Franz Lucas

Confirmed findings

• Franz Bernhard Lucas was born in Osnabrück on 15 September 1911 and died in Elmshorn on 7 December 1994. He was a physician and SS-Obersturmführer who served as a camp doctor at Auschwitz and Mauthausen, among other postings. (Source: Mauthausen Memorial — biographical path “Franz Lucas”, sections on Auschwitz, Mauthausen and the postwar trials; Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Hessian State Archives — Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial archive — defendant biography no. 16, Franz Lucas)
• The Mauthausen Memorial describes his participation in Auschwitz selections, while the Frankfurt trial archive records that, after witness testimony, he admitted presence and participation at selections but maintained that he acted under coercion. (Source: Mauthausen Memorial — biographical path “Franz Lucas”, sections on Auschwitz, Mauthausen and the postwar trials; Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Hessian State Archives — Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial archive — sections on defendant Franz Lucas, the 1965 judgment, Federal Court reversal and 1970 retrial)
• In August 1965 the Frankfurt court sentenced him to three years and three months for aiding murder in at least four cases involving at least 1,000 people in each case. That judgment was later overturned and is not the final outcome. (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Hessian State Archives — Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial archive — sections on defendant Franz Lucas, the 1965 judgment, Federal Court reversal and 1970 retrial; Source: Landgericht Frankfurt am Main / Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial archive — judgment reasons, opening verdict and findings concerning defendant Dr Franz Lucas)
• The Federal Court of Justice overturned the first judgment on 20 February 1969. On retrial Frankfurt Regional Court acquitted Lucas on 8 October 1970 because it could not exclude an excusing putative necessity. This acquittal is the final legal outcome. (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Hessian State Archives — Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial archive — sections on defendant Franz Lucas, the 1965 judgment, Federal Court reversal and 1970 retrial)

Place in the chain of responsibility

Lucas’s profile must present both the evidence concerning selections and the complete procedural sequence. The 1965 judgment cannot be described as a standing conviction: after reversal, the case ended in a final acquittal in 1970. (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Hessian State Archives — Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial archive — sections on defendant Franz Lucas, the 1965 judgment, Federal Court reversal and 1970 retrial; Source: Landgericht Frankfurt am Main / Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial archive — judgment reasons, opening verdict and findings concerning defendant Dr Franz Lucas)

Key events and mechanisms

• 1943–1944 – service as an SS physician at Auschwitz and participation in selections described by the sources (Source: Mauthausen Memorial — biographical path “Franz Lucas”, sections on Auschwitz, Mauthausen and the postwar trials; Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Hessian State Archives — Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial archive — sections on defendant Franz Lucas, the 1965 judgment, Federal Court reversal and 1970 retrial)
• August 1965 – sentence of three years and three months for aiding murder in at least four cases (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Hessian State Archives — Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial archive — sections on defendant Franz Lucas, the 1965 judgment, Federal Court reversal and 1970 retrial; Source: Landgericht Frankfurt am Main / Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial archive — judgment reasons, opening verdict and findings concerning defendant Dr Franz Lucas)
• 20 February 1969 – Federal Court of Justice reversal and remand for a new trial (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Hessian State Archives — Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial archive — sections on defendant Franz Lucas, the 1965 judgment, Federal Court reversal and 1970 retrial)
• 8 October 1970 – final acquittal on retrial (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Hessian State Archives — Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial archive — sections on defendant Franz Lucas, the 1965 judgment, Federal Court reversal and 1970 retrial)

Postwar accountability

The Frankfurt court imposed a three-year-and-three-month sentence in 1965, but the Federal Court of Justice overturned that judgment in 1969. At the retrial Lucas was acquitted on 8 October 1970; he must therefore not be described as finally convicted. (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Hessian State Archives — Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial archive — sections on defendant Franz Lucas, the 1965 judgment, Federal Court reversal and 1970 retrial; Source: Landgericht Frankfurt am Main / Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial archive — judgment reasons, opening verdict and findings concerning defendant Dr Franz Lucas)

Limits of the evidence

Sources

The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.

• lebenswege.mauthausen-memorial.org
• auschwitz-prozess.de
• auschwitz-prozess.de
• auschwitz-prozess.de