NMT Case 8

Summary

Trial VIII, The United States of America vs. Ulrich Greifelt, et al, also known as the RuSHA trial, took place between July 1947 and March 1948; appeal of sentences continued through 1949. Fourteen defendants were charged: Ulrich Greifelt, Rudolf Creutz, Konrad Meyer-Hetling, Otto Schwarzenberger, Herbert Huebner, Werner Lorenz, Heinz Brueckner, Otto Hofmann, Richard Hildebrandt, Fritz Schwalm, Max Sollmann, Gregor Ebner, Guenther Tesch, and Inge Viermetz. During the trial, the prosecution introduced 904 written exhibits and called 27 witnesses; the defense introduced 1148 written exhibits and called 70 witnesses. The tribunal convened 121 times.

The defendants were leading officials of "RuSHA", the Race and Settlement Main Office of the SS (SS-Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt), or of three other agencies: the Staff Main Office of the Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of Germandom (Stabshauptamt des Reichskommissars fuer die Festigung des deutschen Volkstums, or RKFDV), the Office for Repatriation of Ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle, or VoMi), and the "Lebensborn" ("Well of Life"), which was both a private association and part of the personal staff of Heinrich Himmler. The crimes charged to the defendants were connected with a systematic program of genocide. In its judgment, the Tribunal declared that these organizations existed for the primary purpose of "weakening and eventually destroying other nations while at the same time strengthening Germany, territorially and biologically, at the expense of conquered nations."

Persons Involved

Military Tribunal I

• Lee B. Wyatt, Presiding Judge
• Daniel T. O'Connell, Judge
• Johnson T. Crawford, Judge

Prosecution Counsel

• Brigadier General Telford Taylor, Chief of Counsel
• James McHaney, Deputy Chief of Counsel
• Edmund Schwenk, Daniel Schiller, Trial Counsel
• Associate Counsel: Hans Froehlich, Esther Johnson, Knox Lamb, Harold Neely

Defendants

• Ulrich Greifelt
• Rudolf Creutz
• Konrad Meyer-Hetling
• Otto Schwarzenberger
• Herbert Huebner
• Werner Lorenz
• Heinz Brueckner
• Otto Hofmann
• Richard Hildebrandt
• Fritz Schwalm
• Max Sollmann
• Gregor Ebner
• Guenther Tesch
• Inge Viermetz

Defense Counsel

• Dr. Carl Haensel (Greifelt)
• Dr. Rudolf Merkel (Creutz)
• Dr. Kurt Behling (Meyer-Hetling)
• Dr. Hans Gawlik (Schwarzenberger)
• Dr. Ernst Durchholz (Huebner)
• Dr. Ernst Hesse (Lorenz)
• Dr. Karl Doetzer (Brueckner)
• Dr. Otfried Schwarz (Hofmann)
• Dr. Georg Froeschmann (Hildebrandt)
• Dr. Willi Heim (Schwalm)
• Dr. Paul Ratz (Sollmann)
• Herbert Thiele-Fredersdorf (Ebner)
• Dr. Wilhelm Schmidt (Tesch)
• Dr. Hermann Orth (Viermetz)

Indictment

The indictment had three counts. Defendants were accused of the following as a direct consequence of their connection to the organizations named above:

Count One: crimes against humanity, including

• kidnapping children of foreign nationals
• compelling abortions on Eastern workers
• taking away infants born to Eastern workers
• punishment for sexual intercourse with Germans
• hampering reproduction of enemy nationals
• forced evacuation and resettlement of populations
• forced Germanization of enemy nationals
• slave labor
• conscription of non-Germans
• plunder of public and private property
• persecution and extermination of Jews

Count Two: war crimes

• Plunder
• murder
• extermination
• enslavement
• deportation
• imprisonment, torture, ill-treatment

Count Three: membership in criminal organizations (SS): all defendants except Viermetz

Trial Chronology Overview

• Indictment 1 July 1947
• Indictment served 7 July 1947
• Arraignment 10 October 1947
• Prosecution opening statement 20 October 1947
• Defense opening statement 20 November 1947
• Prosecution closing statement 13 February 1948
• Defense closing statements 16-17 February 1948
• Judgment 10 March 1948
• Sentences 10 March 1948
• Affirmation of sentences 12 February 1949

Ranks/Positions Held by Defendants

Ulrich Greifelt: Obergruppenfuehrer (Lieutenant General) in the SS; Chief of the Staff Main Office of the RKFDV; Chief of Amtsgruppe "B" of Staff Main Office

