Buthner trial collection

Stefan Buthner (1913-1994), named Stefan Budziaszek until 1950, was born on April 24, 1913. He studied medicine at the university of Krakow and subsequently worked there as a resident. During the German occupation of Poland, Budziaszek was arrested and was committed to Auschwitz concentration camp on February 10, 1942. Via different work detachments and satellite camps, he was then transferred to Auschwitz III-Monowitz on July 20, 1943. Here, Budziaszek was deployed as prisoner physician (Häftlingsarzt) and camp elder of the prisoner infirmary. As such, he conducted pre-selections and was responsible for the prisoners' medical care. At the camp's evacuation in January 1945, Budziaszek was committed to Buchenwald concentration camp where he was liberated in April 1945. From 1947 on, Budziaszek lived in Göttingen. He earned his doctorate and specialized in plastic surgery. In the 1950s, he changed his surname to Buthner. In 1964, the prosecution of the Landgericht Frankfurt (Main) conducted an investigation regarding Buthner's medical activities in the prisoner infirmary of Auschwitz III-Monowitz. Testimonies had incriminated him already in 1946 and 1959. In May 1966, the investigation against Stefan Buthner was appended to the proceedings "against Ontl and others". Due to strongly diverging testimonies, the reasonable suspicion of murder could not be proven. Thus, the prosecution of Stefan Buthner was discontinued on September 12, 1975. He died on November 23, 1994. The collection consists of the transmission of the prosecution of the Landgericht Frankfurt (Main). The documents were created during the investigation and penal proceedings against Buthner. After description, demetallization and filing, the collection contains 18 archival units with a total extent of 0.6 running meters. Through the course of indexing in January and February 2021, the processor Sophia Steinmetz created a completely new arrangement of the archives group. The archives group is now structured in two sections. The section "investigation proceedings against Ontl and others (4 Js 798/64)" ("Ermittlungsverfahren gegen Ontl u.a. (4 Js 798/64)") mainly contains the documentation of the proceedings and especially consists of records of interrogation and recordings of testimonies. The section "investigation of the prosecution Hannover" ("Ermittlungen der StAH") is comprised of the records of the preliminary investigation of the Hannover Public Prosecutor's Office against Stefan Buthner.