced to death 05.11.1946 in Lublin (commuted to 15 years imprisonment, escaped from prison), member SD in Krakow + Zwolen

[Strawer]

Thank you, Steve, for the additional information. I thought Hermann Altmann went from Poland/Piotrków to Slovakia and then to Italy. I didn't know he was in Ardenne, too. According to my mother, he came back from Italy after the end of the war. He was not arrested before he returned to Hamburg and reported back at his police department where he used to work before the war. Given the severe crimes he was accused for, I find it interesting that he chose not to hide, but went straight back to work, obviously convinced that he was "innocent" (or just determined to take the consequences?). Also, given the fact that he was sentenced to death for his crimes, I find it interesting that he claimed that he never had killed any person himself. But I guess many/most SS claimed they were not like the others... He also said that there was another Altmann that he was confused with. But I guess this must be related to the hearing in 1966 you mentioned, after he came back from prison. Furthermore, he said there was a false witness in court in Lodz, and he said that he was offered to go free if he decided to work for the Polish police and brought his family over to Poland, which he refused. If this is true, it might explain why it took so long before the official trial. According to my mother and my aunt, my grandfather was very "popular" in Piotrków. But I guess that must have been with the pro-German citizens (and obviously not with the Jewish citizens). In 1943 they told him he and his family should leave to save themselves, but my grandfather only sent my grandmother and his two daughters away. However, because of the bombing in Hamburg, they were not allowed to return for some time and had to stay in Opole and Dresden. According to my aunt, my grandfather tried to help the Polish citizens. She remembers there was a Polish man who came with apples to his office, but my grandfather refused to accept them and gave them back to the man and told him that he needed them more. I am not trying to make my grandfather a better man than he was. I am just trying to understand the situation. I am sure we was a convinced Nazi and that he shared the indoctrinated view of the Jews so he was capable of executing the orders he got in that respect. I just can't understand how he could claim that he had not killed anyone during the war...

jh1966 - here's something you may find interesting:

Pilecki Institute in Warsaw (https://instytutpileckiego.pl/en) runs a database „Chronicles of Terror” (zapisyterroru.pl). It's aim is to collect testimonies of Polish witnessess of two totalitarian regimes – Nazi German and Soviet. There are some accounts concerning the fates of Jews and German occupaion of Piotrków (WWII name - Petrikau).

Accounts are originally in Polish, but they’re translated into English.
Here are the examples:

Eliasz Gelade
https://www.zapisyterroru.pl/dlibra/sho ... ormat_id=6

Stefan Sewerski
https://www.zapisyterroru.pl/dlibra/sho ... ormat_id=6

Aron Horawia
https://www.zapisyterroru.pl/dlibra/sho ... ormat_id=6

Dawid Koniecpoler (from Częstochowa, but tells something about Jews in Piotrków)
https://www.zapisyterroru.pl/dlibra/sho ... ormat_id=5

Karol Cugowski (survivor of Warsaw Uprising ’44, briefly interrogated by Gestapo in Piotrków in autumn 1944)
https://www.zapisyterroru.pl/dlibra/sho ... ormat_id=6

Mieczysław Nawrocki (also survivor of Warsaaw Uprising ’44)
https://www.zapisyterroru.pl/dlibra/pub ... DRtZDs0bGc

Hermann Altmann is also mentioned in the USHMM Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos in the article „Stalag 237”:
https://books.google.pl/books?id=rsRLEA ... 37&f=false

When it comes to being a witness in Poland after WWII, he’s mentioned in a propagandist article about the show trial of Piotr Bańczyk (brother of Stanisław Bańczyk, one of the leaders of the non-communist opposition party PSL after WWII) in 1951 („Trybuna Ludu” 3 Dec 1951, p. 4):
https://pbc.gda.pl/dlibra/publication/1 ... 07/content

Some Jewish newspapers also mentioned that Altmann was sentenced to death penalty by Polish court in 1955:
https://www.jta.org/archive/ex-nazi-sen ... ds-of-jews

It doesn’t directly concern your grandfather, but some photos of Piotrków under German occupation are available here:
http://www.dawnypiotrkow.pl/index.php?/category/86
and here:
http://www.dawnypiotrkow.pl/index.php?/tags/4-okupacja

[ansata1976]

What is the place of birth of

Lothar Schwantes (30.01.1916) policeman in Posen + Mogilno sentenced to 5 years imprisonment 19.05.1947 in Poznan, sentenced to life imprisonment 29.01.1949 in Gizycko (died 05.10.1949 in prison)

[ansata1976]

SS-Schütze Otto Schwanke (10.09.1896 in ?) sentenced 1947 to 3 years imprisonment in Torun (released ??.??.??)

