death, as many as thirteen of the twenty-two. As senior commander of the SS and police, he gave all the orders, Herr Moczarski, yet he stated in court his underlings killed the American airmen. How could a top German officer act like that? After an eight-week trial, Brigadier General Kiel sentenced Stroop to death by hanging on 21 March 1947. As for his codefendants, one was acquitted, one escaped and was never tried, 12 of them received death sentences, and the other 7 received prison terms ranging from three to 15 years. In November 1947, a death warrant was signed by General Lucius D. Clay. By then, however, Stroop was imprisoned in Warsaw for five months. Three of Stroop's condemned codefendants had their death sentences reduced to prison terms, while the other nine were executed at Landsberg Prison in 1948. In late May 1947, Stroop was flown to Berlin-Tempelhof Airport, and extradited to the People's Republic of Poland. He was extradited with Erich Muhsfeldt. He recalled, "My heart sank when I saw those Polish officers at Tempelhof. So, the Americans were liars after all! They promised me time and again I'd never be given to the Communists and my death sentence for killing the U.S. airmen would be commuted to life imprisonment." Trial in Warsaw and execution Stroop's trial began on 18 July 1951 at the Warsaw Criminal District Court and lasted three days. Stroop stood accused of four crimes: 1. Belonging to the SS, a criminal organization. 2. Liquidating the Warsaw Ghetto, leading to the murder of more than 50,000 people and deporting hundreds of thousands of other Jews to the death camps. 3. Ordering the shooting of one hundred Poles on 16 July 1943. 4. Participating in the mass murder of Polish civilians in the Warthegau. On 23 July 1951, the Court sentenced Stroop and Franz Konrad to death by hanging. In passing sentence, the Court declared, Since the character and magnitude of Stroop's crimes, his attitude and his twisted explanations not only indicate a total lack of repentance but actually confirm that he retains his Nazi view of the world, the Court is unable to find the slightest extenuating circumstance in the accused Stroop's conduct. His actions show that he is a being devoid of human feeling, a Fascist hangman who tracked his victims with cold and relentless cruelty, an executioner who must be removed from the