Holocaust: U.S. Nuremberg Military Tribunal No. 4 Oswald Pohl et al. Trial Documents

Holocaust: U.S. Nuremberg Military Tribunal No. 4 Oswald Pohl et al. Trial Documents

16,632 pages of files taken from 18 digitalized rolls of microfilm of the Records of the United States Nuernberg War Crimes Trials United States of America V. Oswald Pohl Et Al. (Case Iv) January 13, 1947-August 11, 1948

Records taken from the National Archives and Records Administration Collection of World War II War Crimes Records, Record Group 238.

Oswald Ludwig Pohl (1892 – 1951) was the head of the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office and the head administrator of the Nazi concentration camps, he was a key figure in the Final Solution, the genocide of the European Jews. He disappeared at the end of the war, and was apprehended in 1946 and went on trial in 1947, and executed by hanging in 1951.

Case IV was heard by U.S. Military Tribunal II from January 13, 1947, to August 11, 1948.

In the Pohl Case, leading officers of the SS Wirtschafts und Verwaltungshauptant (WVHA), which was the SS Economic and Administration Main Office, were tried for a variety of crimes, particularly those associated with the administration and control of concentration camps and the profits derived from the exploitation of concentration camp labor.  The prosecution alleged that about 10 million persons were incarcerated in various concentration camps at one time or another and that many of them died there. Large numbers of inmates were subject to torture, brutal forced labor, and illegal medical experiments. The prosecution also charged that euthanasia, ill-treatment of prisoners of war, and other crimes took place.

This trial was the fourth of twelve trials of war criminals, conducted from 1946 to 1949, at Nuernberg, subsequent to the International Military Tribunal (IMT) held in Nuernberg. These records consist of the English language versions of official transcripts of court proceedings, prosecution and defense briefs, and final pleas of the defendants as well as prosecution and defense exhibits and document books. Documented also include a minute book, the official court file, order and judgment books, clemency petitions, and finding aids to the documents.

The transcripts of this trial recorded the trial proceedings.  The documents also includes the minute book, a summary of the transcripts. The official court file, the progress docket, the indictment, amended indictment, and the service thereof; appointments and applications for defense counsel and defense witnesses and prosecution comments thereto; defendants’ applications for documents; motions; uniform rules of procedures; and appendixes. The order and judgment books, in two bound volumes, represent the signed orders, judgments, and opinions of the tribunal as well as sentences and commitment papers. Clemency petitions of the defendants, in nine bound volumes, were directed to the military governor, the Judge Advocate General, the U.S. district court, and the U.S. Supreme Court. The finding aids summarize transcripts, exhibits, and the official court file.

Transcripts of the Pohl Case include the indictments of the following 18 persons:

Oswald Pohl: Obergruppenfuehrer in the SS and General of the Waffen SS (Lieutenant General); Chief of the WVHA and Chief of Amtsgruppe W of the WVHA.

August Frank: Obergruppenfuehrer in the SS and General of the Waffen SS (Lieutenant General); Deputy Chief of the WVHA and Chief of Amtsgruppe A of the WVHA.

Georg Loerner: Gruppenfuehrer in the SS and Generalleutnant of the Waffen SS (Major General); Deputy Chief of the WVHA, Chief of Amtsgruppe B of the WVHA, and Deputy Chief of Amtsgruppe W of the WVHA.

Heinz Karl Fanslau: Brigadefuehrer in the SS and Generalmajor of the Waffen SS (Brigadier General); Chief of Amtsgruppe A of the WVHA.

 Hans Loerner: SS Oberfuehrer (Senior Colonel) and Chief of Amt I of Amtsgruppe A of the WVHA.

Josef Vogt: SS Standartenfuehrer (Colonel) and Chief of Amt IV of Amtsgruppe A of the WVHA.

Erwin Tschentscher: SS Standartenfuehrer (Colonel); Deputy Chief of Amtsgruppe B and Chief of Amt I of Division B of the WVHA.

Rudolf Scheide: SS Standartenfuehrer (Colonel) and Chief of Amt V of Amtsgruppe B of the WVHA.

Max Kiefer: SS Obersturmbannfuehrer (Lieutenant Colonel) and Chief of Amt II of Amtsgruppe C of the WVHA.

Franz Eirenschmalz: SS Standartenfuehrer (Colonel) and Chief of Amt VI of Amtsgruppe C of the WVHA.

Karl Sommer: SS Sturmbannfuehrer (Major) and Deputy Chief of Amt II of Amtsgruppe D of the WVHA.

Hermann Pook: Obersturmbannfuehrer (Lieutenant Colonel) of the Waffen SS and Chief Dentist of the WVHA, Office III, Amtsgruppe D.

Hans Heinrich Baier: SS Oberfuehrer (Senior Colonel) and Amtschef Stab (executive officer) of Amtsgruppe W of the WVHA.

Hans Hohberg: Amtschef Stab (Executive Officer) of Amtsgruppe W of the WVHA.

Leo Volk: SS Hauptsturmfuehrer (Captain), personal adviser (Persoenlicher Referent) on Pohl's staff, and head of legal section (Leiter der Rechtsabteilung) in the executive office of Amtsgruppe W of the WVHA.

Karl Mummenthey: SS Obersturmbannfuehrer (Lieutenant Colonel) and Chief of Amt I of Amtsgruppe W of the WVHA.

Hans Bobermin: SS Obersturmbannfuehrer (Lieutenant Colonel) and Chief of Amt II of Amtsgruppe W of the WVHA.

Horst Klein: SS Obersturmbannfuehrer (Lieutenant Colonel) and Chief of Amt VIII of Amtsgruppe W of the WVHA.