SS-Unterscharführer Erich König (25.04.1914 in ?) sentenced 03.10.1946 to 7 years imprisonment (released ??.??.??)

Max Kant (13.02.1894 in Bielawa) sentenced to 12 years imprisonment 01.08.1947 in Walbrzych (released ??.??.1956)

Günther Otto Treu (25.05.1926 in Heidelberg) sentenced to 8 years imprisonment 26.04.1949 in Swidnica (released 10.07.1954)

Johann Theil (25.04.1908 in Zippendorf (Romania)) sentenced to 6 years imprisonment 24.09.1948 in Swidnica (released 30.08.1953)

SS-Unterscharführer Bruno Martin Bönning (12.10.1901 in ?) sentenced to 2 years imprisonment 1947 in Torun (released ??.??.??)

Hermann Schöps (02.08.1901 in ?) sentenced to 2 years imprisonment 29.09.1947 in Jelenia Gora (released 05.11.1947)

SS-Rottenführer Paul Oswald Thiemann (18.12.1897 in Kampern) sentenced to 3 years imprisonment 29.04.1948 (released ??.??.??)

SS-Schütze Otto Steinke (17.11.1902 in Peterswaldau) sentenced to 4 years imprisonment 08.04.1948 in Wadowice (released 12.04.1951)

[ansata1976]

Erna Schneider (10.04.1916 in Waldenburg) sentenced to 9 years imprisonment 31.07.1947 in Swidnicy (released 29.11.1954), head of a labour camp in Wałbrzych or Dzierzoniow

[ansata1976]

Johann Schneider (15.03.1908 in Lovrin) sentenced to 4 years imprisonment 16.10.1946 in Wroclaw, (died 05.07.1947 in Wroclaw prison)
Robert Klimek (06.06.1898 in Zucholana) sentenced to life imprisonment 20.06.1947 in Swidnica, died 08.05.1950 in Nowogard prison)
Karl Laske (13.10.1891 in Steine) sentenced to 5 years imprisonment 10.02.1946 in Wroclaw (died 24.05.1947 in Wroclaw prison)
Wilhelm Opitz (26.04.1889 in Bernsdorf) sentenced to 4 years imprisonment 06.06.1947 in Jelenia Gora, died 15.10.1947 in Swidnicy prison)

[ansata1976]

Rudolf Becker (08.11.1912 in Kol. Brzesce) sentenced to 5 years imprisonment 28.02.1947 in Lublin (died 27.04.1949 in Warsaw prison) member SD
Werner Neumann (07.06.1920 in Wielki Konopat) sentenced to 1-year imprisonment 17.05.1948 in Poznań (released 16.01.1951) Gestapo Poznań
Zygmunt Adamski (30.05.1893 in Otyni) sentenced to death 28.11.1945 in Krakow (died 28.01.1946 in Nowogard prison) Gestapo Stanislawow
Tadeusz Michalski (29.12.1901 in Pila) sentenced to death 29.04.1947 in Bydgoszcz (executed 03.06.1948 in Bydgoszcz) Gestapo Oppeln + Wielun

Max Kühl (13.08.1877 in Bagnitten) sentenced to death 21.08.1945 in Gdansk (commuted to 15 years imprisonment 21.09.1945, died 13.11.1950 in Sztum prison)

Werner Karl Knoche (06.05.1925 in Gross Machnow) sentenced to 4 years imprisonment 20.10.1949 in Warsaw (released 31.05.1950)
Hermann Christian Hof (04.01.1917 in Rüscheid) sentenced to 10 years imprisonment 20.10.1949 in Warsaw (released 17.10.1955)
Alexander Nadolski (29.03.1926 in Bansdorf) sentenced to 4 years imprisonment 20.10.1949 in Warsaw (released 15.004.1952)
Hermann Gustav Francke (29.04.1926 in Piate Maly) sentenced to 4 years imprisonment 20.10.1949 in Warsaw

[ansata1976]

Ernst Fencke (19.01.1919 in Konary) sentenced to death 09.11.1945 in Sandomierz (still in prison 1958), Gendarmerie Staszów

[ansata1976]

Adolf Oswald (20.12.1908 in Sochaczew) sentenced to death 10.05.1947 in Warsaw (commuted to 15 years imprisonment 30.07.1948 in Warsaw, released 26.05.1954) during the occupation in the Lowicki area as Volksdeutsch and Zandarm Adolf Oswald chased Polish resistance activists and abused them for extortion

