The Lublin-Majdanek Complex and Austrian Justice

Appeal for Cooperation

The Majdanek concentration camp stood in Lublin from October 1941 to July 1944 where Austrians on the one hand worked as guards and on the other hand were held as prisoners. Numerous investigations of (reputed) perpetrators were carried out by the judiciary in the postwar period in Poland, in the Federal Republic of Germany from the 1960s to the 1980s, and also in Austria in the 1960s and 1970s. However the case of Erna Wallisch in 2007/2008 proves that even today there is the possibility of carrying out judicial investigations of persons who were involved in murderous crimes. Wallisch could not be brought to trial as she died on 16 February 2008. But her “discovery” as part of Operation: Last Chance was the reason for a renewed search for witnesses in Poland.

The Austrian Central Research Center for Postwar Justice is currently carrying out a project with the goal of analyzing the process and results of Austrian proceedings regarding the clarification and punishment of the perpetrators in the Majdanek concentration and extermination camp and compare them with the proceedings conducted in Poland and Germany. Furthermore the potential possibility of the criminal prosecution of Nazi war crimes committed in the Majdanek concentration camp is to be assessed.

The Research Center for Postwar Justice requests assistance with the investigation of the crimes committed in Majdanek. The Center is searching for evidence concerning crimes perpetrated by Austrians or information about former Austrian guards in the Majdanek concentration camp, as well as contact with Austrian survivors of the concentration camp, or material that would be helpful for the investigations.

Address:
FStN / Austrian Research Center for Postwar Justice
P.O. Box 98
A-1013 Vienna, Austria

info@nachkriegsjustiz.at

Telephone at DÖW: +43 1 228-9469, extension 315 or 328