trial began on October 11, 1949, with the original 69 counts of treason being reduced to 20. The prosecution relied on the many broadcasts featuring Burgman recorded by the Federal Communications Commission stationed in Silver Hill, Maryland to show his active participation in propaganda activities against the United States and eye witness evidence of him broadcasting for the enemy. He admitted broadcasting wartime propaganda for the Germans, but his defense contended that he was insane when doing so. It was also argued that he had made his broadcasts in fear of the Gestapo. Burgman suffered a heart attack during his trial and appeared in a wheelchair at some of the proceedings. He was convicted of 13 acts of treason on November 15, 1949. A motion for a new trial was denied on December 15, 1949, and five days later, on December 20, 1949, Judge Alexander Holtzoff sentenced Burgman to imprisonment for 6 to 20 years. On February 8, 1951, the use of electrical transcriptions of his wartime broadcasts in his treason trial was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals. Death Burgman served his prison sentence at the federal prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. His health deteriorated, and on May 12, 1952, he was transferred to the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, where he died from acute pulmonary edema due to heart disease on December 16, 1953, at the age of 59. Burgman died on the first anniversary of the death of fellow Nazi propagandist Robert Henry Best, who had died in the same prison. Burgman is interred in the Oakwood Cemetery in Austin, Minnesota. See also Jane Anderson (Nazi collaborator) Douglas Chandler Donald S. Day Edward Leo Delaney References External links Herbert John Burgman a/k/a Joe Scanlon (1894-1953) Find a Grave memorial Courtroom Battles of World War II (3 Parts). contains information on the careers and fates of some of the Nazi broadcasters and other collaborators. 1894 births 1953 deaths American collaborators with Nazi Germany American expatriates in Germany United States Army personnel of World War I American radio personalities American radio reporters and correspondents American male journalists American anti-communists American fascists American people who died in prison custody Broadcasting in Germany Civilians in war Deaths from pulmonary edema German radio personalities Military personnel from Minnesota Nazi propagandists Nazis from outside Germany People convicted of treason against the United States People from Houston County, Minnesota Prisoners