Documentation from the Trial against Bovensiepen and others

Description of the files are available on IDEA ALM system at Yad Vashem Archives reading room The Record Group contains files from the trial conducted against the heads of the Gestapo Headquarters in Berlin during the final years of the war, as well as files prepared during the collection of evidence for the trial, including information regarding Nazi crimes which took place in other locations in and out of Germany. The files also contain testimonies and much information regarding the Jews of Berlin during the final stage of the persecutions against them and their destruction. There is information concerning deportations, the many detention camps in the city, Jewish community activities and the various notable personalities, betrayals and Gestapo informants. Otto Bovensiepen served as a Gestapo commander in several places. On 18 March 1941, he was appointed head of the Gestapo in Berlin. In 1943 he was also appointed Inspekteur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD (Chief of the Security Police and SD) in Berlin; in 1944 he was appointed Chief of the Security Police and SD in Denmark as well. In 1969, he was brought to trial at the initiation of the RSHA Work Group (a body which worked within the framework of the Attorney General's Office investigating criminals who had been part of the RSHA, and bringing them to trial), working within the framework of the Generalstaatsanwaltschaft bei dem Kammergericht Berlin (Attorney General's Office at the Berlin District Court) for his part in the deportation of the Jews of Berlin. In 1970, the trial was suspended, and in 1971, it was brought to an end, due to Bovensiepen's unfitness to stand for trial.