The court trying 22 former Auschwitz death camp guards since December 1963, will make a second trip to Poland to hear some 24 witnesses who are unable to come to Frankfurt, Presiding Judge Hans Hofmeier disclosed today. Polist judges also will be present at the taking of their testimony.
Eight defense attorneys, two public prosecutors and two civil prosecutors will accompany Judge Hofmeier on the trip, which will have the court officials taking testimony in a number of Polish cities between April 20 and April 27. Cities on their itinerary include Warsaw, Cracow, Lodz, Kattowice and Glewitz. None of the defendants will take part in the trip.
It was announced, meanwhile, that another major trial of Nazi war criminals will start in Bochum in October, with 16 former members of Hitler’s elite 88 guard to go on trial. The principal defendant is Heinrich Hamann, 57, charged with participating in the slaughter of 70,000 Jews in occupied Poland.
An indictment prepared by the North Rhine-Westphalia branch of the Ludwigsberg Documentation Center for Nazi Crimes charges that Hamann sent to death camps in August 1942, a total of 15,000 Jews from the Neusandez Ghetto in the Cracow district, Under his command, according to the indictment, 285 Jews in one action and 125 in another were shot and dumped into mass graves while many of the victims were still alive.
The indictment charges Gunther Labitzke, 52, of Ludwig shaven, with the murder of 1,690 Jews. Johann Bornholt, 60, is charged with shooting and strangling 398 Jews.
The court went to Poland for the first time several months ago. At that time, one of the 22 defendants, Dr. Franz Lucas, former Auschwitz camp physician, accompanied the court. along with attorneys for the prosecution and the defense, as well as government experts on Nazi war crimes.
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