Mueller, Franz Josef: War crimes trial case papers

This material is held atThe Wiener Holocaust Library

Reference
- GB 1556 WL 1603
Dates of Creation
- 1960s
Name of Creator
- Mosbach Scwurgericht, Baden-Württemberg
Language of Material
- German English
Physical Description
- 1 file

Scope and Content

Papers of Josef Mueller, 1960s, came about as a result of research into the events that took place in Plaszow concentration camp, in particular the crimes and testimony of Josef Mueller, one of the former commandants. The papers consist of the trial judgement, a transcript of his interrogation and various statements in the case against Mueller. There are also numerous statements from Mueller, acting as a witness in the trials of other defendants. All of the records are copies from the main repository for war crimes trials records at Ludwigsburg. Many of the names refererred to in the records have been deleted for reasons of data protection.

Administrative / Biographical History

Josef Mueller was born in 1910, the 18th of 19 children of David and Rosa Mueller in Mosbach, Baden Wuerttemberg. After school he trained as a bookbinder and picture frame-maker, in which trade he worked, interspersed with periods of unemployment, until he joined the SS in 1936, where he commenced working full-time for the organisation in Heidelberg. He married Rosa Krauss on 22 March 1937 and they had 2 children. He joined the Waffen SS in September 1939. After sustaining an injury fighting in Russia, he was sent to work for the Chief of Police in Cracow, SS Obergruppenfuehrer Krueger. He was involved with 'resettling' Jews and became commandant of the work camps at Plaszow. It was during this period that he committed war crimes.

On 5 March 1944 he was captured by the Russians near Lublinca. He stayed in various POW camps in Nowosibirsk, Moscow and Stalinowgorsk. According to the embassy of the USSR in West Germany, he was sentenced to 25 years hard labour in 1949 for 'Crimes against the Soviet people during the war by Fascist Germany'. On 14 October 1955 he was released and he returned to Germany, where he lived with his family in Limbach, until re-arrest by the German authorities in 1960. He was tried and convicted of murder, incitement and accessory to murder on numerous counts, in August 1961. He was sentenced to life imprisonment but released on parole in November 1970.