| Schutzstaffel (SS) Leutnant Johann Baptist Eichelsdörfer (January 20, 1896 – May 29, 1946), the Kommandant of Kaufering Konzentrationslager (“concentration camp”) Number 4 in Landsberg, Germany, stands among the corpses of prisoners killed during his administration. United States Army Lieutenant Colonel Edward F. Seiller (August 24, 1897 – January 3, 1990) of Louisville, Kentucky, the G-5 Chief of Military Government Staff Section of the 12th Armored Division, forced Eichelsdörfer to stand amidst the dead and asked Associated Press photographer Jim Pringle to take his photo. Associated Press reporter Louis Lochner (February 22, 1887 – January 8, 1975) wrote in a nationally syndicated article on April 30, 1945: “Practically all of the survivors of this camp of three thousand were mental cases. Most of them were Jews. All bore the marks of malnutrition and torture. “Colonel Seiller seized a heavy set stocky, bullet-headed man whose shaven head was smeared with iodine and stood him amidst the gruesome corpses and said: ‘I now produce for you the man who was commandant of this vile camp. Here’s the man who was chiefly responsible for the tortures you see here with your own eyes which were inflicted on the unfortunates lying here.’” “The gravediggers angrily cried, ‘throw the wretch down here we’ll finish and bury him.’ From among the two hundred and fifty German visitors came shouts of ‘swine, beast, criminal.’ Some spat.” The camp’s Captain insisted defiantly when I asked him what he had to say about the corpses lying at his feet, ‘I was the mere overseer on the outside. I didn’t know what was going on in the inside. What ever happened was the responsibility of [SS-Hauptsturmführer] Doctor [Max] Blancke [(March 23, 1909 – April 27, 1945)] and his two assistants.’ GIs standing around me gave him the Bronx cheer when I translated his statement.” As part of the Dachau-Hauptprozess (“Dachau Camp Trials”), Eichelsdörfer’s trial was opened on November 15, 1945; he was indicted with 39 other Dachau concentration subcamp Kommandants. There was hardly any insight gained during the indictment into the defendants, as they all pleaded for “not guilty.” Eichelsdörfer was defended by Captain Dalwin Niles (September 5, 1914 – January 1979), who argued that his client had been ordered by the Wehrmacht to Kaufering Konzentrationslager Number 4 after contracting a disease and had hardly any influence on it. As a sick, old man, he did not possess the strength to lead the camp properly. Surviving prisoners, on the other hand, testified that Eichelsdörfer abused prisoners and had beaten them to unconsciousness. On December 13, 1945, Eichelsdörfer was convicted as a war criminal and on May 29, 1946, he was executed by hanging in the Landsberg war crimes prison. A total of 28 of the 36 death sentences imposed by the Dachau Camp Trials were carried out by the executioner Master Sergeant John C. Woods (June 5, 1911 – July 21, 1950); the 8 others were commuted to life sentences. Photographer James “Jim” M. J. Pringle (1919 – February 19, 1970) was with the United States 42nd Infantry Division as pool reporter. He was 1 of the 1st photographers to document Dachau. He granddaughter Khara Pringle (born 1973) discovered a box of his Dachau photographs as a child and continues his work as a professional photographer. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0603.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.11 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 2723 x 3444 |
| Photographer | James M. J. Pringle |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | April 27, 1945 |
| Location | Konzentrationslager Kaufering IV |
| City | Landsberg am Lech |
| State or Province | Bavaria |
| Country | Germany |
| Archive | United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |
| Record Number | 77021 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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