Trawniki Guards: Foot Soldiers of the Holocaust

WWII ended, legal reckoning began. At least 100 former Trawniki guards were investigated, arrested, and tried in the postwar period, mostly in the Soviet Union. Dozens were sentenced to death and executed. Others received 25 years' imprisonment in Soviet gulags. In 1955, a general amnesty caused all those imprisoned to be released. Nevertheless, in the 1960s, many were retried in “group” trials, receiving death sentences. Trials also took place in Poland, and a single trial took place in West Germany: that of Franz Swidersky. In the United States, OSI brought charges against 16 former guards. This story is pieced together through investigation reports, interrogation transcripts, and trial records, primarily from recently declassified former KGB archives. This work represents the most comprehensive study of these primary source materials in the English language.