Rudolf Creutz: Oberfuehrer (Senior Colonel) in the SS; Chief of Amtsgruppe "A" of the Staff Main Office of the RKFDV

Konrad Meyer-Hetling: Oberfuehrer (Senior Colonel) in the SS; Chief of Amtsgruppe "C" of the Staff Main Office of the RKFDV

Otto Schwarzenberger: Oberfuehrer (Senior Colonel) in the SS; Chief of Amt V in Amtsgruppe "B" of the Staff Main Office of the RKFDV

Herbert Huebner: Standartenfuehrer (Colonel) in the SS; Chief, Poznan Branch Office of the Staff Main Office of the RKFDV and local representative of RuSHA for the Warthegau

Werner Lorenz: Obergruppenfuehrer (Lt. General) in SS; General of Waffen SS and Police; Chief of the Repatriation Office for Ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle, or VoMi) of the SS

Heinz Brueckner: Sturmbannfuehrer in the SS; Chief of Amt VI of VoMi

Otto Hofmann: Obergruppenfuehrer (Lt. General) in the SS; Chief of RuSHA, 1940-43; later HSSPF for Southwestern Germany

Richard Hildebrandt: Obergruppenfuehrer in SS and General of Police; Chief, RuSHA 1943-45

Fritz Schwalm: Obersturmbannfuehrer (Lt. Colonel) in the SS; Chief of Staff of RuSHA, principal RuSHA representative at the Immigration Center at Lodz

Max Sollmann: Standartenfuehrer (Colonel) in the SS; Chief of Lebensborn; Chief of Main Department A of Lebensborn

Gregor Ebner: Oberfuehrer (Sr Colonel) in SS; Chief of Main Health Department, Lebensborn

Guenther Tesch: Sturmbannfuehrer (Major) in SS; Chief, Main Legal Department of Lebensborn

Inge Viermetz: Deputy Chief of Main Department A of Lebensborn

Evidence File Document Groups Used in Trial

NO, PS, R

Abbreviations/Terms/Persons/Organizations Mentioned in Trial

RuSHA: Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt, Race and Settlement Main Office of the SS

RKFDV: Reichskommisar fuer die Festigung des deutschen Volkstums, Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of Germandom

VoMi: Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle, Repatriation Office for Ethnic Germans

EWZ: Einwandererzentralstelle, an agency that regulated the naturalization and settlement of ethnic Germans

UWZ: Umwandererzentralstelle, an agency that coordinated expulsion of Poles, Ukrainians and Jews from parts of Poland annexed by the Reich, and that resettled ethnic Germans into these annexed territories

WED: Wiedereindeutschung, re-Germanization

Wiedergutmachung: compensation

DVL: Deutsche Volksliste (German Peoples List)

Polen-Vermoegensordnung: Polish property decree

VDA: Verein Deutschtum in Ausland

DAG: Deutsche Ansiedlungsgesellschaft: German Settlement Company

HTO: Haupttreuhandstelle OST, Main Trusteeship Office in East (agency involved in seizing goods of Jews and Poles)

DUT: Deutsche Umsiedlungs-Treuhand-Gesellschaft, German Resettlement Trust Society

CdZ: Chef der Zivilverwaltung, Chief of the Civil Administration

Reichsland G.m.b.H aka Ostland G.m.b.H.: government agency for seizure of agricultural assets in the East, a division of the Reich Food Ministry

RSHA: Reichssicherheithauptamt: Reich Security Main Office

Sippenamt: genealogical office

NSV: Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt, National Socialist Welfare Organization

Arthur Greiser: Gauleiter of Wartheland (part of Poland annexed by Germany)

Albert Forster: Gauleiter of Danzig/West Prussia (territories annexed by Germany)

Litzmannstadt: name given to Polish city of Lodz during war

Trial Full Chronology/Transcript Pages

Judgment/Sentences

Greifelt: guilty on three counts; life imprisonment

Creutz: guilty on three counts; fifteen years

Meyer-Hetling: guilty, count three, time served/released

Schwarzenberger: guilty, count three, time served/released

Huebner: guilty on three counts, fifteen years

Lorenz: guilty on three counts, twenty years

Brueckner: guilty on three counts, fifteen years

Hofmann: guilty on three counts, twenty-five years

Hildebrandt: guilty on three counts, twenty-five years (executed in Poland, 1951)

Schwalm: guilty on three counts, ten years

Sollmann: guilty on count three, time served/released

Ebner: guilty on count three, time served/released

Tesch: guilty on count three, time served/released

Viermetz: acquitted