June 1951
Oswald Pohl Is Hanged
Historical context
Oswald Pohl, head of the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office, was hanged at Landsberg Prison in June 1951. Reports assign that one nighttime execution to 7 June or to 8 June.
Archive record
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- Date
- June 1951
- Verified sources
- 3
- Archive threads
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Oswald Pohl, head of the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office (WVHA), was hanged at Landsberg Prison. An American military tribunal had sentenced him to death on 3 November 1947 in the Pohl Case, the fourth Subsequent Nuremberg proceeding. The WVHA administered the concentration-camp system and its forced labor from 1942.
A Jewish Telegraphic Agency bulletin of 7 June 1951 reported that the hangings were still being prepared and that the prisoners’ wives were making final visits. The next day’s bulletin reported that the seven executions, including Pohl’s, had taken place during the night. USHMM records the date as 8 June 1951. Biographical accounts often use 7 June. Both dates refer to one nighttime hanging, not to an execution carried out across two days. British troops had captured Pohl in May 1946.
Research trail
Sources and further reading
- Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings, Case #4, The Pohl Case · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum · Holocaust Encyclopedia View source
- Preparations for Hang of Seven Top Nazi War Criminals Completed in Landsberg · Jewish Telegraphic Agency · JTA Daily News Bulletin View source
- Quiet Prevails in Landsberg Following Hanging of Seven Top Nazis for Murdering Jews · Jewish Telegraphic Agency · JTA Daily News Bulletin View source
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