Dachau Concentration Camp & Trial

Born Jewish in Auxburg, Germany in 1925, Otto Stein spent his school years in Berlin, where he witnessed the rise of Nazism and the spread of antisemitism. With the help of distant cousins in the United States and Canada, his family managed to escape through Holland at the end of December 1939. Otto became a US citizen when he volunteered for military service in 1944, after high school, and returned to Germany with the US Army. For two years, he served as a translator at the Dachau War Crimes Trials. After the war he became a botanist and distinguished professor at the University of Massachusetts. (Paris 446) Dachau Concentration Camp Trials, Dachau, Germany, December 11-12, 1945. LS, truck passes through entrance of camp. VS, building and church on the grounds. HAS, barracks. VS, German prisoners unload huge containers from trucks. LS, German civilian and military prisoners marching on grounds. LS, ovens in crematorium. LS, wax figures of guard beating prisoner. Prosecution counsel during summation in court. LS, commission at bench. Pan to courtroom and spectators. MSs, accused prisoners in courtroom. Pan, MSs, judges seated at bench include Col PO Ward, Col Blanchard, Col Richards, Col Leister Abelee, Brig Gen John M Lentz, Col Cruner, Col Seithers, Col Jeter. More shots of the courtroom, including the table of translators at 01:06:35 with Otto Stein, the dark-haired man resting his chin in his hand (second from the left). LS, guard standing before building with sign: "War Crimes Branch HQ, 3rd Army." Defendants file out of courtroom at recess, followed by guards. CU, sign: " Crematory, Dachau Concentration Camp." CU, sign: "This area is being retained as a shrine to the 238,000 individuals who were cremated here."