War crime hangings at Landsberg in May 1946.
War crime hangings at Landsberg in May 1946. With special thanks to Traugott Vitz for his help with this article. Over two days at the end of May 1946, 28 German war criminals were hanged at Landsberg am Lech prison in Germany (US War Criminals Prison No. 1). The Dachau concentration camp was liberated by two divisions of the U.S. Seventh Army on the 29th of April, 1945. 40 members of it staff were tried at the camp by a US General Military Court, presided over by Brigadier General John Lenz. The trials lasted from the 15th of November to the 13th of December 1945. 36 defendants received the death sentence. Eight of these sentences were reduced to terms of imprisonment by the Reviewing Authority, the remaining 28 death sentences being confirmed. The trial went under the designation “USA against Martin Gerhard WeiΓ (Weiss) et al.”, Case No. 000-50-2. Martin Gerhard Weiss was the camp commandant at Dachau. This trial became the “Parent Case” for 488 other trials (a...