Josef Wendl

Josef Wendl from Vienna was one of the perpetrators in Maly Trascjanec. In 1942, Wendl was deployed to the East, where he was assigned as a motor vehicle driver to a so-called gas van, which the National Socialists called a special van (S-van) and which was used for killing by means of monoxide poisoning (an invention of the SS officer Walter Rauff). After the end of the war, he was arrested and interned in Camp Marcus in Salzburg, where he was imprisoned until 1948. There were two trials against Wendl, in 1948 and 1970. The second trial, which was triggered by the proceedings in Koblenz, was preceded by two interrogations of Wendl in which he described the killings.

Trial held in 1948

The investigations on which the trial was based had already been in preparation since 1945. Numerous documents were found which proved that he had been a member of the NSDAP and SS at a very early stage. In January 1948, Wendl was charged under § 58 of the Austrian Criminal Code (High Treason) as amended by §§ 10, 11 VG 1947.

At the end of the trial, there was not enough evidence to prove Wendl's guilt. On 9 March 1948 Wendl was sentenced to 15 months in prison for high treason. His internment in Salzburg was counted as imprisonment, so he did not have to serve the prison sentence any longer.