Trial and Acquittal
Falkenhausen and Reeder were both sent to Belgium for trial in 1948, where they were held in jail.
Placed on trial in Brussels from 9 March 1951 and defended by lawyer Ernst Achenbach (1909–1991), they were tried for their role in the deportation of more than 30,000 Jews from Belgium, and not for their deaths in Auschwitz. During his trial, von Falkenhausen was vouched for by a Chinese woman named Qian Xiuling who was living in Belgium, who together with various Belgian Jews provided copious evidence that both men had tried to save Belgian and Jewish lives. They were both found guilty on 9 July, and sentenced to 12 years hard labour in Germany. But on return to West Germany, having served one third of their sentence as required by Belgian law, on 30 July they were pardoned by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967).
Falkenhausen died in Nassau, Rhineland-Palatinate.
Read more about this topic: Alexander Von Falkenhausen
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