Dachau camp trial

This article is about the first trial of Dachau camp officials. For the series of war crimes trials held at Dachau, see Dachau trials. For the series of show trials in Slovenia, see Dachau trials (Slovenia).

Dachau courtroom December 1945

The Dachau camp trial (German: Dachau-Hauptprozess) was the first mass trial of the Dachau trials, a series of trials against war criminals held by the United States Army on the premises of the Dachau concentration camp. The main trial took place from 15 November to 13 December 1945. Forty people were charged with war crimes in connection with the Dachau concentration camp and its subcamps. The trial ended with 40 convictions, including 36 death sentences, of which 28 were carried out. The official name of the case was United States of America vs. Martin Gottfried Weiss et al. - Case 000-50-2.[1] The main trial served as a "parent case" for 123 subsequent cases. In the subsequent trials, all crimes that were established in the main trial were taken as proven, significantly shortening their duration relative to the parent case. The Dachau trials consisted of 6 total parent trials, each with their own subcases, and were held between 1945 and 1948. In total, there were 489 Dachau trials,[2] of which 394 were held within the confines of the camp itself.[3]

  1. ^ Bryant 2020, p. 154.
  2. ^ Sigel 2019.
  3. ^ Form & Bryant 2011, p. 30.