Overview
- Caption
- Defendant Ernst Brennscheidt 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.
Rights & Restrictions
- Photo Source
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumProvenance: Central Archive of the Federal Security ServiceSource Record ID: Collections: RG-06.025*26Second Record ID: KGB Archives: N-19092, Appendix - - file 2294
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Biography
- Ernst Brennscheidt was born in 1917 in Benzburg, East Prussia. During World War II he was employed at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp where he was put in charge of the "Schuhpruefstelle" in July 1943 by order of the Reich Economic Ministry. In this capacity he tested textiles produced in the camp, including shoes. To test the durability of the shoes he ordered daily marches of his so-called "Schuhlaeuferkommando," which were between thirty-two and forty kilometers per day. The prisoners were beaten and made to carry ten to fifteen kilogram packs while wearing the shoes. Occasionally, they were also attacked by Brennscheidt's dogs. Fifteen to twenty prisoners died each day as a result of these marches. Following his trial by a Soviet Military Tribunal, Brennscheidt was sentenced to fifteen years in prison with forced labor.
- Record last modified:
- 2003-03-28 00:00:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1099365