The senior public prosecutor, Erwin Schüle [de], used the documents from the American Einsatzgruppen trial in Nuremberg, the existing specialist literature, SS personnel files, and surviving "USSR event reports" as evidence.[3] During the trial, the public, which initially paid minimal attention, became increasingly horrified by the details. For example, Hans-Joachim Böhme [de] had enjoyed a walk on the beach shortly before presiding over the killings of 100 Jews. In addition, the perpetrators had photographed each other next to the mass graves before getting drunk in the nearest pub, paying the bills with money taken from their victims. It also became clear that only a minority of the perpetrators refused to kill, despite a lack of serious consequences if they chose to do so. The trial drew even more attention when three of the witnesses, who had been implicated in the massacres themselves, committed suicide.[4]
Schüle sought murder convictions for all of the defendants, which carried a mandatory life sentence. In his closing statement, he emphasized the humanity of the victims.
They were people who laughed, cried, loved and worked... The sun hasn't shone for them for 17 years, and the victims don't even have the peace of the grave. Their graves were later torn up, the bodies burned and the ashes scattered to the four winds.[3]
The defendants were all found guilty of being accessories to mass murder and received prison terms ranging from three to fifteen years. In its verdict, the court deemed Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Reinhard Heydrich to be the main perpetrators.[5] It ruled that the defendants had only acted as accomplices, as "mere tools of the leader".