Investigations & Trial

During the Hamburg trials, Otto Drews continuously denied his active participation in "Aktion 1005" in Maly Trascjanec. In February 1968, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, which he served as a "prisoner on release" from 1973 onwards. When he learned that he was being investigated again, he committed suicide.

Photograph of Otto Drew dated 22 June 1961

In March or April 1960, Otto Drews learned from a daily newspaper about investigations against members of "Sonderkommando 1005" and against Otto Goldapp. Drews was aware that as a former member of the commando he would also become the focus of the investigations.¹ In an interrogation by the senior public prosecutor's office in Koblenz on 11 April 1961, Drews downplayed his involvement in "Sonderkommando 1005" and in Maly Trascjanec and admitted only what could be proven against him. He stated that he had only been involved in the “technical accounting aspects” of the 4th platoon in Maly Trascjanec concerning the army supply depot (Truppenwirtschaftslager) and the police treasury.²

Interrogation record of Otto Drews dated 11 April 1961

With regard to his deployment during the "exhumation" of the mass graves in the forest of Blahaǔščyna, Drews stated that he had only been assigned to the outer guard ring and tried to give the impression that he had been more or less uninvolved in the events. Drews, who witnessed Max Krahner’s presence in Maly Trascjanec and Blahaǔščyna during his interrogation, admitted that he had approached the open mass graves out of "curiosity", but tried put his involvement into perspective by referring to his administrative activities. He also claimed that he had not been on combat duty in Carinthia, but had been deployed there as an accountant.³

In another interrogation on 19 April 1962, Otto Drews denied knowledge of the order to shoot the Soviet workers of "Sonderkommando 1005". He denied having been present at such shootings, but admitted that he was well aware of the fate of these people. Drews insisted that he had only been on site from time to time and otherwise had been entrusted with administrative tasks. In addition to Max Krahner's presence, he also confirmed that Arthur Harder and Otto Goldapp had held leading positions in Maly Trascjanec and Blahaǔščyna.⁴

Interrogation record of Otto Drews dated 19 April 1961

No conclusions about the further course of the investigations between 1960 and 1967 can be drawn from the Hamburg investigation and trial files. Drews was arrested again on 28 November 1967 and transferred to the Hamburg pre-trial prison, from where he was brought to the Hamburg public prosecutor's office for further interrogations and led an intensive correspondence with his wife and family members.⁵

From November 1967 to February 1968, Otto Drews, together with Max Krahner and Otto Goldapp, had to stand trial before the Hamburg Regional Court on charges of participating in the murder of 500 Polish and Soviet forced labourers of the "Sonderkommando 1005".⁶ On 9 February 1968, Drews was sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in a killing operation in Slonim, gassings in Smoleviche and Maly Trascjanec as well as shootings of at least three prisoners in Smoleviche⁷, joint murder and aiding and abetting joint murder.⁸ From 1973, Otto Drews was a "prisoner on release" and committed suicide when he was threatened with re-imprisonment.⁹