English source-aligned edition
Hans Stark
Hans Stark served as block leader and Political Department officer at Auschwitz. The profile reconstructs the person’s function in Auschwitz in occupied Poland through documented office, decisions, supervision or operational conduct. It does not assign every crime committed by an institution or region to one individual.
Confirmed findings
- At Auschwitz he first served as a block leader and then in the Political Department, the camp Gestapo. (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute, trial day 182, 19 August 1965, oral reasons for judgment, section on Hans Stark; Source: Auschwitz Trial Frankfurt educational portal, history of the first trial, judgments section)
- The court found that in May or June 1942 he brought two groups of Jewish men, women and children to the small crematorium and participated with Gerhard Palitzsch in shooting them. (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute, trial day 182, 19 August 1965, oral reasons for judgment, section on Hans Stark)
- In the first Frankfurt Auschwitz trial he was convicted as a co-perpetrator of murder in several cases and sentenced under juvenile law to 10 years. (Source: Auschwitz Trial Frankfurt educational portal, history of the first trial, judgments section; Source: Hessian State Archives, chapter 5, verdict section on the Auschwitz trial)
Place in the chain of responsibility
The profile rests on individualized findings in the judgment, not only on his Auschwitz service. The use of juvenile law followed from his age at the time and did not amount to acquittal. (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute, trial day 182, 19 August 1965, oral reasons for judgment, section on Hans Stark; Source: Auschwitz Trial Frankfurt educational portal, history of the first trial, judgments section; Source: Hessian State Archives, chapter 5, verdict section on the Auschwitz trial)
Key events and mechanisms
- In May or June 1942 he participated in the court-established shooting of two groups at the small crematorium. (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute, trial day 182, 19 August 1965, oral reasons for judgment, section on Hans Stark)
- On 19 August 1965 the oral reasons for judgment were delivered in the first Frankfurt Auschwitz trial. (Source: Auschwitz Trial Frankfurt educational portal, history of the first trial, judgments section)
- The court imposed 10 years’ imprisonment and credited pretrial detention. (Source: Auschwitz Trial Frankfurt educational portal, history of the first trial, judgments section; Source: Hessian State Archives, chapter 5, verdict section on the Auschwitz trial)
The circle records authority, function and agency. Several profiles may describe different parts of the same persecution chain, so profile-level totals must not be added together.
Postwar accountability
The Frankfurt Regional Court found him a co-perpetrator of murder and sentenced him under juvenile law to 10 years’ imprisonment. (Source: Auschwitz Trial Frankfurt educational portal, history of the first trial, judgments section; Source: Hessian State Archives, chapter 5, verdict section on the Auschwitz trial)
Limits of the evidence
No aggregate number of all victims of the Political Department and not every alleged act is attributed to Stark; the findings stated in the reasons are used. Age affected the sentencing basis. No portrait was selected because rights to a specific file were not verified. (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute, trial day 182, 19 August 1965, oral reasons for judgment, section on Hans Stark; Source: Auschwitz Trial Frankfurt educational portal, history of the first trial, judgments section)
Sources
The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.