Investigations & Trial
Max Krahner's interrogation record of 5 May 1960
Max Krahner, who played a decisive role in the "Aktion 1005" in Maly Trascjanec and the murder of Soviet prisoners of war was sentenced to life imprisonment in February 1968. Less than ten years later he was pardoned.
On 22 February 1960, the Hamburg Regional Court issued a warrant for Max Krahner's arrest. The grounds were the accusation of "having intentionally and with deliberation cruelly and insidiously killed people for low motives."
The accusation covered a period of two years and was related to Krahner's activities in "Sonderkommando 1005-Mitte". Krahner was accused of having given instructions for the murder of Jewish and Soviet workers who had been used in "Aktion 1005" and of having carried out some of the killings himself.1
Max Krahner was arrested by the Cologne police on 22 April 1960 and taken into custody. In the first testimony after his arrest, he did not comment on the accusations.2 Before being handed over to the Hamburg public prosecutor’s office, Krahner wrote a letter to his wife in which he said goodbye with the following words:
"I'll be transferred to Hamburg very soon - if I make it through. I don't think we'll ever see each other again as I'll face a severe sentence."3
Transcript of a letter from Max Krahner to his wife Heidi dated 26 April 1960
When he appeared before the senior public prosecutor at the Hamburg Regional Court on 5 May 1960, Krahner admitted that he knew about the murder of Soviet prisoners of war who had been used for forced labor in "Sonderkommando 1005-Mitte". He also described how they had been murdered with gas vans and confirmed the presence of Paul Blobel in Maly Trascjanec on at least two days.4
From November 1967 to February 1968, Max Krahner, together with Otto Goldapp and Otto Drews, had to stand trial before the Hamburg Regional Court for participation in the murder of 500 Polish and Soviet forced labourers of the "Sonderkommando 1005".5 The court found Krahner guilty of shooting at least three prisoners, killing the workers of "Sonderkommando 1005" in Pinsk and Kobryn (Belarus) and Lomsha (Poland), being in charge of a shooting in Maly Trascajanec, being present at a shooting of six workers in Maly Trascajanec and killing a disabled prisoner in Smoleviche (Belarus).6
On 9 February 1968, Max Krahner was sentenced to life imprisonment. Pardoned and released from prison in 1977, he died in 1997 at the age of 96.7
Responsible for content: Johanna Schweppe, Frank Wobig
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1 Cf. StAnw Hamburg 213-12 0597-003. p. 155 and 328.
2 Cf. ibid., p. 320; 332 and 361.
3 ibid. p. 438f.
4 Cf. ibid., pp. 377-380 and 382f.
5 Cf. Associated Press (AP): press release 3 SS Men guilty of killing 500 body-burners. New York 1968, February 9th.
6 Cf. LG Koblenz: Lfd-Nr. 662A, JuNSV Bd.XXVII. p .120f.
7 Cf. ibid., p. 386 and: Hinrichs, Die Täter wirkten gleichmütig - und beinahe gekränkt, in: Welt am Sonntag. Berlin, vom 20. März 2017.