During the trial it was asked whether SS members ever rejected performing destructive acts. In the history of the Nazi SS regime only one member resisted committing crimes.
Poland conducted court proceedings in 1947 against personnel who participated in Auschwitz mass persecutions. The "First Auschwitz Trial" continued with 40 accused defendants among the total number of trial participants. The majority of detained SS personnel included ranking officers together with administrative staff who had duties at the camp.
Every one of 40 defendants received either capital punishment or extensive prison sentences. The figure was cleared of every charge during this proceedings. Hans Wilhelm Münch happened to be the name of this particular individual.
The role of SS officer headed Münch's resume together with his medical qualification. His membership in the Nazi Party happened either due to holding their beliefs or seeking professional advancement. During 1943 the SS ordered his transfer to Auschwitz for medical scientific research duties.
But something surprising happened. This SS officer rejected the criminal actions performed by Josef Mengele and protected the camp prisoners while putting his own existence at risk.
Despite the protocol he was required to follow he chose to avoid participating in procedures that determined where people would work or what experiments would be subjected to and which prisoners would face immediate death.
The officer performed fake experiments on Mengele's victims to protect them against being killed. The officer administered healthcare treatments to his patients which ensured they did not qualify as useless prisoners eligible for death.
The Russian army approached the camp while he was departing so he provided his army gun to a captive.
People who had formerly been prisoners attested about the terrible conduct of thirty-nine additional defendants during December 1947. Everyone remained astounded as the defendants stood up to protect Münch who belonged to both the SS organization and the Nazi party.
The communist prosecution staff acknowledged that their charges against Münch were baseless because multiple prisoners provided accurate testimonies about his honorable conduct.
The court decision finding Hans Münch innocent allowed him to resume his medical profession in Germany until the end of his life.
The communist court recognized such obvious rejection of evil by one SS soldier through his actions that they freed him from prosecution.
He endured a second trial after which he made peculiar statements before his life ended. He died soon after. Given his membership in the SS organization most people did not perceive him as a completely benevolent individual. All prisoners who spoke about him during interrogation stepped up to defend his behavior which indicates he distinguished himself from the norm.
