The Grey Area: Former Polish Auschwitz Prisoners Tried in Postwar Trials

• In Event: Choices in Postwar Poland: Trials, Religion, and Displacement

Abstract

In March 1947, the first Auschwitz trial took place. This was the trial of the first commandant, Rudolf Hoess, which ended in his execution. Only a few months later 40 others would be tried for their crimes, 23 of them would be executed. Overall 700 people who had anything to do with Auschwitz were brought before Polish national and regional courts and many more were interrogated. This paper will examine how many of these perpetrators were of Polish nationality and why some of these Poles were never tried before a court. It will also discuss the August decree of 1944 which was issued by the Polish Committee of National Liberation on Polish territories which were occupied by the Red Army for “punishment of fascist-Nazi criminals who were guilty of murder and ill-treatment of civilians and prisoners of war, and for traitors of the Polish Nation”, and how important this decree was in sentencing and interrogating perpetrators. This decree would allow for false narratives during interrogation, as well as neighbors who disliked each other to make false accusations and make false statements. Therefore these cases are not simply black and white but in a very grey area.

Author

• Alina Nowobilska, Independent Scholar