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J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, <strong>SOBIBÓR</strong> 183 We have already said that J. Schelvis believes some 170,000 Jews were deported to Sobibór, but his figure is probably too high by about 10,000 and should be reduced accordingly. 521 Hence, the conclusion of the Hagen court regarding the number of deportees (150,000) was absolutely realistic. At the same time, their dogmatic conviction that the deportees were all murdered immediately on arrival (except for laborers directly employed at Sobibór or a small number that were sent to work camps) is clearly apparent. The judges never even thought that the documentary evidence cried out for different interpretations. Listed below are the names of the persons convicted, together with their respective sentence and offense: � Karl Frenzel: Life imprisonment for aiding and abetting with others the murder of at least 150,000 persons and for the murder of nine persons; � Franz Wolf: Eight years imprisonment for aiding and abetting with others the murder of at least 39,000 persons; � Alfred Ittner: Four years imprisonment for aiding and abetting with others the murder of at least 68,000 persons; � Werner Dubois: Three years imprisonment for aiding and abetting with others the murder of at least 15,000 persons; � Erwin Lambert: Three years imprisonment for aiding and abetting with others the murder of at least 57,000 persons; � Erich Fuchs: Four years imprisonment for aiding and abetting with others the murder of at least 79,000 persons. 521 Except in the case of Frenzel, these sentences were surprisingly mild. This can be explained by the general reasoning valid for all trials of personnel having worked in the “extermination camps”: The judges assumed that the defendants had not volunteered for serving in these camps and that a refusal to participate in the maintenance of the “machinery of murder” could have exposed them to sanctions, including the death penalty. Thus, the court did not a priori attribute to them base motives – a condition which was and still is necessary in Germany for a murder charge. Base motives only came into play if a defendant had committed unrequested crimes, for example killing or ill-treating Jewish laborers, or whipping Jews on their way to the gas chamber. In such cases of “excesses,” the defendants could face the toughest sanctions. 521 Cf. chapter 2.3.19.
184 J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, <strong>SOBIBÓR</strong> Whether an SS man had committed such “excesses” in an extermination camp was obviously something which the court could only ascertain on the basis of testimonies. As there were always plenty of witnesses on hand during these trials, all eager to ascribe the most horrifying deeds to any one of the defendants, the court could easily put pressure on the SS men in the dock. After all, it was entirely up to the judges to classify witness statements as “credible” or not. The unbreakable rule was that a defendant could deny specific charges leveled against himself, but not the extermination of the Jews per se. Such latter arguments were considered “obstinate denials” and led to a more severe punishment. It is obvious that the defendants had been instructed accordingly by their lawyers who, for reasons of expediency, preferred not to question the concept of “extermination camps” drawn up by the courts, restricting themselves to insisting on the personal innocence of their clients or, at least, claim that the men had acted under military orders. This was obviously true for the Sobibór trial at Hagen as well. Thus Albert Rückerl could state unopposed: 522 “In the main hearings, the defendants argued strongly against any excessive individual murder charges. They did not, however, deny their having participated under orders in the activities accompanying the mass gassings of Jews at Sobibór.” The sentencing of SS-Unterscharführer Erich Fuchs must be interpreted against this background. Fuchs was on trial for aiding and abetting with others the murder of at least 79,000 persons, but had escaped with a black eye and four years imprisonment. In March of 1963, long before the Hagen trial, Fuchs had declared the following in an interrogation by the prosecution: 523 “On Wirth’s orders, [524] I drove a truck to Lemberg and picked up a carburetor engine which I took to Sobibór. On my arrival at Sobibór, I could see, near the station, an area with a concrete structure and several solid houses. The local Sonderkommando was headed by Thomalla. Other SS men present were F., B., Stangl, F., Schwarz, B. as well as some more. We unloaded the engine. It was a heavy Russian gasoline engine (probably a tank or tractor engine) of at least 200 HP (V-engine, 8 cylinders, water-cooled). We placed the Motor 522 A. Rückerl (ed.), op. cit. (note 36), p. 85. 523 A. Rückerl (ed.), op. cit. (note 36), p. 166. 524 Christian Wirth, Inspector for Be��ec, Sobibór and Treblinka.
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