Trial by the district courts in Klagenfurt, Vienna, Salzburg and Linz against members of the HSSPF Lublin, Volume 5: Trial against Hermann Hoefle: Testimonies by German perpetrators and Jewish survivors, 1961

Documentation from trials conducted in Landesgericht Klagenfurt (the Klagenfurt District Court), Landesgericht Wien (the Vienna District Court), Landesgericht Salzburg (the Salzburg District Court) and Landesgericht Linz (the Linz District Court) against members of the HSSPF (Höhere SS- und Polizeiführer-Higher SS and Police Leader) Lublin: Trial against Hermann Hoefle; Testimonies by German perpetrators and Jewish survivors, 1961 Documentation from a trial conducted against Austrian war criminals, most of whom participated in "Aktion Reinhardt": - Investigation against Hermann Hoefle started in Landesgericht Linz (the Linz District Court) in 1947 (Vg8 6771/47); - Main part of the investigation conducted by Landesgericht Salzburg (the Salzburg District Court) from 1956 (11a Vr 1382/56) and Landesgericht Wien (the Vienna District Court) from 1962 (27c Vr 852/62); - Final investigation conducted by Landesgericht Klagenfurt (the Klagenfurt District Court), 1962-1971 (25 Vr 3123/71); - Transfer of the files to the various courts and emendation of the signatures, as well as commencement of various other trials against other Austrian war criminals during the investigation; - Copying of the documents at Landesgericht Klagenfurt and transfer of the copies to Yad Vashem. The overall arrangement of the files includes three kinds of volumes: - General volumes containing general administrational information regarding the trial, indexes and collections; - Appendix volumes containing statements and information from trials dealing with similar cases from Germany, mostly from Hamburg; - Main volumes containing documentation, statements and correspondence from the trial. This file is part of the Main Volume; it contains administrational correspondence and documents, copies of Nazi documents from the Nuremberg Trias and statements from witnesses. A detailed and complete list of documents can be found in Aktenverzeichnis, (TR.21/1). Statements of former members of the HSSP Lublin: - Statement by Max Runhof, formerly Czichotzki, born in Drewzr, 25 March 1916, given 15 September 1961 (An identical copy of the statement can be found in Sapir item TR.21/59, pp. 228-237) (pp. 45-54); - Statement by Dr. Ernst Kah, given 06 September 1961: Kah gives little information about Hoefle's part in the deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto; mention of the claim that he and Dr. Stabenow hid a Jewish woman named Sternfeld in Warsaw (she escaped from Treblinka and told them about the murders there); refusal to send members of his company to work as guards during deportations; Names mentioned: Hahn and Fuessel (pp. 55-70); - Statement by Johann Offermann, given 29 September 1961: Offermann gives little information regarding Hoefle and his participation in the evacuation of the Warsaw Ghetto; he does give a short evaluation of Hoefle's character; Places mentioned: Zamosc and Lublin; Names mentioned: Jakob Sporrenberg (pp. 74-84); - Statement by Georg Michalsen, born 13 September 1906, given 14 September 1961: Information regarding the organization of the HSSPF Lublin; Names mentioned: Felles, Globocnik, Nemec, Lerch, Hoefle, Wirth, Krueger, Oberhauser and Kluge; Places mentioned: Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Krakow and Przemysl (pp. 86-90); Statements by witnesses; Excerpts from reports, including "Aktionen und Aussiedlungen Teil 1 bearbeitet von Dr. Jozef Kermisz Warschau-Lodz-Krakau 1946": - "Weg des Todes" by Jerzy Ros regarding the deportation of Jews in August 1942, with detailed information concerning the following places/streets; Zamenhof, Stawki, Smocza, Gesia, MilaLeszno, Karmelicka and Nowolipie; Names mentioned: Hantke; Places mentioned: Malkinia and Treblinka; "Drei Tage auf dem Umschlagplatz" by Henryk Nowogrodzki regarding the deportations on 18-19 April 1943, Jewish resistance, his experiences at the Umschlagplatz, and the transport to Trawniki; Names of streets mentioned: Wolynska, Niska, Mila, Gesia, Nalewki, Zamenhof and Muranowska; Names mentioned: Brandt, Blima, Chilek and Hantke (pp. 92-108); - Statement by Marcel Ranicki, also known as Reich-Ranicki, an interpreter for the Judenrat in the Warsaw Ghetto, born 02 June 1920, given 05 October 1961: Detailed information regarding the work of the Judenrat, food supply, deportations, the meeting with Hermann Hoefle, his participation in the Ringelblum Archive, ghetto life, the numbers of victims of shootings according to staff from the Jewish cemetery administration, and his own history; he also mentions cannibalism, the suicide of Adam Czerniakow, and other events; Names mentioned: Frank, Brandt, Mende, Leist, Auerswald, Palfinger, Bischof, Dr. Hagen, Zygmunt Warman, Josef Wulf, Wielikowski, Meisinger, Mueller, Hantke, Stamm, Hoehmann, Boehm, Scheerer, Klaustermeyer and Knoll (pp. 109-134); Copies of Nazi documents: - Documents related to Hermann Hoefle, born in Augsburg, 12 September 1898, from the Berlin District Court; not the same person as the defendant in the trial; - Handwritten curriculum vitae, photographs, letters from Himmler regarding Kommando Dirlewanger and disciplinary warnings; Names mentioned: von den Bach, Dr. Franj, Winkelmann, Bormann, Kraus, Berger, Doelker, Bauser, von Herff, Hildebrandt and Dr. Turner (pp. 10-44); - Letter from 01 July 1944, regarding Hoefle's promotion, saying that Hans Mickeleit has been appointed as his successor (p. 91).