Defendant Heinz (Heinrich Friedrich) Baumkoetter speaks from the dock at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp war crimes trial in Berlin.

Photograph | Digitized | Photograph Number: 33872

Overview

Caption: Defendant Heinz (Heinrich Friedrich) Baumkoetter speaks from the dock at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp war crimes trial in Berlin.
Date: 1947 October 23 - 1947 November 01
Locale: Berlin, [Berlin] Germany
Variant Locale: Berlin-Buckow
Berlin-Mariendorf
Berlin-Ploetzensee
Berlin-Reinickendorf
Berlin-Tempelhof
Berlin-Wannsee
Berlin-Schlachtensee
Berlin-Duppel
Photo Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Central Archive of the Federal Security Service
Event History: On October 23, 1947 fifteen former Sachsenhausen concentration camp personnel and one former prisoner were brought to trial before a Soviet Military Tribunal in Berlin. Among the defendants were Anton Kaindl, the former commandant, and Paul Sakowski, a kapo who had served as an executioner. The findings were announced on November 1, 1947 after only a brief trial. All sixteen were found guilty. Fifteen of the defendants were sentenced to life in prison with forced labor and one, to fifteen years in prison with forced labor.

https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007776.

Photo Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Provenance: Central Archive of the Federal Security Service

Source Record ID: Collections: RG-06.025*26

Second Record ID: KGB Archives: N-19092, Appendix - - file 2294

Keyword: BAUMKOETTER, HEINZ (HEINRICH FRIEDRICH) CLOSE-UPS COURTS/COURTROOMS DEFENDANTS INTERIORS MEDICAL CARE/NURSES/MEDICS PHYSICIANS PHYSICIANS (NAZI) SS (SCHUTZSTAFFELN) TRIALS TRIALS (SACHSENHAUSEN) WAR CRIMINALS/TRIALS
Photo Designation: PURSUIT OF JUSTICE -- Concentration Camp/Atrocity Trials -- Polish/Soviet Trials -- Sachsenhausen -- Trial

Biography: Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm (Heinz) Baumkoetter was born in 1912 in Burgsteinfurt. After joining the SS in 1935, he served in the Waffen-SS and later as a member of the "Das Reich" division. In November 1941 he returned to Germany and became a camp physician. After first serving briefly in Mauthausen, Natzweiler and Wewelsburg, in 1942 he became head doctor at Sachsenhausen where he remained until 1945. While there, he participated in the selection of prisoners and was engaged in medical experimentation. He also falsified the records of the number of prisoners killed and causes of death. Following his trial by a Soviet Military Tribunal, he was sentenced to life in prison with forced labor. In January 1956 he returned home from a work camp in Siberia. Then, in 1961/1962 he was retried in Muenster in a trial of Sachsenhausen physicians and sentenced to 8 1/2 years of prison for aiding and abetting murder. However, he did not serve additional time since this sentence was deducted from the time he had already served in Soviet prisons. Dr. Baumkoetter lost his medical license during a subsequent trial, and he worked in the pharmaceutical industry until his retirement. He died on April 22, 2001 in Muenster.