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Nazi War Crimes Trials: The RuSHA Trial

(October 1947 - February 1948)

On September 30, 1947, the U.S. Military Government for Germany reconstituted the Military Tribunal I, which had earlier been convened for the Doctors' Trial, to try the RuSHA Case.

The fourteen defendants were all leading officials in the RuSHA, the Reuch Main Race and Resettlement Office, a central organization in the implementation of racial programs of the Nazi Party, or in other organizations with parallel missions, such as the Lebensborn Society and the Main Office for Repatriation of Racial Germans.

The indictment against them listed three counts: crimes against humanity, war crimes and membership in criminal organizations. The defendants were accused of criminal responsibility for many aspects of the Nazi racial program, including the kidnapping of "racially valuable" children for Aryanization, the forcible evacuation of foreign nationals from their homes in favor of Germans or Ethnic Germans, and the persecution and extermination of Jews throughout Germany and German-occupied Europe.

The trial ran from October 20, 1947 to February 17, 1948. The tribunal rendered its judgment on March 10. It found eight defendants guilty on all counts, five guilty only of membership in a criminal organization, and one not guilty. The sentences were announced the same day. One defendant was sentenced to life in prison, seven to terms of between 10 and 25 years, five to time already served, and one was acquitted.

Ulrich Greifelt: Life Imprisonment
Rudolf Creutz: 15 Years Imprisonment
Dr Konrad Meyer: Acquitted & Released
Otto Schwarzenberger: Acquitted & Released
Herbert Hübner: 15 Years Imprisonment
Werner Lorenz: 15 Years Imprisonment
Heinz Brückner: 15 Years Imprisonment
Otto Hofmann: 25 Years Imprisonment
Richard Hildebrandt: 25 Years Imprisonment
Fritz Schwalm: 10 Years Imprisonment
Gregor Ebner: Acquitted on two charges, convicted on the third but released for time served
Max Sollmann: Acquitted & Released
Gunther Tesch: Acquitted & Released
Inge Viermetz: Acquitted & Released


Sources: The National Archives ; Skalman