Trial 2

The material below is translated from reports in the newspapers Wiesbadner Kurier and Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz which were kindly sent me by Dr. Hans Schade of the Verlaggruppe Rhein-Main. My translations are posted here with his generous permission. Persons wishing to quote this material for any use other than educational or non-commercial should apply to the Verlaggruppe Rhein-Main for permission.

NOTE: the term I translated as "war crimes" below, is "Judenmord" in the original articles. "Judenmord" literally means "murder of Jews", but there's no equally graphic English equivalent that reads as smoothly as the more euphemistic "war crimes".

From the Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz, 12 Feb. 1969: "The so-called Mainz NS-trial will begin again on Wednesday without defendant Rudolf Werner (61) from Stadt-Allendorf. As announced by the Justice Press Office at the Landgericht, the former member of the German Regional Commissariat in Belorussia, who stands accused of participation in mass murder, has been declared indefinitely unfit to stand trial by two physicians. The State Prosecutor thereupon ordered the release of the accused, who suffers from diabetes and arteriosclerosis. Werner will thus be only a witness in the upcoming trial, in which merchant Leopold Windisch (55) is to defend himself against the same crimes. Werner and Windisch, who were arrested November 1964, are accused of participation in mass murder, in which in May 1942, in the Belorussian city Lida, more than 12,000 Eastern European Jews as well as numerous Gypsies were victims. Windisch was, during World War II, leader of the "Judenreferat" at the Regional Commissariat in Lida. He and Werner, who served as senior secretary in the economic division of the Regional Commissariat, were accused above all of selection of Jews for mass murder by the State Prosecutor. In the first trial, which was declared a mistrial in July of last year on impeached impartiality of the three professional jurors, Windisch and Werner had denied everything and asserted: Jews had been selected as workers to save them from execution. The former trial had run up expenses of about half a million marks. According to the court calendar, 48 sessions running into June are planned for this trial.
From the Wiesbadener Kurier, 13 Feb. 1969: "12. Feb. With his Karneval medal on his chest, former national socialist functionary Windisch(55) appeared before the Mainz jury in a new war crimes trial. He cooperated with the television camera crews. Windisch is accused of having participated in the executions of more than 12,000 Jews and Gypsies in the Belarussian city Lida in May 1942. The new session of the mass murder trial became necessary after a trial of over nine months' duration was declared a mistrial on account of compromised impartiality of the three professional jurors. Windisch, who has to defend himself alone after the charges against his codefendant Werner (61), now ill, were dropped, accused the judges of prejudice, since in the meantime they've listened to tapes of the preceding trial".
From the Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz,, 13 Feb. 1969: "The first day of the new Mainz NS-trial stood under an unlucky star yesterday [Wednesday]: Leopold Windisch (55), former NS-functionary accused of participation in mass murder in Belorussia, shocked the court and public on entering the room wearing a Karenval medal on his chest. His defense team subsequently brought two motions for dismissal of the professional jurors on charges of partiality. In the justification, it read that the jurors had in the meantime listened to tapes of the previous trial. In light of this, the accused had become convinced that the three professional jurors had formed judgements. Therupon the foreman retorted "We haven't played back anything". It was further alleged that the jurors had paid attention to the transcriptions of the failed trial. Thereupon a recess for consultation was called. When the session reconvened after a two-hour break, the president announced that a Consultation Panel of the the Landgericht Mainz had turned down the defense charges as groundless. The defense however got new ammunition when it was further announced that only the president and a witness had listened to small segments of tapes in order to assure they were useable. From this playback, neither of the two judges had formed any imprssions of the earlier trial. The defense countered these statements with a second call for dismissal: the present statements of the foreman were in crassily contradictory to his first statement denying playing back the tapes. Therefore the accused had to assume that these jurors would not be impartial in this trial. This charge as well was rejected by the Panel as unfounded.
From the Wiesbadener Kurier, 5 Jul 1969, "4 July. The prosecuter at the Mainz assizes has asked for life imprisonment and lifelong revocation of citizenship rights in the trial of the merchant Leopold Windisch (56 years old) for his participation in group mass murder as well as murder in two individual cases. The former NS-functionary and vice Regional Commissar in the Belarussian city Lida, who lived in Mainz before his arrest, had, in the conviction of the Prosecutor, been guilty of participation in the shootings of more than 12,000 Jews and Gypsies in May 1942.
From the Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz, 7 July 1969: "Mainz (own report) The State Prosecutor at the Landgericht Mainz has convicted merchant Leopold Windisch of group mass-murder and two counts of murder as sole perpetrator. After more than 10 hours pleading State Prosecutor Erich Opp entered Friday before the Assizes [plea] for life imprisonment and revocation of citizenship for the former NS functionary and vice regional Commisssar of the Belorussian city Lida. During the last part of the presentation by the prosecution's representatives, Windisch began to read newspapers ostentatiously and interrupted the State Prosecutor with remarks of "utter nonsense". Thereupon he put his feet up on the railings of the defendant's box, whereupon the court ordered the removal of the accused from the court room. Scarcely had the court convened for consultation previously on Windisch's behavior, when a turbulent scene ensued: the accused screamed that he wouldn't stand for such insults. What "this guy" permitted himself was abuse of office. At the same time Windisch tried to get a guard to return him to his cell, as he couldn't stand to listen to "this' any more. In his plea the State Prosecutor declared that Windisch had participated in the shootings of more than 12,000 Jews as well as 86 Gypsies. These people the accused had sent to death alongside simultaneous selection of workers. In addition, the Prosecuter laid at Windisch's door that he had personally shot two other Jews. Widisch had, as Judenreferent and Stabsleiter of the German troops in the occupied city assumed the role of "Master of Life and Death" who had been regarded even by Jews with pleas [for special treatment] as solely responsible. The order for the so-called Final Solution to the Jewish Question had surely come at the time from Hitler via the SS-leaders Himmler and Heydrich. Windisch, as fanatic Nazi, had worked directly on execution of the annihilation order. The State Prosecutor concluded with an appeal that "State and Justice will not bind over such crimes for their just retribution". On next Thursday the defense team will plead.
From the Wiesbadener Kurier, 18 Jul 1969, "17 July. On account of seven cases of group mass murder, the Mainz Assizes have condemned the former NS-functionary Leopold Windish to life imprisonment. Windisch, who was during the war NSDAP-Stabsleiter and assistant Regional Commissar in the city Lida, which was occupied by German troops, was also stripped of his citizenship for life. He declared he would accept the verdict "in protest against this justicial scandal".

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