Hermann Rother (15.11.1881 in Strygan) sentenced to life imprisonment 05.06.1946 in Wroclaw (died 10.11.1948 in Nowogard prison)

Waldemar Schröder (22.08.1899 in Korwin) sentenced to death 23.10.1947 in Kalisz (commuted to life imprisonment 15.09.1948, died 29.09.1949 in Nowogard prison)

Karl Feuchter (29.05.1890 in Hannover) sentenced to death 08.03.1947 in Swidnica (commuted to 5 years imprisonment 30.03.1948, released 18.12.1949) director of the Manu & Stefan factory in Pieskowa Skala, Walbrzych Powiat.

Oskar Fandrych (01.12.1907 in Ostrowek) sentenced to death 1947 in Kalisz (Turku) (commuted to 15 years imprisonment 26.10.1948 in Kalisz, released 12.04.1954)

Robert Witzke (29.09.1904 in Ostrow) sentenced to death 14.09.1948 in Konin (commuted to life imprisonment 18.10.1949, released 14.04.1955)

Adam August Semmler (21.11.1887 in Mochy) sentenced to death 31.05.1950 in Poznan (commuted to 12 years imprisonment 11.01.1951, released 26.05.1956) member SA

Siegmund Rode (29.06.1914 in Jagodno) sentenced to death 31.03.1947 in Lublin (commuted to 15 years imprisonment, released 10.05.1955) member SS

[ansata1976]

Who can give me more information about Kurt Leopold Braun (1905) and Heinrich Schleier?

[George_W]

Kurt Leopold Braun, born 15.10.1905, member of NSDAP and police in Rzeszów and Staroniwa, extradited by the US authorities to Poland on 25.02.1947, acquitted in Kraków on 22.10.1948, released on 25.07.1949.

Heinrich Schleier, born 03.03.1924, Volksdeutsch from Yugoslavia, SS-Rottenführer and guard at KL Płaszów, KL Flossenbürg and KL Mauthausen, extradited by the US authorities to Poland on 25.02.1947, sentenced in Kraków on 31.08.1948 to 3 years imprisonment, released on 16.01.1951.

Poor photo of Schleier taken by the US authorities before the extradition to Poland.

George

[ansata1976]

Than you George

Do you have the same information (date of trial, date and place of birth...) about

Paul Gustav Giebe (26.07.1892 in ?) sentenced to 6 years imprisonment ??.??.1949 in Krakow, Major d. Schupo German police in Krakow

Lucy Wichany (?) sentenced to 15 yearsimprisonment ??.??.1947 in Krakow
Franziska Madli (?) sentenced to 12 yearsimprisonment ??.??.1947 in Krakow

[George_W]

No sorry, they were not extradited from Germany.

Informations about Giebe from the other thread: viewtopic.php?f=38&t=178178&p=1786794&h ... e#p1786794

Major Paul Gustav Giebe

Giebe, Paul Gustav geb.26.07.1892 SS-Nr.367 704 NSDAP-Nr.670 023
Stubaf.: 01.09.1940; Major d. Schupo
Kdr. Polizeibataillon 104: 09.39 - 1942

George

[ansata1976]

Which information do you have about

Alexander Weniger
Albert Schick
Alfred Bundesmann
Josef Gunschinski

[George_W]

Alfred Bundesmann, born 04.04.1898, SS-Rottenführer and factory foreman at Biedenkopf, extradited by the US authorities on 25.02.1947 for beating and abusing of the Polish forced laborers, sentenced at Warsaw on 07.10.1948 to 3 years imprisonment, released on 15.03.1949.

Joseph Gurschinski, born 20.06.1913, Volksdeutsch from Poland, SS-Rottenführer, member of Selbstschutz in Sępólno, member of the SS in Warsaw and Gdańsk, extradited by the US authorities on 28.06.1946, sentenced at Chojnice on 05.03.1948 to 3 years imprisonment, released on 05.01.1949.

Albert Schick, born 24.01.1894, member of the Kripo in Leszno, extradited by the US authorities on 03.02.1947, not tried - discontinuation of proceedings on 28.10.1948 at Toruń, released on 14.11.1949.

Alexander Weniger, born 09.05.1906, member of the Schutzpolizei and SS in Poland and Russia (no further details), extradited by the US authorities on 22.11.1946 for taking part in the mass executions of the Poles in Tury, sentenced at Warsaw on 31.07.1950 to 4 years imprisonment only for the membership to the SS, released on 12.04.1951.

George