Educational purpose only. This post documents historical events related to World War II and condemns the Nazi regime, war crimes, and all totalitarian ideologies. We do not glorify violence or hate.
Mass Public Execution of Nazis Whom an Enraged Crowd Wanted to Tear to Pieces – The Majdanek Trial and Justice at the Crematorium
Majdanek was one of the first Nazi concentration and extermination camps liberated during the Second World War. Its intact gas chambers, crematorium, and mass graves revealed the scale of the Holocaust to the world . Located on the outskirts of Lublin, Majdanek became a central site of terror under the SS, where tens of thousands of Jews, Poles, Soviet POWs, and other prisoners were murdered through shootings, starvation, forced labor, and Zyklon B gas .
Just months after liberation, the first major trial of Nazi camp personnel took place here. Six members of the Majdanek staff — SS officers and German kapos — were captured, tried, and sentenced under the August Decree of 1944, one of the earliest legal efforts to prosecute war crimes in occupied Europe. On December 3, 1944, five of the convicted men were publicly hanged near the crematorium in front of thousands of witnesses. This documentary explores Majdanek’s role in the Holocaust, the trial of its guards, and the first public execution of Nazi war criminals on Polish soil.
1. A Camp Preserved: The Liberation of Majdanek
Majdanek was captured nearly intact on July 23-24, 1944, because the rapid advance of the Soviet Red Army during Operation Bagration prevented the SS from destroying most of its infrastructure . Deputy Camp Commandant Anton Thernes failed in his task of removing incriminating evidence of war crimes due to his ineptitude and lethargy .
Unlike other camps where the Nazis had time to erase all traces of their crimes, Majdanek’s gas chambers, crematoria, and storage depots filled with looted belongings — including glasses, brushes, clothing, dolls, toys, and shoes — remained intact . The camp was the first major concentration camp liberated by Allied forces, and the horrors found there were widely publicized .
The liberators found approximately 2,500 survivors . The documentary film “Majdanek,” produced by the Polish Army Film Unit on July 25, 1944 — just two days after liberation — captured the first images of the camp for the world .
2. The First Majdanek Trial (November 27 – December 2, 1944)
The trial began on November 27, 1944, before a Soviet/Polish Special Criminal Court in Lublin . Six defendants were arraigned on charges that included operating the gas chambers, managing Zyklon B supplies, overseeing executions, beating prisoners, and participating directly in selections and mass killings .
The Defendants:
Thernes denied knowing anything about the atrocities, but the proceedings were swamped with testimonial proofs offered by eyewitnesses . During his trial, he claimed: “The people here were mostly Jews, they were not real prisoners of war. I am not a sadist!” .
Edmund Pohlmann avoided execution by committing suicide in his cell on November 29 . The other five were sentenced to death on December 2 .
3. The Execution: December 3, 1944
On December 3, 1944, five convicted Nazis were publicly hanged near the crematorium at the Majdanek camp . The execution was witnessed by over 20,000 people .
The execution was unprecedented: swift, public, and symbolically carried out at the site where these men had committed their crimes. Survivors, civilians, and Red Army soldiers witnessed justice delivered just meters from the gas chambers where so many had perished.
The film “Swastyka I Szubienica” (Swastika and Gallows) captured the scene: the bodies of the five German guards swinging in the wind. A voice-over announced: “This is not an act of revenge, but a simple act of justice” .
American Ambassador to the Soviet Union W. Averell Harriman reported to the Secretary of State that the execution was “greeted by stormy approval” from the crowd, who hurled imprecations at the condemned men .
4. The Meaning of Majdanek Justice
The Majdanek trial was one of the earliest war crimes trials in occupied Europe, predating the more famous Nuremberg Trials by nearly a year. It demonstrated that even as the war raged on, the Allied powers were willing to hold Nazi perpetrators accountable for their crimes.
The trial and execution at Majdanek also represented an important symbolic act: justice was carried out at the very site of the crimes. For the survivors and the Polish people, this was a powerful message that collaboration and mass murder would not go unpunished.
However, the Majdanek trial was only a beginning. The vast majority of those responsible for the camp’s atrocities — including Commandants Karl-Otto Koch and Hermann Florstedt, who were earlier executed by the SS for embezzlement, and other senior officers — never faced trial for their crimes against humanity .
5. The Legacy of Majdanek
The first Majdanek trial established an important precedent: that Nazi war criminals could be prosecuted and executed for their crimes even before the war was over. It demonstrated that justice could be swift and public, and that the legal systems of liberated nations were capable of holding perpetrators accountable.
Today, Majdanek stands as one of the best-preserved Nazi camps — a memorial to the approximately 78,000 to 200,000 victims who perished there . Its preserved gas chambers, crematorium, and the site of the 1944 executions serve as a stark reminder of both the horrors of the Holocaust and the importance of pursuing justice.
Primary Sources:
Majdanek State Museum — First Majdanek Trial records
EHRI Project — Majdanek liberation and trial footage (Imperial War Museums)
Jewish Virtual Library — Majdanek Trial (November 22 – December 2, 1944)
Muzeum II Wojny Światowej — “December 2, 1944: The Majdanek Trial Ended”
Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State — Telegram from Ambassador Harriman (December 6, 1944)
Polish Army Film Unit — “Majdanek” (1944) and “Swastyka I Szubienica” (1944)